Clipless First-Year Waterman's Hundred Year Pen

May 2016

The photographs that illustrated this article were not preserved when the original site went offline.

 

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 14^th, 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