No writing sample with this one – it’s New Old Stock and I won’t be putting any ink in it. It still has its original factory chalk marks. It’s an Eversharp Viscount and it’s quite an interesting pen in its way.
Wahl-Eversharp had a presence in the British market from the nineteen twenties onward. For some reason the Wahl part was never mentioned and the pens were called Eversharps. From around 1940 they produced the popular Kingswood which was their main seller until the mid-fifties, when they withdrew from the fountain pen market. In 1961 they advertised, “Eversharp are making fountain pens again,” and one of the new pens was the Viscount.
It’s an average sized pen at 13.5 cm. The cap is of the press-on type and it closes against a raised ridge on the barrel. It works well. The gold plated clip which contrasts with the stainless steel cap is a nice touch. The long, slender section and the quite narrow nib are very much in the fashion of the time. To fill the pen, one unscrews the barrel to expose a black plastic squeeze filler – a unique component in my experience.
These pens, along with the Viking and Vanguard, remained in production until 1964 but they were not a success. That, I suppose, partly accounts for their rarity today but I suspect that the plastic filler didn’t help either as it doesn’t appear to me to be particularly robust.
This is one of those pens that is interesting – and to a degree valuable – because it doesn’t appear very often and is a milestone in pen development, or rather, in this case, the end of development because there were no Eversharp fountain pens after this one. That’s not to say that the quality isn’t good – it seems to me to be at least adequate though as I’ve said I have my doubts about the filler.
For anyone who has an interest in Eversharp’s involvement in the British pen market this one is a must.
With thanks to Stephen Hull: The English Fountain Pen Industry 1875 – 1975
Goodwriterspens's Blog 
thanks for the interesting comments Deb…. I have an example in a sort of sage/moss green, but it lacks any barrel imprint so I had no idea until now which model it was. The cleft shaped cap jewel is very distinctive.
On mine the entire cap is gilt coloured, and as you say, it’s a slender and quite delicate looking pen, but that filler system does seem a touch suspect. I’ve never seen such a large quantity of iridium (or whatever it is) on the nib on my pen – a truly massive blob which looks way OTT for a smallish nib. I guess 15/6 was the price, but not sure.
I’m sure 15/6 is right for the price. Mine has a large lump of iridium too and a crease on the top side of the nib as if the iridium had been applied at a slight angle.
hi Deb ……… of course it would help if I at least read all the details in Stephen Hull’s book that you mention, so I’m back on this one to correct my mistake of implying that mine too was a ‘Viscount’.
My example of this pen has a plated cap, plated clip, and 14 ct. nib, is in fact the company’s
‘Vanguard’ model – the top of the range of the three versions you mention – and was offered originally at 21/-, or as we might say now, one pound and five pence.
When my next lot of pocket money comes in I may possibly come to you for your ‘Viscount’……..
I can pay the 15/6d. in …………. one ten shilling note, two half-crowns, and a sixpence.:):)
Said book is a real treat and if you have the remotest interest in British Pens then this volume is a must.
sorry, meant to add for interest that……………. aside from your Viscount and my Vanguard, the least expensive of the three pens, the Viking, can be separated from the other two by having a chromium Cap, chromium clip, and a steel nib. It had an original retail price of 10/6d. – the decimal equivalent of which is £0.52-1/2p. (fifty two and a half pence).