Yesterday was a Good Pen Day. Many fountain pens were restored and the postman brought this little gem:
It’s a Swan 200, perhaps the least common of the family of Swan eyedroppers. It resembles the 1500 quite closely. It has a Mabie Todd and Co Ltd. imprint on the barrel, which dates it to 1915 or later, but as it has a New York nib which appears original, it’s probably before 1920. Be that as it may, the pen’s not far off a century old, but it doesn’t look it. It’s completely unfaded, the black as dark and shining as the day it was made, and the machine patterning and imprints are pristine.
The high-shouldered nib is a No2, and it’s both oblique and flexible. The pen is a real delight to write with.
Over the years I’ve bought and repaired a lot of Mabie Todd pens. Sometimes I feel that there’s nothing new for me to see – but there is! I’ve seen pictures of the 200 before but I’ve never owned one, and that this one should be in such splendid condition really is the icing on the cake.
Today is write-testing day, along with aligning tines and nib-smoothing. I’m working my way through twenty restored pens, which will take all day.
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Hi, I came across this post as I was researching a Swan 200 eyedropper pen I have just received/bought. It’s black with 2 gold bands, and a slip cap. I haven’t been able to find any like this in my search to understand its vintage, background, value etc. It’s in perfect working condition, smooth medium flex nib, perfect ink flow (wet but not too much, and no railroading when flexing), and writes normally when not flexed. I feel lucky! If you have any comments or can point me towards any sites where I can get more information about this pen, I would appreciate it muchly! 🙂 I have posted a pic of it here https://instagram.com/penfiends
Hi Aileen,
There’s not a lot that I can tell you about this pen. I think that it predates the Swan 1500 by a year or two – the one I had was issued in 1915. I had one and wrote about it on 1 November 2011, and you’ll find it if you search my blog. I didn’t have much of any significance to say about it then. Though it resembles the earlier eyedroppers quite closely, it is a step on from them in that it has a more modern type of feed, rather than the old standard over-and-under feed. You have a very nice pen there.
Thank you for your reply! Much appreciated.
My Pleasure, Aileen!