This one’s a little off-topic, I suppose, in that the one thing it isn’t is a fountain pen. It was referred to me by a correspondent; I don’t have the pen. However, his photographs are so good that all aspects of the pen are covered. I can find no mention of the Austin pen online or in my fountain pen and ballpoint reference works.
It’s a strange mixture of things. It has a glass cartridge which is open at the rear end like a ballpoint refill. It has an open tip like a stylographic pen, but I don’t think that’s what it is. The crimping at the tip may once have held a ball which is now lost.
It certainly looks like the earliest ballpoint pens, for instance the Miles Martin which was one of the first really practical ballpoints.
It’s most interesting and I post about it in the hope that one of you might have seen this before or at least something similar.
Goodwriterspens's Blog 
Interesting pen! I suspect the Austin involved is Joseph John Austin who was granted a British patent 666795 for a ‘non-capillary’ ballpen. As the inscription only says ‘Pat. applied for’, it presumably dates from 1949/1950, before the application was granted. It may or may not be related to the ‘Half-Crown’ non-capillary ballpen marketed by Bowler Products in the early 1950s (TEFPI, page195).
Thank you very much, Andy! That’s exactly the kind of information we were looking for.
Hey. I need Some help.
Help me select a fountain pen for a friend.
How would I do that? I don’t know your friend or their likes and dislikes!