Southern
1930s
About This Pen
This is the first Southern Pen Company pen I’ve seen, and it’s a beauty. Southern, about which very little is published, was apparently a Petersburg, West Virginia company, perhaps related to Arnold, a prolific manufacturer of low-cost pens in the 1930s and 1940s. It’s clearly a 1930’s pen, in black celluloid with (I’m told) yellow, green, and turquoise swirls in the cap and barrel and even in the crown and tassie. I would have so loved to have seen the original rod stock from which this was turned; it’s a fascinating pen. At 5.2″ long and more than a half inch thick, this is a pen for a larger hand, and it is very well balanced. It shows some age wear, and the evidence of a less-than perfectly fitting cap in scratching around the base of the barrel. Also, this pen does not take a huge fill of ink; enough, but not what one would expect in such a large pen. The trim, although not fancy, has lasted nicely, and its gold plating is intact, except on the center cap ring, where it has mostly worn off. The brand is clearly and deeply marked in the lever. The nib is quite large, branded by Southern, and noted to be of Durium, with 14K point. It polished pretty well, and lost some of its plate in the effort to remove some pitting. The nib writes well and fast, a relatively soft fine/extra fine.
Price: $60 Sold