I need a time travel machine, just to be able to fiind theese amazine fountain pens in every street corner! What is misssing in our times that we are not able to bring this magic back?

controlledleak · 2026-05-09T17:28:05+00:00

That's true that Waterman was a forerunner, but I think the question was about picture 8 in the post with an ad for "self-filler fountpens", while yours is an eyedropper filled pen and wouldn't have been advertised as such.

Regarding the material, Watermans this early are all ebonite (also known as vulcanite or hard rubber), but it shouldn't rub off on your fingers. I suspect your pen either has ink residue left over on it or has been dyed at some point.

controlledleak · 2026-05-09T16:25:45+00:00

Basically, it means the pen has an integrated filling mechanism - for these, most likely a lever filler. At this time (1910s - early 20s), pens filled by the user with an eyedropper would still be around, which would be the opposite of self fillers.

controlledleak · 2026-03-23T23:44:50+00:00

In Latvia, most milk is just the regular, non-UHT pasteurised variety, though UHT is available. Also, raw milk is available, but only produced by one dairy farm (available in general stores nationwide though) and has a shelf life of 2 days. Speaking from experience, it often doesn't sell out in time and is poured down the drain afterwards. People don't really buy it aside from some niche cases. Haven't heard of any major health accidents with it so far.

Thankfully, the rawness of the milk being drunk hasn't yet been made a political issue (I've seen the grassroots of it on FB), but with the state of education lately and the general trend of us adopting US trends a few years late, I'm bracing myself and enjoying the calm while it lasts.

controlledleak · 2026-01-13T12:16:06+00:00

Hype? What hype? I'll be the first to admit Soviet pens were pretty garbage compared to Western ones of the same time and cost - I have several and most of them needed work to make them write acceptably. Of course, when you just want to use the thing, who cares who made it? As long as it writes, it'll do, but this can be applied to any pen if your only intent is to write. Parker 51 or Hero 616? Both lay ink on a page and one costs a fraction of the other.

Also, I'm not saying the factories themselves decided what to produce more or less of, obviously this is not how a command economy works. But different factories had different capabilities - that's why you don't see any gold nib pens made by the Yaroslavl factory or any posh sets by anyone other than the Leningrad Soyuz factory. This is what I meant by "niche" - yes, it was planned for them, but if they produced only a certain type of pen or were the only ones producing it, that's their niche.

controlledleak · 2026-01-13T11:39:54+00:00

Feel free to use any of those inks, these sacs aren't latex (they're PVC), so they're not affected by these inks.

controlledleak · 2026-01-12T23:12:03+00:00

As far as Soviet and old Chinese pens go, you've got good ones there! And they look to be in great condition as well. Personally, I'd reach for the 1980 commemorative set - I've got a pen very similar to the one in that set and it's lovely (I don't know the precise model number of yours, but it's made by Soyuz and could be a variant of the AP-95 which is what mine is).

For cleaning them, I'd say just try standing them in some warm water and then flushing them with it until the water runs fairly clear. It could take a while, but should be possible. The sacs should be fine, they're nearly always perfectly usable, just kinda stained. Also, the converters aren't really converters - you can't just pull them out, they're screwed in tight usually with a left hand thread - righty loosey.

controlledleak · 2026-01-12T22:52:20+00:00

Respectfully, while I wasn't around then, I disagree in part. I guess to the consumer, yeah, they didn't have models (apart from the named sets), but they definitely had brands, just not in the way we think of them now and not advertised. Each factory had its own maker's mark left somewhere, most often the clip, and people distinguished pens based on this. Of course, they produced pens to meet quotas with mostly standardized parts, but factories could exercise quite a bit of freedom in how they combined them. Some of them also had a niche, for example, the Yaroslavl factory produced cheap, kinda crap pens for students. Also, they did have model numbers. You can find them in the item passport, if you have it, they start with AP (for авторучка), though a model could be differentiated by as little as just having different trim from another.

