When this pen was offered in eBay a few weeks ago it caught my eye.  I knew nothing about it but decided I must have it.  Its colours, quite unlike anything else around, appealed to me as did its 10-sided shape.  As it turned out, there was little interest in it and I got it easily.

The pen was made by the Pecco Brothers in Turin, who began pen-making in 1917.  They used the names Eridano, Eridania and the slightly better known brand-name Stilus.  Eridano, for what it’s worth, is the ancient Greek name for the River Po which flows through Turin.

One might be forgiven for thinking that the Pecco Brothers had a good look at the Wahl-Eversharp Doric before they sat down to design the Eridano Extra 33.  It’s ten-sided rather than 12-sided but at first glance it’s very Doric-like.  The arrow-shaped clip has come to grief at some point.  I straightened it a bit and may do some more but it doesn’t detract too much from the beauty of the pen in my opinion.

The nib it came with was beyond repair.  I had a hunt through my warranted nibs but nothing there fit.  However there was a rather splendid Swan No 1 flex stub that slotted right in and could have been made for the Eridano.

It’s a superb pen, though it suffers from being one of those brands whose name is not well or widely known.  I think I might hang on to it.  It’s time I had a new daily writer.

As is usually the case with Wyverns, there isn’t much information available for the 303.  It was introduced in 1948 along with several other hooded or semi-hooded new models.  In truth, the 303 can’t really be regarded as even semi-hooded.  It’s a perfectly traditional button-filler.  It just doesn’t look it.  The very small nib is fully visible.  Small though it is, there’s still room for the little Wyvern image.  The extremely long cap band (if you can even call it that) has no equal anywhere, though perhaps the Waterman Taperite Citation comes close.

It is sometimes said that the fountain pen failed in Britain because manufacturers were not innovative enough in the post-war period.  I think this pen and several other Wyverns and Mentmores gives this opinion the lie.  These pens were very different from what had gone before.  In any case, British buyers did not demand innovation in the way that the American buying public did.  Besides, the American fountain pen industry suffered almost as much as the British, in the face of the irresistible success of the ballpen.

The 303 is a pleasant pen to use.  The little nib isn’t flexible but it’s a smooth fine to medium.  Grab one if you get the chance but beware – this is one of those Wyverns that have a left-hand thread at the section.  There’s a nice example on a Buy It Now here.  I expect to be selling this one in due course and I’ll try to undercut that one.  By more than a hundred quid.

Here’s another mystery pen.  All suggestions and comments welcome.

It’s a well-travelled pen.  Though it was made in England, I discovered it on one of my periodic trawls of eBay Australia.  I bought it and here it is back in Britain.

The “St. George” name doesn’t give much away.  Patriotic, perhaps in the adoption of the name of the English patron saint.  It doesn’t help me in determining where it was made or by whom.  When, I think, would be the early thirties.  This is a consciously Duofold-like button-filler and as it’s a little tapered, it is doubtless based on the Duofold Streamline.  It goes so far in its emulation of the Duofold as to have a copy of the spearhead feed.  It’s not a Lucky Curve, though.  That’s where they drew the line.

The patterned celluloid is the same as one of the patterns used by Waterman for their Patrician.  Waterman called this pattern “Turquoise” and it’s dark blue with large areas of golden brown and little splashes of white.  It’s an outstandingly beautiful pattern but I’ve always wondered about the name they gave it.  Turquoise is an opaque, blue/green mineral with brown inclusions.  The main blue/green colour is about as far away from this dark blue as it could be, and it is this pale blue/green colour that people mean when they say turquoise.  If you don’t believe me, put the word into the search engine of your choice, then select “images”.  Your screen will be awash with pale blue/green pictures and there won’t be anything that looks like this pen or the Waterman Patrician.  Strange!

This pen now has a W.R. Bruton Bros plated steel nib.  Bruton Bros made dip pen nibs and folded-tip nibs for fountain pens like this one.  I’ve heard it said that they made low-cost fountain pens but I’ve never seen one.  Did Bruton Bros make this pen?  It seems highly unlikely though it can’t be totally discounted when there is no other evidence.  I would say that this is anything but a low-cost pen, though, and the plated nib looks quite out of place.  I think I will have to find a suitable 14ct nib for it.