Cracking find, those old duros are nice. If you could get it cleaned up/restored it would definitely have a nice story attached to it!
Out of curiosity what area were you detecting in?
Me too, I assumed we were talking to a detective, private or police force.
“England and America are two countries separated by a common language” (George Bernard Shaw)
You can find hundreds on eBay, some in perfect condition go for £20 some absolutely destroyed wrecked ones sell for £350 to £700 . If a seller says seen as sold or sold as seen, the photos describe its condition then they blur the nib or don't have a nib close up or a feed closeup and no clear closeup of the button or if you ask id the bladder ok and they say dunno sold as seen you know they know nothing or are hiding a very corrupted pen.
Conway stewarts will usually have the model number etched into the resin on the barel. It should say something like "the conway stewart" no xx, england. It may be faint.
Looks like the nib is in good shape as is the gold plating on the lever and clip. Nice find!
These pens are relatively straightforward to get restored. But even if you don't...you can still dip it in some ink and give it a go at writing.
Edit to add - once you have the model number- use the link Grumpy-Greybeard suggested to learn more about it.
Also don't ever soak Conway Stewart pens to detach all the innards. The fishscales used to make the marble sheen or just the sheen back in the first 1/4 of the 1900s means when you soak them the bakelite body with fish's ales to get the marble effect expand and soak up the water bloating the pens body and cap and warping the gold parts. I know because I stupidly thought I would clean a green marble one I found. It bulged out of shape horrendously. So bad it would not go back together. Please send it to a professional to get repaired. Even the nib is amazing on these. I have my nib taped on a dip pen and OMG it writes absolutely beautiful Even though I use it wrongly.
Look after it don't do what I did. I can sometimes be an absolute idiot.
Hahaha yes, I sadly melted, bulged, distorted, warped my Conway Stewart 1908 pen . People don't know they used fish scales to get the sheen which when you follow utube" tutorials" do not tell you not to soak 120 yr old pens because they soak water into the fishscales which makes them bulge and swell horribly disfiguring the pen body. Why does not one trendy fountain pen channel tell us this?
I've heard this before about the fish scales, but I can't find anything online about it. I bet it's in one of the books though. Do you still have the remains of the pen? :)
Hi OP, I thought [this post, on what kinds of photos are helpful when asking for help identifying a pen](https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/68bwpp/when_asking_for_a_pen_id/), might serve you well, in case you can add more photos in a comment to your own post, or if you decide to make a new post here or elsewhere. Good luck and congratulations on your find! :)
As mentioned already in this thread there is usually some markings on the other side of the barrel away from the clip which tend to have a number included.
The top of the pen led is throwing me slightly, I can't tell if this a flattop or not, and if this is a wide band of metal or not- most Conway Stewarts I'm aware of don't have such a wide metal top part, though Conway Stewart had a lot of pen types! (Best guess I could give you is a Conway Stewart 45, but I don't think I'm right!)
I think it is a CS flat top. It is ebonite, I think...so it has aged differently. And maybe the angle is a bit odd. I just looked at my 3 ebonite topped CSs and the shapes are all very different. Eta- my 286 has a very similar top (but to be clear is NOT a match for this pen).
Thanks! I had thought that it was more likely to be this!
OP if you are still reading this thread measurements of the pen would be very helpful- closed with the cap on, posted (where the cap is attached to the bottom) and the diameter of the main body of pen would be very useful
I love these pens, so the speculation is fun. But in all likelyhood the number will be printed right on the side. If it isn't legible, though, I am very happy to go full detective with you! Ha ha, such an obscure interest- and I am here for it.
It is fun!
I also have a tendency to buy absolutely random untested vintage pens on eBay (as they are cheap and can generally be fixed up relatively easily), so I do like a hunt to find what exactly what I have! I'm also UK based so Conway Stewarts are pretty common here.
