This is a Senator Windsor, a handsomely patterned German piston filler, dating to about 1955. I’m not quite sure how the pattern is achieved. It looks like the celluloid of years before but I don’t think that is what it is. The gold plating on the Pelikan-like clip has proved durable but there is some wear on the cap lip ring. It is finished in shiny black plastic at the barrel end and cap. It has a blue clear area and the medium nib is iridium point Germany. The piston is directly activated by the blind cap.

This is a good quality pen but it doesn’t really compare with the Matador I wrote about recently. This is a school pen. To define that, it’s a pen made to a cost that parents can afford but it is also designed to withstand the hard knocks of school use. In other words, it’s a user pen, not without some decoration as children and teenagers value that just as much as the rest of us.

There was a time when I only bought gold nib pens. The steel and plated nibs were beyond the pale for me. In the course of time I learned better. Some of these IPG nibs are very good indeed and they are stronger and less likely to sustain damage than gold nibs. In use they deliver ink to the page very well.

Senator is what used to be Merz & Krell. Their pen making began in 1920 in their factory at Gross-Bieberau and they also made Melbi and Diplomat pens. For several years in the 1970s they made Pelikans under contract. I’ve had some of those Pelikans and the very similar pens they made under their own name. The quality and reliability is exceptional and a similar concentration on quality applies to this more humble Senator Windsor.