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 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
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
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
In Conway Stewart’s circular and impenetrable naming logic, “Universal” was used on a variety of model lines from the 1930s-1950s. This is “The Universal Pen”, a No. 479 late series model, probably from the postwar 1940s, in marbled green and black. It is in truly outstanding overall condition, a description I don’t often use. Of celluloid, it is 12.8cm long, with a domed crown. The dome is in dark, might have been black, hard rubber (vulcanite in England). The trim is in excellent condition, untarnished. The imprint is shallow but complete. This is a very shiny, fresh pen, showing almost no marks of use. The nib is 14c gold, marked Conway Stewart; probably the original nib. It is a wet, soft, wonderful writer.
Price: $130
A post-WWII de la Rue, red marbled celluloid. The nib is original and marked “De La Rue Onoto 14c London”; writes a smooth and soft medium-broad line.
Price: $68
Manufactured by the American pencil company, not the German pen company. In black plastic, and 4 1/2″ long, it has a well-engineered appearance, with a bright orange band at each end. Its nib is Faber-branded, and it writes a firm medium/broad line.
Price:
$40 $26