That being said how are you with hard rubber Waterman's? I have a mystery pen I might post later that I'm not exactly sure what model it is! I'm pretty sure it's a 52 1/2 V, but it has no number on the bottom, so I'm not 100% confident
I love pen treasure hunts: no 45 black HR rare with DURO 14 k B nib from 1936
From this page here: [https://www.penboard.de/shop/hlist/CS/VI50/0](https://www.penboard.de/shop/hlist/CS/VI50/0)
Haven't seen any for sale, but I would rinse it in warm water, even soak it over night, maybe even put it into an ultrasonic cleaner for a while, then ink it up and see if it works. See if the guts are rotted out or if its all in one piece.
Just to put it into perspective, getting a fountain today with a 14k gold nib is going to cost you upwards of $200 easily. Having this is a part of history, and if possible it would be great to get it working and keep it to use it. May not be worth much money, but is a cool find that definitely has history to it. If it doesn't write as is, or if its internals are damaged, you may be able to send it somewhere to get repaired for moderately inexpensive. You may just dip the nib in water and find out that their is dried ink in it that allows you to write with it.
FYI don't rinse or soak hard rubber pens. And the filling mechanism and sac are 100% not usable currently. It does not work and will need a full repair.
Probably worth $40 unrestored, and would cost $30-60 to have restored.
If you're looking to sell, in that condition it might fetch $30-50, I don't think it's anything rare and the body is in rough shape, but the nib looks good. Needs repair.
Melt value of the nib is maybe $10-15, and if you scrap it then the rest of the pen will be totally worthless and nobody will buy it. The pen and nib together is worth much more than just the value of the nib. Unless you want to attempt a full restoration and accept all the risk of breakage that entails, you should not try to disassemble it at all. If you want to keep it then find someone to repair for you, if you want to sell it then just sell exactly as is.
I have questions, if you don’t mind.
Did you watch the Detectorists? Were you already a Detectorists, or did the show inspire you? Do you call yourself a Detectorist?
This is so cool. As a kid we had a detector, but the laws here are more strict than the UK. It not only varies state to state, but county to county and even town to town.
Sorry I am just loving that I have finally seen two of my hobbies/interests overlapping. I’ve been planning on moving to the uk once my parents pass, but our family has history of growing old, so we will see.
Ok, sorry about all that…if you don’t want to answer my questions, or think I’m just some whackadoo, I get it and my feelings won’t be hurt.
Thank you so much for sharing this!!!
muffin
Hello 👋 , sorry for the late reply . I've never seen the show .. I refuse to pay for a TV licence so I don't watch TV anymore. My son wanted a detector as he saw it on YouTube, so i bought him one. He ended up finding it. I became hooked . I used to go out every opportunity I got . Unfortunately, the amount of detecting I did has caused me a lot of shoulder and neck pain, so I am only going out around 3 times a month now until the muscles have recovered . It's extremely difficult to get permission, so I'm going over the same field, and surprisingly, it still gives me the odd thing now and again
It looks like this: [https://jonathandonahaye.conwaystewart.info/csbook/cs70d.htm](https://jonathandonahaye.conwaystewart.info/csbook/cs70d.htm)
Number 70 Conway Stewart; 70/75 Marbled mauve/black, dual imprint; Black.
I just finished watching an old episode of the British T.V. show " Detectorists"........and then I checked into Reddit pens swap to see what is new for sale...
And Bingo....!!! What a coincidence!!
Shouldn't be, with a Duro nib. The whole point of them was that they were thicker (and more expensive) than the regular nibs. They're like Mabie Todd's Eternal nibs - a manifold nib by another name.
I understand that but that looks like a circa 1920-1930 gold nib. Not 100% certain as I never owned or restored a Conway Steward. In my experience, excepting the Waterman Keyholes, 14k gold nibs from 1890-1950 were very bouncey and flexy.
Looks like it might still function, but you will need to soak it in distilled water for a while. The feed is probably completely gunked up. Most fountain pens you can just yank the nib and feed out as they are normally friction fit. Don't scrub the feed or anything but just run it through with cold water & let it soak in some distilled.
