# Fountain Pens from Vintage parts



## ottotroll (May 23, 2014)

Strange one here..a friend bought the remaining contents of an old stationary store back in 1980. It turns out that it was the " John Holland Company" of Cincinnati... for 30 years, he has been sitting on a cabinet that has literally hundreds of components (barrels, caps, finials, nibs etc from when the pen company was in business (1870-1950) He also has a large number of what he describes as "rods of material"! Anyone know of good resources for vintage lever filled fountain pens?
It's like winning the lottery, but the currency is rubles, lol!


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## ottotroll (May 23, 2014)

I could literally try assembling at least 300 pens from the components (maybe as many as 800!)...


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## Harley2001 (May 23, 2014)

I do a lot with vintage send me a pm I could help you.


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## Ed McDonnell (May 23, 2014)

Here's a repair manual that has a lot of good information that could offer some insights into transforming your pile of parts into pens.  I don't do much with vintage pens, but I found it interesting reading.  For $20 I learned a lot about fountain pens.

RichardsPens.com; Pens That Write Right!

Repair Essentials: Da Book, by Frank Dubiel  - It's in the accessories / tools section of the website if the above link doesn't take you right to it.  

Ed


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## thewishman (May 23, 2014)

The rods of vintage material sound very interesting. They could be quite valuable.


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## duncsuss (May 23, 2014)

Exactly what I was thinking -- "vintage material" might be cebloplast, bakelite, or even (gasp!) celluloid ... or it might be past its use-by date and simply crumble at the first sign of a drill bit. I'd like to know either way!


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## ottotroll (May 23, 2014)

I am going over again tomorrow, unfortunately, the rods of material are in his warehouse, so i will NOT see them - I know that some are hard rubber. The coolest thing has been the variety of pen bodies - probably 30+ styles, ranging from plain black, to engraved black to multi-color. They also have different fillers - "hatchet" lever and even some dip pens! Literally boxes of nibs! He would like to set a deal with me, where he supplies the materials, and I the labor (I told him that it is fun, not labor, lol). he seems to think that these pens could be marketed as "original parts, modern manufactured", and I should determine a percentage of profit division between us (I would do it just for the pleasure of working with this stuff!).  A quick look at Ebay shows that they go for @ $180...I would be selling "new" ones!


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## duncsuss (May 23, 2014)

Hard rubber (a.k.a. ebonite) is also good for making custom/kitless pens. The good stuff shines up beautifully and has a great feel.


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## ottotroll (May 24, 2014)




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## ottotroll (May 24, 2014)




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## ottotroll (May 24, 2014)




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## ottotroll (May 24, 2014)




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## ottotroll (May 24, 2014)

Thousands of nibs....


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## duncsuss (May 24, 2014)

way cool ... :biggrin:


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## Mintman (May 24, 2014)

Wow!  I bet you can't wait to see the rods!  This is totally cool!


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## lorbay (May 25, 2014)

OMG.
Lin.


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## 1080Wayne (May 25, 2014)

I foresee you spending many hours with a micrometer ! My guess would be that a portion of that would be manufacturing seconds , but it will take a lot of work to determine what is good and what isn`t . 

Pictures of some of their work in `Fountain Pens - Past and Present`by Paul Erano , Pages 126 and 129 . Some of the barrels look similar . I would suggest you research their pens as much as possible before doing too much with them . There may be collections you could look at , printed ads , perhaps someone has written a book on them .


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## Bryguy (May 25, 2014)

What a treasure! That would keep me out of trouble for years. I too recommend Frank Dubiel's book It is dated but very useful, you can sometimes find it on Ebay. Amongst Fountain pen repairers it is known just as "The Book". Another useful book is Pen Repair by Jim Marshall and Laurence Oldfield, lots of great color photographs.


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## Jim15 (May 25, 2014)

That's a great find.


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## BayouPenturner (May 25, 2014)

very cool,


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## penmaker56 (May 25, 2014)

Looks like John Holland pens, tell your friend to have fun.


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## johncrane (May 27, 2014)

Nice find.


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## Carl Fisher (May 27, 2014)




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## panamag8or (May 29, 2014)

ottotroll said:


> Strange one here..a friend bought the remaining contents of an old stationary store back in 1980. It turns out that it was the " John Holland Company" of Cincinnati... for 30 years, he has been sitting on a cabinet that has literally hundreds of components (barrels, caps, finials, nibs etc from when the pen company was in business (1870-1950) He also has a large number of what he describes as "rods of material"! Anyone know of good resources for vintage lever filled fountain pens?
> It's like winning the lottery, but the currency is rubles, lol!



I fell into one of those. My Grandfather had an office supply store for 50 years, and I found a cabinet like that, full of Sheaffer parts. I sold most of the contents to Richard Binder, and he made me a Statesman out of the vintage parts. So, I have a 10-year-old pen, made from 60-year-old parts, built by the master.
I still have a small box of caps, barrels, plungers, etc.


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## dhoshield (Jan 14, 2016)

HI, Ottotroll ....
What happened to this thread?  It seems to have petered out a couple years ago!
Do you still have much of that pile of stuff??


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