#conklin

Case in point: the Conklin Symetrik:

This beautiful little pen was designed to compete with Sheaffer's Balance, hence the name and the rounded ends. Why it couldn't be spelled correctly is anybody's guess.

This one is just gorgeous. I love the mix of red and silver. The trim is in good shape, though it has lost its ring.

The Conklin Pearl and Gold Mosaic fountain pen is about 5 inches long and had a retail price of $3.00 in the 1937 Conklin dealer brochure. It's only other known appearance in print is in one wholesale catalog. The celluloid brickwork wraps around the pen in a spiral to form the cap and barrel tubes and shows many shades of shimmering brown, pearl and gold. The spiral design is similar to the one shown in design patent D96,888 awarded September 17, 1935 to Andreas Bienenstein, which was one of several designs for the flagship Nozac pens, in this case specifically for the Penline models. It's one of the most collectible Conklin lever fill pens of the 1930s.

Read the story about this interesting pen here:

The first sacless vacuum filling All American pens appear in the Conklin 1936 catalog. Although aimed at the moderate price market, the fit and finish of the Conklin All American Sacless Vacuum Pen matches the higher line Conklin products from the same year. The snakeskin celluloid on these pens is prized by collectors and came in three colors, Reptilian Pearl-Gray, Reptilian Gold-Green Vein, and Reptilian Foliage-Red Vein. The celluloid on the Conklin All American Sacless Vacuum Pen had large transparent patches in the pattern on the barrel, allowing the user to check the ink supply. Conklin added marbled gray, green, and red All American Sacless Vacuum Pens in the 1937 dealer brochure.

Read the story about these interesting pens here:

And here's how I made ABSOLUTELY SURE that crack would stay closed.

Not a pretty fix, but it'll do the job. Once the epoxy is fully set I'll clean it up a bit.

Sad to say I'm not sure I want to ink it because the cap wasn't the only thing that was cracked. The nib has a nasty long crack along its length, starting at the base. You can't see it unless you take the nib out. Maybe someday I'll pick up a homeless Conklin nib to replace it.

Anyway, here's some shots of these iconic pens:

Some fun facts about the Crescent: it was wildly popular when it was first introduced, both for its fine quality and for the fact that you could fill it one-handed. Among its fans was Samuel Langhorne Clemens - Mark Twain - who was then paid to endorse it.

Clemens's own Crescent is on display at his home/museum in Connecticut. And is apparently badly discolored and missing some bits. Proof of how much he loved it!

But some madperson on Reddit fixed a hard rubber cap with Milliput epoxy, and according to them it's holding up nicely. So I'm gonna give it a shot.

Here’s my process of restoring it! I didn’t take great before pictures, but it wasn’t in great shape (and certainly didn’t work).

Below the cut is the original state and my process of restoration.