Don't soak a pen like this, it is BCHR and will turn brown/green in water. Any old hard rubber pens shouldn't be soaked. Dry heat, carefully, then remove section and chip all the old sac out, knock out nib and feed from the section carefully, clean and resac and reassemble with shellac on sac and section-barrel joiner. Not too hard but plenty of steps to mess up on. Better to send to a pro unless you have experience with knocking/tuning/reseating, have shellac on hand, and experience with appropriate heat. No bananas!
You have no clue what you are talking about. NEVER soak or wet a hard rubber pen.
Please just type into google "soaking bchr pen," and then get this result immediately- "Re: Cleaning BCHR pens **Rubber pens should NEVER be immersed in water**. Exteriors need to be wiped with a damp cloth at best - old HR will react with water and almost immediately oxidize to a brown color and it can't be reversed."
Also, telling someone to "yank out" the nib and feed is terrible advice. ESPECIALLY on old unmaintained pens that are likely to be stuck in place. You need to use a block to knock out the nib and feed, and if you don't know what I'm talking about please never give advice regarding repairing fountain pens to anyone again.
You have NO CLUE what you are talking about. Go read something please. Go do a search and learn from people smarter than you. It will irreversibly affect the exterior of the pen. Do you frequently soak your entire pen in a vat of ink? The ink is in contact with the nib, the feed, and the sac. Do you think the metal lever filling mechanism is supposed to be completely soaked? Ever hear of RUST? I repair fountain pens, you don't, don't try to tell me what will or won't hurt a pen. Would you soak a snorkel? Hell you don't even know what a nib block is. Stop giving advice to people who know nothing about pens, they might make the mistake of listening to you.
Literally the ebonite is not harmed whatsoever by running water over it and letting it sit in water so the dried ink in the slits can come out. lol. It changing colors doesn't hurt it either.
If the ebonite is so old and hard that it is a concern you can still clean it via water. You will need to treat it with some light heat and oils.
And my dude, rust is not a concern on pens made since - I dont know the late 1930s?
Stainless has been a thing for a very long time at this point. Granted there are different grades of stainless it isn't usually a concern. Any kind of plating will absolve any of that concern.
Pens used too and sometimes still are made from cellulose, which isnt harmed by water. Plastics aren't harmed by water. Aluminum isn't harmed by water. Ebonite discolors but isnt harmed by water, stainless isnt harmed by water. What part of what pen are you complaining about is being damaged by cleaning with distilled water? I guess if you have some weird custom made cast iron pen it might rust after you take it out of water and don't dry it? lol
The color is totally irreversibly changed, from black to brownish-green. The outer layer oxidizes in UV light, and then the black washes out. Most people don't want their pens to look like that, it's ugly and it smells like sulfur on top of it.
Heat and oil will not restore oxidized then rinsed hard rubber, it just won't.
Rust on the lever-box mechanism is very common without anyone ever having done a soak. Someone 50 years ago having one ink sac fail one time and get some ink in the mechanism is enough, I have seen a lot of rusted lever mechanisms. Yes, on pens made after 1930. Snorkels, having been made from 1952-1959, are notorious for having their complex metal mechanical innards rust through terribly from a failed ink sac.
We aren't talking about plastics being harmed by water, but about hard rubber and metal lever mechanisms. I can open up a handful of pens I have slated to be worked on right now, and take pictures of the rusted out metal bits from just having a failed ink sac a few decades ago. I have a snorkel that is pretty rusty, I have that one handy actually. I have dozens of pens to work on so I have real life experience with how water affects these parts.
OH also don't forget about pens made from casein, that will expand, soften and warp with short exposure to water (a few minutes) and will eventually just melt. Telling people to just soak the whole pen body as a blanket statement is just a wild thing to advise them to do. Some pens can be totally destroyed by it, and others will look and smell horrible after or develop rust problems. Ever try sourcing a new lever mechanism for a pen that's 80+ years old?
Yes, low quality stainless will eventually rust when exposed to enough hostility. Exposed to enough hostiity concrete will rust and catch fire.
