Eversharp Fifth Avenue
1943-47
About This Model
Among the many fountain pens arriving new on the scene soon after the end of World War II, a few of these were final efforts to combat the sudden growth of the ballpoint pen. The Eversharp Fifth Avenue was a notable last gasp for its company before it was taken over by Parker. Issued in 1945 as part of Eversharp's CA (for "capillary action") line of pens, the Fifth Avenue was the first fountain pen to be marketed secondary to a ballpoint, the CA. Shopping at New York City's Fifth Avenue stores was booming, so its name was an obvious claim to top-line quality. Sadly, the writing experience was not up to the claim, nor to the competition from Parker's 51, which it emulated with a hooded nib and gold friction cap with an internal clutch. Its shorter gold cap appearance was innovative, but the Deco styling was a look backwards when the buying public wanted to reach forward. Adding insult to injury, it was overpriced, and it did not last. By 1948, Eversharp had dropped the line and was in deep financial stress. The Symphony, which followed it, was another styling success but unsuccessful in the marketplace
About This Pen
This beautiful pen is actually not a Fifth Avenue, it’s a Sixty-Four…this variant of a Fifth Avenue came with a 14kt solid gold cap, and with its matching pencil was priced at $64, an expensive set in the 1940s. Capped, it’s 4 1/2″ long, but a full-sized pen, fits very comfortably in the hand. The gold cap is a beauty, with the Eversharp imprint on the clip and the full brand imprint around the top of the cap, looking like a Wahl-Eversharp pen or pencil of the 1920s. The curiousity with this pen is that it is darker under the cap, so either this is a black pen that discolored outside, perfectly evenly to a rich red-brown, or a red-brown pen that discolored to a black under the cap, again perfectly evenly. The red-brown does not correspond to a known Eversharp color, neither Army Brown nor Dubonnet Red, so one is led to believe the original color is Jet Black. However, this is not at all disfiguring; in fact, it’s quite pleasing! The hooded nib writes a very nice fine/medium, not as firm as most Eversharps. Very nice pen, interesting history, a pleasure to write with.
Price: $125 Sold