I’ve written about Uniques before and there have been knowledgeable comments made to those posts. The little magnifying glass above will lead you to those discussions if that is your interest. This time I will avoid the more general stuff about the brand and confine myself to discussion of this pen.

I would guess that it is a product of the early nineteen fifties. It is a handsome pen in very good condition. The gold plating has held up well except on the lever where there is some loss. The clip is stepped in the Art Deco style and the cap band is moderately broad and pierced. The pattern of the celluloid is marbled dark and light green with an overlay of randomly aligned striations. I have seen this very attractive pattern on Uniques before. Those pens were made from wrapped celluloid sheet. I can see no seam here and I assume it was machined from the rod. The tassie is made from some form of plastic, hard rubber having been finally laid aside for that purpose. I’m not sure about the material of the section. The feed may well be ebonite.

The nib is small, perhaps a little smaller than a Swan No 1. It is warranted and probably made by Unique themselves as they had a gold nib plant. The lettering on the nib is instantly recognisable. I come upon these warranted nibs frequently and they are always of very good quality.

This is a very handsome pen indeed. Uniques are not as collectable as Conway Stewarts but this is a sound, well made, well designed pen. Aesthetically, all the parts come together in a very satisfying way. Though there are some later Uniques that are of lesser quality, perhaps giving rise to a poor reputation for the brand, this pen and many of its predecessors are as good as anything produced by Unique’s competitors.

My thanks to Paul S for this pen.