 | Yay for Sheaffers! Your "Pen for Mona" is lovely.
I always wondered what the "nonsense" was that the pen was saving us from? Certainly a better pen to buy than the "full of nonsense" which only writes limericks and puns, I guess. |
| Isn't it great that the No-Nonsense body shape is a classic from the 1920s, except in modern translucent plastic! Mine is actually purple, but it looks blue in the photo. |
| Yes, I always appreciated the honest shape the No-Non pens came in. It screams "pen!" which is cool. :D |
| TAO, I'm a bit too scared at the moment to subject the Balance to hot water. But since I had Chito modify the nib I'll try it anyhow. Will have to get some children's rubber balloons to hold and protect the section from my pliers. |
| Will post the rest of the photos later. Nice day today for it! |
 | neat handwriting, handsome pen, and a killer line from classic Philippine lit! |
| "Malaise reigns in our despairing kingdom," I translated roughly in FB. |
|
Thanks for my no-nonsense pen. Now I have one pen for each handbag.
|
|
When I graduated from elementary or secondary school ( I can't remember now) my brother gave me a nice-looking pen with fine gray lines. What kind of pen was that?
|
| Nanay, your pens are Inoxcrom, Parker and Hero, plus a Rotring Art calligraphy pen :) Reggie, I gave Nanay my Hero 442. |
| Hmmm, do you remember the clip? Most likely it was a Parker. We had a Sheaffer calligraphy No-Nonsense in the mid-90s, but umm... the fine italic nib including the No-Nonsense body got lost. The medium and broad italics are still with me. Fortunately they fit my purple pen. |
| The Sheaffer Vigilant was, along with the Defender and the Skyboy, essentially a Balance with a military clip. The clip was a standard clip folded over the top of the cap, which allowed military personnel to button down their pocket flaps while the pen was clipped inside. Not exactly sure, but I think this came in both brown-striped and green-striped celluloid. |
| It sports a two-tone Lifetime nib with a fine, upturned point. The cap features the Sheaffer white dot that used to offer a Lifetime guarantee. |
| This is the odd white feed whose material nobody can identify. |
| Writing sample, with my brown mix 1 part Waterman Havana Brown and 3 parts Parker Quink Green. |
 | A very interesting combination -- do you have to specially import the inks? |
| Yes we do. Locally, only Parker & Waterman (Blue, Black, Blue-Black), Aurora (Blue in bottles, Black in cartridges) and Cross (Blue, Black) can be found at National Bookstore branches. Rotring Brilliant Blue and Brilliant Red NOS (new old stock) can be found, semi-evaporated at some branches. NOS Parker Red and Green with Solv-x can be found at the University Belt, along Recto and Avenida. Some of my pretty colored inks were brought over by a friend and an uncle. |
| Yes we do. Locally, only Parker & Waterman (Blue, Black, Blue-Black), Aurora (Blue in bottles, Black in cartridges) and Cross (Blue, Black) can be found at National Bookstore branches. Inoxcrom and Schneider ink can be found in cartridges (the latter at Office Warehouse). Rotring Brilliant Blue and Brilliant Red NOS (new old stock) can be found, semi-evaporated at some NBS branches. NOS Parker Red and Green with Solv-x can be found at the University Belt, along Recto and Avenida. Some of my pretty colored inks were brought over by a friend and an uncle. |
| It's probably the same here in NZ, if not more so -- so few people use ink pens these days that even getting blue, black, or blue-black can be a problem! Many years ago when I was a teenager I was one of the pioneer growers of Bromeliads, inspired by an "elderly" woman (probably only in her 60s at the time, but that was elderly to me!), Mrs Muriel Waterman, who used to write only in green ink -- her husband was one of the Watermans (Watermen???) of the pen company and had retired to NZ, living on the substantial dividends from the family business. He used to import new species of bromeliads for her from the US and Central/South America, which she very kindly shared with other enthusiasts, like me. |
| I believe the Watermans had internal management disagreements that led to the products being made in France, and selling part of their majority share to European shareholders. The company that makes the modern Watermans is now French. |
| |
