Stewart Dalby Spending it
It used to be said that television would see an end to newspapers, but newspapers are still with us. Similarly, the computer was supposed to herald the paperless society.
What use pens, then? In fact, pens are very much with us and vintage fountain pens are now highly valuable and collectable items, seen as fashion accessories as much as working tools.
The fountain pen first started to replace the quill in the 17th century, but it was not until 1884, when Lewis Edson Waterman patented the so-called feed pen, which would not spill ink everywhere, that the quill was finally done for.
The death of the fountain pen has been forecast before. In 1945 a Hungarian refugee called Lazlo Biro patented the first ballpoint in Argentina and the fountain pen seemed eclipsed. The fountain declined in the Sixties and Seventies, but made a great comeback in the Eighties. Today, the market for quality pens – anything costing more than R150 -is worth R400-million, with almost half accounted for by fountain pens.
Cormac O’Connor, of the London branch of The Pen Shop, says fountain pens easily outsell ballpoints. “It might be different at our other branches but here we sell more fountain pens than ballpoints. People seem to be buying fountain pens as gifts.”
An ordinary Parker ballpoint starts at R90. The biggest seller at this branch of The Pen Shop, though, are Mont Blancs. A good quality Mont Blanc ballpoint costs R650 and a fountain pen R950. A limited edition of the Omas Jerusalem is one of the most expensive pens that the Pen Shop sells – for R59 500.
It is for vintage fountain pens that prices have risen rapidly. Prices for rare and unusual versions of well-known names like De La Rue Onotos, Parker, Watermans, and Mont Blancs have risen steadily.
Bonham’s in London started its fountain pen auctions in 1988 with a sale of 200 lots and a total of R143 000 realised.
Fountain pens have always been favoured by doctors, lawyers, teachers and other professionals. Apart from anything, there is a theory that you write more clearly with a fountain pen. The fountain pen is fed from a reservoir of ink which is only released when pressure is exerted on the nib, which means you write more slowly and carefully.
The late Eighties were the period of the yuppy, and fountain pens became must-have fashion accessories like wristwatches, cufflinks and jewelry.
Today, Bonham’s runs five pen auctions a year with a turnover of more than R5-million. The record for a vintage fountain pen was set at Bonham’s four years ago when a Waterman’s snake pen sold for R154 000.
This is likely to be broken at Bonham’s next sale by an outstanding Dunhill Namiki No 50 Giant fountain pen made in the Thirties. This pen is the size of a cigar.
Dunhill Namiki were developed in the 1920s by Ryosuke Namiki who, dissatisfied with the standard Western pen, employed traditional Japanese lacquer to decorate the barrels and improve the pen’s durability.