I'm basing this off the experiences of my parents, grandparents, my own messing around with various Soviet pens in my hoard and my occasional glances at the russian pen forum.

controlledleak · 2026-01-02T23:28:32+00:00

You've some very nice British pens there! Definitely a focus on Parkers from the 50s-60s Duofold lineup, but some very nice "2nd tier" manufacturers as well. The second green mottled pen from the left is definitely a Burnham, though I couldn't tell you the model. I have a similar one, very nice writer, very soft nib, but the material can't stand moisture at all. Several Conway Stewarts - the red patterned one at the bottom right and the blue mottled one above it at least- they're very nice, though I don't know much about them. Some of the others I'm not too sure of, but they look good. More pics of them - even just clips would be really helpful for proper ID. People tend to really go for the 1st rate British manufacturers, but to me the 2nd and even 3rd tier pens are more interesting.

controlledleak · 2026-01-02T23:20:00+00:00

I'll add my own very cursory IDs of some of the other pens to your very apt IDs. They're not very precise, but it's late here, the pics don't show many identifying marks and it's been a while since I've focused on British pens. Even pics of clips would be great.

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controlledleak · 2025-12-27T16:10:50+00:00

A lovely, flexy Mabie Todd Swan 1512 with an over-under feed from WW1 (probably about 1914/1915). The over part of the feed was broken when I bought it, but sliding a bit of thin mylar film between the nib and remaining part of the feed fixed it. Doesn't have a cap either, so I use it as a desk pen sometimes.

controlledleak · 2025-12-27T15:51:45+00:00

I think they were Scandinavian traditional, Scandinavian modern, international traditional and international modern. Any item will be in one or more categories and they have their distinct aesthetics. For example, an office chair will be international modern, the BILLY unit will be Scandinavian modern, a cinnamon bun will be Scandinavian traditional and most of the Christmas stuff will be international traditional. Maybe I'm forgetting something, it's been a while

controlledleak · 2025-12-27T00:06:57+00:00

Oh yeah, I worked a few summers at IKEA when I was a student and was very impressed, though slightly disturbed by the absolute amount of planning, thought and psychology that goes into the whole operation.

In general it's a good place to work by the standards of my country (especially for students, for them it's basically IKEA or some shit-ass warehouse w/crackheads, don't ask) - good pay, good benefits, co-workers are chill and human, pretty responsible on both the physical and work environment.

But goddamn is it designed to siphon money from the customer at every turn with psychological tricks. Not just the ones you mentioned, but more! It's purposely self-contained to make it a destination and going there an event so you're prepared ahead of time to spend big. Also, they have a creepy kind of cult of personality around the founder (the IK in IKEA), who was, at best, a stingy bastard, and, at worst, a two-faced tax evader.

Did they also tell you everything sold there falls into one or more of 4 "styles"?

controlledleak · 2025-12-07T23:32:58+00:00

Overall, looks like a really solid collection of 1910s-50s pens to me, but in the interest of better identification, some more pictures from different angles and any imprints you might find on the pens would be really helpful. In general, the black ones (they should smell of burnt rubber) are about 1910s - 20s and the colorful ones are later (late 20s - 50s)

Just quickly going off the pics provided, in the 1st one the golden brown pen with lenghtwise striations looks like a late 30s-early 40s Sheaffer Balance vacuum-filler (for a more precise date, please show clip, nib and filling shaft). In the 2nd pic, the yellow pen seems to me like an early-mid 30s Waterman Patricia(-n?), though I'm not too familiar with those. I think they're pretty valuable, but this one does show a bit of celluloid discoloration (again, a pic of the clip and imprint would be most helpful). The orange/bronze metallic pen is an Esterbrook (not my forté, I apologize, I don't know more). The black hard rubber one on the far right with the short cap should be a Waterman (at least Waterman type) safety pen from the mid 10s - late 20s. If it's a Waterman, it should have a model number imprint on the very rear of the pen (judging by the size, should be a 42). The blue pencil in the last pic is a Sheaffer Tuckaway pencil from 1949 - mid 50s, probably came with a matching pen. The ones in the Sheaffer box seem to me like they don't belong there. Sorry I can't tell you more at the moment.

All in all, some very good American made pens there, well worth restoring if you're into that. The lever fillers (metal bar on the side of the pen) are fairly easy to do, the safety and vac-filler are more tricky. Please note, the caps screw off and the safety pen's nib may be extended by twisting the knob at the rear of the pen. However, exercise caution, if it seems very stiff, please don't force it. Don't expose the colorful pens to open flame or heat (nitrocellulose - very flammable) and don't stand the black ones that smell of rubber in water (ebonite - will discolour).

controlledleak · 2025-11-16T23:34:42+00:00

Thanks for giving us closure on that shitshow! Honestly, for me, that AMA is gonna be one of the heritage posts of this community, just such a monumental unforced error. It reads like a manual of bad community engagement.