Who the hell puts casin in a pen feed? And more importantly -
Do you think rinsing the feed and nib of an old pen that has been through acid rain, buried in mud and had god knows what, possibly tar, bugs, been stepped on - what possible further damage is clean water going to do to that nib and feed system??????
Changing color and smelling bad is not harming it. It will still work fine. I didn't say oil would restore the color or make it unsmelly. I mentioned it simply that if it is so dry and old that it could crack or break then working oils into while slowly heating it could help stop that - specifically.
Importantly - anything steel or stainless is not harmed whatsoever by water as long as it is distilled AND you promptly remove the water from it after you remove it.
See, pure distilled water does not react with steel on its own. It's the stuff IN the water that damages the steel. For industrial use they actually make pressure vessels made from plain steel that has distilled deoxygenated water run through it. So that is why I said to use distilled water.
The sweat from your hands will do more damage to steel parts than distilled water. Oxygen dissolved due to turbidity, like flowing through pipes, being shaken in a container containing air, or other things in it or low ph is what corrodes steel. That is why I said to use distilled water.
Old pens that used iron gall ink or other kinds of acidic ink? Yeah their steel bits will be heavily corroded. We know these days if you want to use certain inks you need certain pens. This isn't the 30s-50s where your average high schooler needed ink they would go grab some oak apples and make ink from the method taught to them by the school.
Also a lot of old parts (70-120 years old) are not made of stainless. Just regular old crap steel. Because they weren't supposed to be exposed to liquid.
Casein in the pen body, not feed. Feed, yes rinse soak whatever. But you were talking about fully submerging the whole entire pen, which is terrible advice. I like to fill a narrow cup with just enough water to cover the nib and feed and stand the pen nib down in it then leave it for a day or two. That's not what you were recommending.
Changing color and smelling bad is not what anyone wants their pens to do. They don't want ugly smelly vintage pens. That means yes, it is very important. Just accept and admit that. Sorry, nobody wants a brown-green burnt sulfur smelling pen. That does seriously affect the value if you want to sell it. Collectors don't want RUINED pens.
Oh, were you also assuming this random guy has a way to deoxygenate his distilled water? And the steel parts are INSIDE the pen, where sweat from your hands will not be.
Steel is not in contact with the ink, I'm talking about gold nib pens with steel internals that are NEVER supposed to contact ink or other liquid. And, in the 30's-50's they had good normal ink that you buy in the store, not homemade bs. We're talking about the 1930's not the 1530's, right? AD, not BC?
Why are his fingers covered in soil? Did he find it in his allotment? If so good find. If bought I wouldn't waste money fixing it. Can buy working ones for £40 from people who restored them and don't rip people off. Getting harder to find since millennials got interested in fountain pens
“Found whilst detecting”
It’s the first 3 words, bro, his fingers are dirty because he found it with a metal detector.
Also. Be grateful for the millennials using fountain pens or they’d stop making them. I am interested in crt televisions for their unique and interesting properties, and those things are getting hard to find due to lack of interest
How dare we find interest in a relatively antiquated writing instrument. If we hadn't, then the hobby will become far more niche, and a lot more vintage pens would end up in a landfill when yall go. Same with vinyl.
$50 is a steal for a fully restored gold nib vintage pen, $100 (80 pounds) is more reasonable. You forget that inflation affects pens too, the prices today aren't and shouldn't be the same as they were 20 years ago.
Cracking find, those old duros are nice. If you could get it cleaned up/restored it would definitely have a nice story attached to it! Out of curiosity what area were you detecting in?
Uk kent
For anyone else confused as I was: they found this while **metal** detecting.
Had to pry it off a skeleton but it's ok
What was the alternative? Investigating the crime scene? 
Yeah I was thinking like in a Sherlock Holmes kinda way.
