Clipless first-year Waterman's Hundred Year Pen
My good friend Marcello Carli,
well known Italian pen collector, outstanding pen
restoration expert and Pentrace contributor, wrote to me a
few days ago to tell me of an unusual first-year
Waterman’s Hundred Year Pen that he bought at a local
outdoor flea market near the city of Genoa, in Northern
Italy. The pen is in pristine condition and is quite
unusual in that it came with a clipless cap. The cap is
absolutely original, it has the usual Waterman factory
engravings and it clearly was never fitted with a clip. As
far as I know, I have never seen or heard of a clipless
Hundred Year Pen. What makes this find even more
intriguing is that in 1939/1940 trade between Italy and
the USA was almost non-existent, so the pen must have been
purchased outside of Italy, probably in the U.S.
The year 1939 saw a large presence
of European visitors to the New York World’s Fair. Genoa
is Italy’s most important seaport and many local families
work on ships and travel the world. It is therefore not
too unusual to find rare artifacts in this part of Italy.
The pen is in the first-year
transparent acrylic resin, in a deep emerald green. The
ends are original and the overall condition of the pen is
remarkably good.
Following is an account of his
find by Marcello:
Saturday May 14th,
at the Antique Market in Finale Ligure. The sky is dark
with thunder clouds and most tourists stayed home; there
are just a few of us on the sea side promenade on this
beautiful coastal town. There are about fifty sellers and
my first reaction is that any chance of a good find is
very scarce: still, it is a way of spending an interesting
morning with friends. After walking through the
square that hosts most of the stalls, I feel that nothing
good will be uncovered.
However, a pleasant
surprise was waiting: on a small stall a woman and a young
boy have a number of diverse items. I can see an old
Italian pen with a metal overlay; the price is 60 Euros,
too much for this particular pen. I ask the lady if she
has any more pens and she shows me three: a modern pen of
very poor quality, a button filler pen of low quality, but
imprinted with the Diana Brand ( a Brand known only for a
rare and very much sought-after Italian dual-nib pen) and
a beautiful transparent green Hundred Year Pen that
puzzles me… “It’s a Waterman” she says and it’s clear that
she knows the Brand, but not much more. “How much are
these?” – “Thirty Euros each” – I reply: “Can you give
me both for fifty?”... “OK, deal!”
I can hardly believe my luck,
but the fact that the pen has no clip makes me think that,
perhaps, this may be a modern copy: the pen looks
practically new… I check it out more carefully and the
doubt disappears: nib, feed, markings, all original: no
doubt, this is the real thing!
The missing clip
was
still a puzzle to me.
As soon as I got
home, I started looking through my books, but I found no
mention of a clipless Hundred Year Pen. Still, the pen is
clearly a first-year pen, from 1939. I even have a
matching pencil in the very same color. Looking at the
pencil, I can see that the clip is secured by a screw that
enters through the top of the cap. The lack of such a hole
in my fountain pen is further proof that this clipless
Hundred Year Pen was born without a clip: a rare pen,
indeed!
The pen has incredible transparency
The nib looks brand-new
The clipless cap
Section and nib
The detail of the cap leaves no doubt as to the
provenance of the pen: this is a bona-fide Waterman's
Hundred Year pen.
Cap detail
No cracks or damage
Marcello's clipless pen is
the only Hundred Year Pen I know of with such a cap.
©
2016 Marcello Carli - all
rights reserved
