My husband re-sacced this Unique along with a Dinkie 14 years ago. They were used a little, then set aside. When I checked them a few days ago, the sac in the Unique was hard while the sac in the Dinkie was as good as new. I don’t know what conclusion to draw from that.

This Unique is a charming pen in a pink and black marbled pattern. At 13.1 cm capped it is an average-sized pen for its time, which I guess would be immediately post war. The gold – little more than a wash – shows some wear throughout. The cap is a little darker than the barrel. The pointed black clip screw is not matched by black at the barrel end as one might expect with some other brands. Uncapped, the small nib is a surprise at first.

Leaving all that aside, this Unique is a decent writer with good ink flow, no hard starting or drying up. I’ve found that to be usually the case with Uniques. They are reliable. The material of the barrel and cap will stand comparison with Conway Stewart or Burnham. The nib, though small, is gold, unlike Platignums, Osmiroids or school Burnhams. The filling mechanism works well. It is only really let down by the thin gold plating, which isn’t too worn in this example.

Like some other pens at the lower end of the market the Unique was built to a price, most obviously in the size of the nib, but they were well built to that price. It would be my guess that the pen was aimed at the school pupil market. I would think that the kid who got a Unique would not feel as deprived as the one who got a Platignum. His or her fingers would be less ink-stained and he or she would not feel the need to conceal the pen. It’s actually a pretty decent pen.