Waterman’s Crusader
1946-49
About This Model
After WWII, Waterman's new American production was thinning down; cash was tight and competition extremely tough. Waterman's did produce two new lines starting as early as 1945, which are often confused: the Taperites and the Crusaders.
The Taperites were first, with the Stateleigh and the Citation. The Stateleighs were frank Parker 51 copies, with hooded nibs but without Parker's sturdy construction and internal workings. Citations carried hooded nibs but a celluloid cap with a very broad plated cap ring. Open nibbed pens were also produced, but these were Crusaders, also in Stateleigh and Citation. Some of the Taperites were very attractive and wonderful writers, but the quality diminished in the later 1940s.
Crusaders appeared with gold metal caps with silver stripes, until at least late 1953. The nomenclature got even more confusing in the late 1940s, as Taperites and Crusaders appeared as Dauntless, Corinth, and Medalist, some from Canada and some from the US. Even with the lower production quality, and their propensity to be extremely difficult to disassemble, these pens were often superior writers, with flex nibs and rigid nibs.
About This Pen
Without trying to immerse the reader into the arcane differences between Taperites and Crusaders and their submodels, this pen is a USA-made Crusader, defined by its open nib, gold-colored with horizontal chrome inset banded cap, and solid color plastic barrel. It is a nice looking pen, writes wonderfully, but the late 1940s, with some exceptions, were not Waterman USA’s finer hours. The only real issue is that the cap is a bit tight releasing from the barrel ring. Interestingly, it carries the French Waterman’s straight tapered section, rather than the typical American turn-up (some call “ski-jump”) style; to me this is an indication of the cross-fertilization among the two Waterman wings as the American side wound down. The nib is a Waterman Ideal 14K, and it is a good nib, writing a wet fine.
This pen is not for sale.