These Waverley Cameron pens were made in the immediately post-war period by Burnham, I believe. They were intended for the subtropical market (where sacs deteriorate very quickly) but, for some reason or another, were not exported and appeared, boxed, on the market in great numbers here some years ago.
I hadn’t had one of these for quite a while and I’d forgotten what a good quality pen it is. Everything fits together nicely, and the Macniven and Cameron leaf-shaped nib is often pleasantly flexible, as I believe this one is though I haven’t write tested it yet.
There is much to be said for a relatively modern eyedropper filler. It’s never going to need a sac, diaphragm or seals and it doesn’t need filled very often.
This model is quite visually attractive with the stepped clip, blue clip stud and deep engine chasing on the barrel. There is a lever filler which I have written about before that was probably made around the same time, also by Burnham. It is quite similar and shares the blue clip stud.
The leaf-shaped nib is, in reality, no different from one of the more usual shape. It’s part of the Macniven and Cameron tradition and harks back to their Waverley dip nib.
These pens were quite common for a while but appear rather less often now. More’s the pity, because they are pretty special pens.
I bought one of these pens on eBay about a year ago and it is quite nice — perhaps unsurprisingly, bought it for the name (somewhat sentimental, I know).
Macniven and Cameron made a huge variety of pens, many of the school pen standard, but others of as high quality as anything produced by Parker or Swan.
Reblogged this on bcameron007 and commented:
My theory is that anything with the Cameron name has to be good! 😉
Indeed! Cameron country is well to the south of me, around Fort William.
Yup, I’ve got one of these in as-new condition bought from a fellow in Singapore a couple/few years ago. So at least one of these pens made it out here to S.E. Asia. The box is in fair shape. These are chased hard rubber pens – or mine certainly is anyway. There’s a bit of flex in the nib if you lean on it carefully. Interestingly, my experience with this pen has been one of no leaking or burping at all; unusual for an eyedropper.
Hi. Just wondering… what makes you think these were made by Burnham? I’ve just got one (not in my hands yet…!) that has the papers in the box that say it was made at the Watery Lane MacNiven and Cameron factory in Bordesley Green, Birmingham.
http://burnham.wesonline.org.uk/Burnhamography_Starts.html
Have a look around this excellent website and you’ll see the answer. Usually I don’t go by appearances but these pens are just so obviously Burnham, with the exception of the nib, of course.