A Swan Surprise!

I wasn’t expecting any pens in the post today. I had bought some over the weekend but it was too soon for them to arrive, but the post-lady had left a decidedly pen-like package on the doormat. A cursory glance showed that it wasn’t UK, but from the USA. The mystery deepens…

It turned out to be a gift from a customer who has become a friend, and a wonderful gift it is too!

Pens of this type, some with a fixed clip, others, like this one, without, were produced by Mabie Todd USA for what seems to have been quite a short period in the early nineteen twenties.

These gold-filled pens were made in a variety of eye-catching machine-chased patterns. So far as I can discover, no-one has taken the trouble to list all the patterns and link them with their original names, as David Nishimura has done for the gold-filled Wahl pens. This is a lined pattern with a twist every few millimeters. At a distance of a few inches, these appear star-like and twinkle in the light. It makes for a stunning pen that changes as you move it in the light, and defies the camera to catch all its beautiful effects.

I will always treasure this pen.