
This one’s a bit special! It’s an American-made Swan 127/53 ring-top in the pattern known as Scarlet. To me it appears to be a rich russet with small paler flecks. There are black bands around the single cap band and three more at the top of the cap below the ring.

The pen was made in 1927, part of a range of black-banded pens in various sizes and colours. The pen’s a rarity here and perhaps not all that common in the US either. It isn’t only beautiful; it has an exceptional nib, a broad, flexible stub, finely shaped and precise. It lays down a lot of ink with lovely line variation.


Because it needed some special work Eric Wilson restored it for me. Outstanding work as always.
Mabie Todd magnificence. Glorious.
A glowing ember of a pen!
Deb. What a lovely little pen , it’s almost identical to the clipped cap one I sent you a pic of quite a while ago..the one where I found its companion pencil .
I wish the ‘super repairers’ like mr Wilson were easier to get at from the antipodes 😩
as there are a few pens I have that would cost lots more than their purchase price to send off for complicated repairs.
I definitely share your love of the pens from the 20s .
Thanks for the excellent blog as usual. 🙋🏻♂️🌹
Those US Swans were so lovely in the twenties. Sometime in the thirties they fell away badly. Thanks for your kind comment.