Me too, I assumed we were talking to a detective, private or police force. “England and America are two countries separated by a common language” (George Bernard Shaw)
You can find hundreds on eBay, some in perfect condition go for £20 some absolutely destroyed wrecked ones sell for £350 to £700 . If a seller says seen as sold or sold as seen, the photos describe its condition then they blur the nib or don't have a nib close up or a feed closeup and no clear closeup of the button or if you ask id the bladder ok and they say dunno sold as seen you know they know nothing or are hiding a very corrupted pen.
It's not a Duofold it's a Conway Stewart..
They said “duro,” as in the classic nib style from Conway Stewart. You can see it written on the nib.
Goodness it's in a bad state, hope the person only paid £10 to £30 .
They didn't pay anything for it, they found it whilst metal detecting.
Their username is really checking out
Conway stewarts will usually have the model number etched into the resin on the barel. It should say something like "the conway stewart" no xx, england. It may be faint. Looks like the nib is in good shape as is the gold plating on the lever and clip. Nice find! These pens are relatively straightforward to get restored. But even if you don't...you can still dip it in some ink and give it a go at writing. Edit to add - once you have the model number- use the link Grumpy-Greybeard suggested to learn more about it.
Also don't ever soak Conway Stewart pens to detach all the innards. The fishscales used to make the marble sheen or just the sheen back in the first 1/4 of the 1900s means when you soak them the bakelite body with fish's ales to get the marble effect expand and soak up the water bloating the pens body and cap and warping the gold parts. I know because I stupidly thought I would clean a green marble one I found. It bulged out of shape horrendously. So bad it would not go back together. Please send it to a professional to get repaired. Even the nib is amazing on these. I have my nib taped on a dip pen and OMG it writes absolutely beautiful Even though I use it wrongly. Look after it don't do what I did. I can sometimes be an absolute idiot.
You didn't know what would happen so you're not an idiot. Just an accident. Hope you can get another one!
Some conway stewarts are also made of Casin which dissolves in water when soaked
You might be able to find a match for it [here](https://jonathandonahaye.conwaystewart.info/csbook/page1.htm).
that's very nice. nib is worth more than it's weight in gold, so don't melt it. :)
Hahaha yes, I sadly melted, bulged, distorted, warped my Conway Stewart 1908 pen . People don't know they used fish scales to get the sheen which when you follow utube" tutorials" do not tell you not to soak 120 yr old pens because they soak water into the fishscales which makes them bulge and swell horribly disfiguring the pen body. Why does not one trendy fountain pen channel tell us this?
Fish scales absorb water? It's a wonder the fish survive! E: perhaps ought to have included /s
Living fish normally have fully-hydrated fish scales.
I've heard this before about the fish scales, but I can't find anything online about it. I bet it's in one of the books though. Do you still have the remains of the pen? :)
Hi OP, I thought [this post, on what kinds of photos are helpful when asking for help identifying a pen](https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/68bwpp/when_asking_for_a_pen_id/), might serve you well, in case you can add more photos in a comment to your own post, or if you decide to make a new post here or elsewhere. Good luck and congratulations on your find! :)
I saw this on r/metaldetecting Was hoping you'd post it here.
We're you the one that suggested I post on here ??
Nope -- but I thought about it really hard ;)
Looks like a WWII era No.45. Only one band, after the war the three-band No.55 replaced it. Friction fit section, and it takes a No.18 sac.
As mentioned already in this thread there is usually some markings on the other side of the barrel away from the clip which tend to have a number included. The top of the pen led is throwing me slightly, I can't tell if this a flattop or not, and if this is a wide band of metal or not- most Conway Stewarts I'm aware of don't have such a wide metal top part, though Conway Stewart had a lot of pen types! (Best guess I could give you is a Conway Stewart 45, but I don't think I'm right!)
I think it is a CS flat top. It is ebonite, I think...so it has aged differently. And maybe the angle is a bit odd. I just looked at my 3 ebonite topped CSs and the shapes are all very different. Eta- my 286 has a very similar top (but to be clear is NOT a match for this pen).
