It’s not easy to research “The Majestic pen” on Google or any of its lesser brethren. The first hundred or so responses relate to a modern Majestic kit pen which is no way helpful. Eventually, after enough digging that you’re hearing Australian accents, you find that there was a late twenties Majestic pen, a sub-brand of Wyvern. That’s what I thought this was when I bought it due to an attack of the stoopids .

That’s not what it is, of course, it’s an entirely unrelated American Majestic pen. By the late twenties, J. Harris & Son, manufacturer of black hard rubber pens, had become the The Majestic Pen Company, which turned out a multitude of colourful and inexpensive pens. Most have plated nibs; the best, like this one, have warranted 14K nibs. They made combos too.

So, it’s essentially a low-quality pen, what Americans tend to think of as third tier. By time I’d removed a few decades-worth of grunge, the plating on the trim was pretty well gone, but on the other hand, that astonishingly bright and lovely striated red shone out. What is that? Crimson? Ruby? I don’t know but whatever it is it will catch your eye across the room.

The celluloid has survived about 80 years without distortion and the pen has an ink-view section that came clean and transparent. It may not be a Parker or a Sheaffer, but I think stylish, durable, low-cost pens like this one are well worthy of our attention too.