#ringtop

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.

This is a Wahl-Eversharp Gold Seal ringtop in woodgrain ebonite. It was already fully restored. I have no idea why no one else picked up on it.

I mean, look at that woodgrain! The rich color! The four trim rings! The Gold Seal! Eversharp made excellent pens and this is no exception. Some of the trim has lost its plating, and there are a few toothmarks on the end of the barrel. But other than that it's in great shape.

The nib says "medium" but it's fairly fine, and dry. Like all hard rubber pens it's lightweight and feels warm to the touch.

The Gold Seal with its double check marks was how Eversharp indicated a lifetime guarantee. It's the same as Sheaffer's White Dot and Parker's Blue Diamond.

Who wants an oversize ringtop? I can't imagine wearing this on a lanyard. It's as long and fat as any modern pen.

"Black and Pearl" celluloid pens tend to discolor: the yellow/brown areas on this pen were once pearly white. It must've been striking when it was new.

The nib is absolutely beefy. Just the thickest slab of 14k gold you can imagine. To last a lifetime, I'm sure! It writes stiff and fine.

For a 91 year old pen it's doing pretty good.

Black grosgrain and a little brass slide!

I don't think this pen was used much. The nib was bent, so maybe someone put it away rather than get it fixed. Which means this little guy has no trace of fading.

Look how black it is! And how crisp the imprint is! In collector parlance, this guy is *molten*.

The nib needed a little help, and writes well now. The sac it needed was a size 12, the smallest I had. (I think they go down to 10?)

The barrel on mine is badly discolored. The cap is closer to what they looked like originally. And my photos aren't great: the blue is vivid and a bit translucent, making a nice contrast to the creamy white swirls.

The plain gold nib writes fine and a little dry. Whoever owned this pen took good care of it: there's hardly any wear.

And I mean *brief*. They made pens from 1926 to 1932. Then the Great Depression hit and they cut back operations.

Their pens are highly regarded today. I have two, and yeah, they're pretty nice.

The black one has 2233 stamped on the end of the barrel, which is a model number that lines up with their 1928 catalog. The gold one I can't find any information for. Apparently gold overlay Carters are rare.

For instance, the Parker Lucky Curve.

It gets its name from an element of the feed design that you can't even see. The inner end of the feed curves against the ink sac, providing a better flow of ink back into the pen when you stop using it. Which reduces burping and blotting.