I found this oddity among a mixed lot of pens I bought last week.  It’s a Platignum stylographic pen.

Stylographic pens were most common in the early years.  In fact they beat fountain pens to the market by about 10 years.  Given, in those days, a more rounded point, they were used for general writing right up to World War II.  Since then they are mostly technical pens for drafting, technical drawing and artist’s use.

This Platignum one is a bit of a mystery.  The only reference I can find to Platignum stylographic pens refers to one of 1935.  My guess is that this one is quite a bit later, probably post-war as the cap and barrel are made from injection moulded plastic.  Strange that they should make this kind of pen so late, when the market for technical pens was dominated by companies like Staedtler, Rotring and Faber Castell.  Perhaps it was intended for school pupils learning technical drawing, at a guess.

Anyway, it has not worn well over the years.  The plastic has not distorted as much as it commonly does on cheaper Platignum fountain pens but it has shrunk enough to lose a cap ring.  The clip rotates and there is no method of tightening it.  Otherwise, it functions as it should, writing well and screwing closed well.

Considering that many people nowadays buy firm-nibbed pens that lay down a consistent line, one would think that now is the time when stylographic pens might come into their own and regain the popularity that they had before World War II, but there’s no sign of that happening.