I’ve been surrounded by vintage pens lately, not my own, but from an estate that we at Chicago Pen Show have been working to sort through and sell. It’s been fascinating, and I’m learning a lot, but it leaves me less time to blog. So I’ll share some photos.
First are those five beautiful Wahl-Eversharp fountain pens, dating to the 1930s.
The three on the bottom are Doric fountain pens, two second generation vacuum fillers and one first generation lever filler. Dorics are celluloid pens, made in the US, in a 12-sided faceted design that reminds me of the Omas vintage Paragon. They are gorgeous, and the nibs are supposed to be excellent.
All three of the Dorics have adjustable nibs, with a slider which the user can operate to make the nib more or less flexible. Here’s a closeup of the three Doric nibs, which feature three different nib sizes, and two different slider models.
The nib on the bottom is the smallest Doric nib, a number three.
Apart from the Dorics, we’ve got two green Stenographer’s pens. The Stenographer’s fountain pen is a long, slim pen, with a long, slim nib. It has a nice, lightweight feel in the hand. And it’s a bulb filler.
I like these, a lot. At every pen show, I ooh and ahh over the Dorics. Now I get to add Stenographer’s pens to my “someday” list.
Fountain Pen Follies 
Dorics are such gorgeous pens! Hopefully you’ll find one to add to your collection!
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Tremendous pens. I’m not usually aesthetically driven when it comes to pens, but there’s just something about vintage celluloid, isn’t there? I find them incredibly classy. And those stenos! Thank you for the eye candy.
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Not only are those great pens to see (and to covet), but I’ve never seen that 2nd, “Eversharp”-style flex adjustment slider. Only the open one on the bottom. Learn something new every day. And promptly forget two other things in it’s place…
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I do love the look of the larger Doric — the lever-filler is it? That’s beautiful. I must get a closer look somewhere/when. Thank you for the great shots/post!
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Good taste! The larger Doric is a vacuum or plunger filler, as is the smaller red one; both those are second generation, which you can tell from the location of the cap band (see how the cap band on those sits at the very end of the cap — that was to prevent the celluloid from cracking there, and it’s a second generation feature)
The brown and green is a first generation and a lever filler. They are all really beautiful. I am a kid in a candy store.
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OMG, OMG, the Dorics!
You cannot simply walk into my night with a post on the Dorics …
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Ooops. 🙂
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Ooooo!! Aaaaahhh!! Vintage pens are so neat! They tried so many unique nibs and filling mechanisms.
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So true! And the materials are often extremely beautiful: every very inexpensive pens could have beautiful celluloid. And the nibs are excellent and varied. But these Wahl-Eversharps are unreal. Even some of the pencils …. I’ll take more photos of some of the others in my box of wonders, in coming days.
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