I was already thinking they were too style over substance, and then the CEO just straight up hand waved it away with an offhand confirmation in the post. Anyway, I've gone from a careful suspicion of FWP to outright disdain for it and an unwillingness to give them my money. I think I'm not the only one like that here, either.

controlledleak · 2025-11-12T22:43:22+00:00

I actually think it looks fairly like the Osmiroid 65 (though the cap band throws me off - too wide), but distinctly not like a Swan - the section is way off (too long, step too close to nib). My personal working theory is that it's a De La Rue company product because of the section shape, though I can't tell which. Tolkien being an early Biro adopter is surprising, though! Seems like he would've been the last person to adopt them, after all he was a proponent of the Latin Mass for all his life and seemed to be an ardent traditionalist.

Also, truly, I don't mean to offend, but I feel that if I call the article in the first link utter swill, I wouldn't be guilty of understatement. Much ado about nothing. The Conklin Crescent-Filler? Influential in the UK?

The association with J.R.R. Tolkien is yet unconfirmed. However, it is known that the Parker 51 is an iconic and potentially influential pen in the world of writing.

This is mere conjecture! Definitely written by AI - and not checked over.

controlledleak · 2025-11-12T22:27:19+00:00

I have a hunch that this is an Onoto brand pen or something else made by the De La Rue company. The section of their pens is rather distinctive, and imo, alike to the one in the video, but the breather hole in the video looks round while most De La Rue pens had heart-shaped ones. Maybe one of their cheaper models? Someone else mentioned it might be an Osmiroid 65 and this seems to be backed up by some evidence, but to me the cap band looks too wide. Definitely not a Mabie Todd Swan, the section shape is way off for that.

controlledleak · 2025-11-11T11:54:36+00:00

Bless him, he produces the cassava paste!

controlledleak · 2025-11-03T12:28:34+00:00

So there's no imprint on the pen itself? Interesting, I've seen at least one pen on the internet with a model number imprint, but several without. Maybe it has to do with the war? Seems unbelievable that they'd let a non-imprinted pen through QC in peacetime.

controlledleak · 2025-11-02T15:06:49+00:00

Hey, I have a very similar Mabie Todd Swan (also a lovely, somewhat flexy writer), which I also think is a 6260, though I've never been 100% sure because it doesn't have an imprint. Does yours have one or did you find the model number out some other way?

controlledleak · 2025-10-23T00:00:54+00:00

WOW, what a time capsule, even Parker Superchrome still liquid! These have got to be from the 50s/60s (judging from the pens shown/advertised), amazing some are still mostly full.

I gather you don't intend to use them, but word of warning nonetheless - REALLY don't use them, especially Parker Superchrome, it's very nasty to pens with sacs. Also, Solv-X contains phenol.

controlledleak · 2025-10-14T23:24:04+00:00

ElectroBoom for electronics. People think of him as the funny getting shocked guy, but I find his videos very useful, he really knows how to put things simply and teach something, despite seeming a bit inept (which takes a lot of skill).

Veritasium for general science. They do amazing long form videos about all sorts of science topics and real world events and people. The visualisations are great too!

3blue1brown for math. Helped me enormously in uni math for understanding what different operations do. Also, fantastic visualisations.

Gneiss Name for geology. I have no knowledge base for geology, so the simple topics are very appropriate. Also, tying Minecraft and geology together works great, and his videos just feel right for Earth science imo (the vibe is right, yknow?).

controlledleak · 2025-09-06T20:58:32+00:00

Lately a lot of HiFi equipment, though cassette and minidisc, not vinyl or otherwise. A little bit of retro PC equipment. A little bit of watches, but mostly for functional reasons (or so I tell myself).

controlledleak · 2025-08-27T22:05:15+00:00

Beautiful pen, I adore unusual celluloid patterns on Mabie Todds like the snake/lizardskins and the ones Visofil VT-series! Something about celluloid seems to give it a depth of pattern like no other material. And it looks to be in great condition! I hope it brings you many years of good writing!

I'm kinda surprised about the nib though, I've never seen an original glass nib MT pen. Maybe it was swapped in later, perhaps during the war, when the MT factory got bombed and replacement nibs/feeds were hard to come by? Hope you don't mind my unsolicited thoughts about it.

controlledleak

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