Marathon Student
late 1920s
About This Pen
During 1920s and 1930s, numerous fountain pen manufacturing companies operated in Manhattan. When the Depression hit, most of the smaller companies, and their brands and models, simply disappeared. Today thousands of pens from these companies survive, but with only scant information available about their makers. The Marathon Fountain Pen Company was certainly in business from the late 1920s into the 1930s, and for me it’s fun to know that it was located in my own Union Square neighborhood. This 85+ year-old pen is beautiful, solid, and well-made, and has survived in wonderful condition. It is a “flat-top’, in thick, solid green striated celluloid, with stripes and flecks in green and white and broad black celluloid gripping sections. It is substantial, at 4 15/16” long and 7/16” thick, perhaps meant to emulate the contemporaneous “flat top” jade Sheaffers it superficially resembles. The trim is gold-plate, and is very clean and unmarked. The large nib is marked “Marathon”, “14K”, and size “8”. It is very clean, unblemished, and can be used frequently with some care. This pen does not have an imprint, has a beautiful jade-like cap plug, and writes a full firm with a bit of flex, although it is not anywhere nearly as firm as a contemporaneous Sheaffer or Parker.
Price: $60 Sold