This is an archive of the pens that have sold from this website since September 2015. It is provided as a reference source for the vintage fountain pen community, and is available for open use. The descriptions are abbreviated versions from the original For Sale listings. Full, unabbreviated versions are available upon request. All pens listed here have been sold and are not currently available. Listed prices are the sold prices.
Artus was the name of the German fountain pen manufacturer that became Lamy, a company that has always focused on engineering and durability. This pen is of black celluloid, lever-filled, with some chasing. The trim is gold-plated and clean. There is some evidence of wear. Nib is original, and fine.
Price: $65
This is a beautiful pen of 1940’s styling from an almost unknown brand, with brown and green Vacumatic-like stripes descending vertically in triangular slanting patterns, an unusual and remarkable appearance. The pen is 12.3cm long capped, with gold trim. It is very clean — no tarnish to trim, no scratches of note. The button filler is strong; the pen fills well. The Aurea imprint is partly present but easily read, and there is an indecipherable trace of a second line to the imprint. The Aurea’s nib, which cannot be identified as original to the pen, is marked “Globus”, and “Osmio”, and with what I presume to be a size indicating “4”. It is also marked “585”, for 14K gold. The nib is a long-tined flexible writer, and it is both strong and delicate.
Price: $225
This 88P is from my personal collection, from 1958-1963, and is in excellent condition, showing only the microscratches of use on its gold cap and one grip mark on the section. Its piston mechanism has been freshly restored. It writes a fast, wet fine with just a touch of flex. The barrel and section are black celluloid and the cap is gold filled. The nib is a wet fine with a touch of flex. It is a delightful writer, and a very sturdy and elegant pen that can be a daily user for years to come.
Price: $135
The 88 engendered Aurora’s next generations of pens, in numerous models, among them the 98 family of the 1960s. This pen, in steel with chrome plating, is a cartridge filler, introduced as a less expensive option. While not a true 98 (hence its asterisked title), it is much more affordable and less complicated, and carries the 98’s wonderful, expressive nib, which writes a wet medium line with a bit of flex. This pen has been recently restored by the manufacturer and comes with an Aurora cartridge and in the Aurora service case.
Price: $118
The Duo Cart was produced by Aurora in 1954 as a means of combating the rise of ballpoint pens, a budget level 88. It was Italy’s first cartridge filler and first pen made of extruded plastic, so has no o-rings or moving parts. Indeed, its name reminds one that two of the original cartridges fit in the barrel! In dove grey plastic, this pen is generally clean and shiny, with some spotty wear to the chrome trim. The section shows Aurora’s imprint. Aurora made some inexpensive pens, but not bad pens. True to form, this Duocart has Aurora’s wonderful semi-hooded nib, which writes a wet fine/medium, firm without being stiff. An original cartridge not having been found (although the search continues…), this pen comes with an altered cartridge from a different brand. It also functions well as an eyedropper with its high threaded section and near-absence of metal inside the barrel. It was designed to be a budget pen, so is presented here as a Bargain.
Price: $42
Excelsiors were a very successful midrange model for Bayard during the WWII years, and they came in several varieties, of which the 540 appears to be the one seen most often today. Of black celluloid with silver trim, this pen is a typical French size, 4 3/4” long with full girth. The nib is gold, marked Excelsior, with the Bayard PF/crossed nibs insignia; it writes a typical medium line that is a bit wet and soft. This particular pen’s clip and lever are both in the “bowtie” style; others I’ve seen have one or the other but not both. User pen, with some typical swelling around the lever area. The imprint is faint but complete; it is interesting to note that this Excelsior, unlike the almost identical one in my collection, does not have Bayard printed in its imprint.
Price:
$65 $53
Conway Stewart was a major manufacturer of good to great fountain pens in England for a hundred years, from 1905-2005. The CS 388 was a highly successful model from 1938-55, spanning the company’s best years and the entire pre-war, wartime, and postwar periods. This example, freshly restored from my personal collection, is from the postwar era, in very attractive marbled burgundy celluloid with black celluloid cap peak and three cap rings. It is 12.5cm long capped. This pen is in excellent used condition — although there are the microscratches of use, there are no significant marks or blemishes, the gold diamond shaped clip and cap bands are bright and shiny, and the overall appearance is fresh and pretty. The imprint is complete. The gold nib, correct and probably original to the pen, is a wet broad oblique that is smooth with a little flex, and is imprinted CS 5N.
Price: $105
This is a Conway Stewart No. 475, called The Conway Pen. It is in marbled blue/black, with a black turban crown and black end cap. At 12.9cm long capped, it is a full-size pen from the late 1930s-WWII. Its trim is gold, and untarnished. The nib is marked “Conway”, is a 14c gold, number 4. It writes a wonderful British soft fine with a touch of flex. Overall, this Conway Stewart is in excellent condition, very clean and shiny, with no deep scratches.
Price: $105
Although struggling to survive by the 1960s, and by now now producing other desk essentials, Conway Stewart was still producing fountain pens. Their use of injection-molded plastics was the base for most of their late production, and used in all of their pens. The Conway 103 is a mid-1960s pen that came both with a same color cap and a metal cap. This pen is in green, with matching slip cap, a squeeze filler. It has a 14c gold nib, imprinted “Conway”, and is a smooth, soft fine to medium with some flex, the typical Conway Stewart writing experience.
Price: $70
LeTigre 86 is akin to the 1952-58 Conway Stewart 84. t is a black pen, no major scratches or nicks, although it shows a fair amount of wear and what are probably light toothmarks at the top of the barrel. The trim is generally clean, with some wear on the clip. The nib is marked “Le Tigre 14K 1st quality”, and is a fine/medium with a little give.
Price: $60