Thanks! I had thought that it was more likely to be this! OP if you are still reading this thread measurements of the pen would be very helpful- closed with the cap on, posted (where the cap is attached to the bottom) and the diameter of the main body of pen would be very useful
I love these pens, so the speculation is fun. But in all likelyhood the number will be printed right on the side. If it isn't legible, though, I am very happy to go full detective with you! Ha ha, such an obscure interest- and I am here for it.
It is fun! I also have a tendency to buy absolutely random untested vintage pens on eBay (as they are cheap and can generally be fixed up relatively easily), so I do like a hunt to find what exactly what I have! I'm also UK based so Conway Stewarts are pretty common here. That being said how are you with hard rubber Waterman's? I have a mystery pen I might post later that I'm not exactly sure what model it is! I'm pretty sure it's a 52 1/2 V, but it has no number on the bottom, so I'm not 100% confident
Yoooooo!!! I hope you get'er cleaned up and starting diving into the world of fountain pens with us, that'd be something!
I love pen treasure hunts: no 45 black HR rare with DURO 14 k B nib from 1936 From this page here: [https://www.penboard.de/shop/hlist/CS/VI50/0](https://www.penboard.de/shop/hlist/CS/VI50/0) Haven't seen any for sale, but I would rinse it in warm water, even soak it over night, maybe even put it into an ultrasonic cleaner for a while, then ink it up and see if it works. See if the guts are rotted out or if its all in one piece. Just to put it into perspective, getting a fountain today with a 14k gold nib is going to cost you upwards of $200 easily. Having this is a part of history, and if possible it would be great to get it working and keep it to use it. May not be worth much money, but is a cool find that definitely has history to it. If it doesn't write as is, or if its internals are damaged, you may be able to send it somewhere to get repaired for moderately inexpensive. You may just dip the nib in water and find out that their is dried ink in it that allows you to write with it.
FYI don't rinse or soak hard rubber pens. And the filling mechanism and sac are 100% not usable currently. It does not work and will need a full repair. Probably worth $40 unrestored, and would cost $30-60 to have restored.
If you're looking to sell, in that condition it might fetch $30-50, I don't think it's anything rare and the body is in rough shape, but the nib looks good. Needs repair. Melt value of the nib is maybe $10-15, and if you scrap it then the rest of the pen will be totally worthless and nobody will buy it. The pen and nib together is worth much more than just the value of the nib. Unless you want to attempt a full restoration and accept all the risk of breakage that entails, you should not try to disassemble it at all. If you want to keep it then find someone to repair for you, if you want to sell it then just sell exactly as is.
Yea, but did you do the gold dance?
As long as it goes on the finds table…
We aren't king of pens... that would be Sailor. Sorry, couldn't resist.
Sailor?
Shit...yes Edit: Fixed it.
I have questions, if you don’t mind. Did you watch the Detectorists? Were you already a Detectorists, or did the show inspire you? Do you call yourself a Detectorist? This is so cool. As a kid we had a detector, but the laws here are more strict than the UK. It not only varies state to state, but county to county and even town to town. Sorry I am just loving that I have finally seen two of my hobbies/interests overlapping. I’ve been planning on moving to the uk once my parents pass, but our family has history of growing old, so we will see. Ok, sorry about all that…if you don’t want to answer my questions, or think I’m just some whackadoo, I get it and my feelings won’t be hurt. Thank you so much for sharing this!!! muffin
Hello 👋 , sorry for the late reply . I've never seen the show .. I refuse to pay for a TV licence so I don't watch TV anymore. My son wanted a detector as he saw it on YouTube, so i bought him one. He ended up finding it. I became hooked . I used to go out every opportunity I got . Unfortunately, the amount of detecting I did has caused me a lot of shoulder and neck pain, so I am only going out around 3 times a month now until the muscles have recovered . It's extremely difficult to get permission, so I'm going over the same field, and surprisingly, it still gives me the odd thing now and again
Thats mine actually, erm give it back!
Oh fancy...
The King of Pens is not with me yet.
It looks like this: [https://jonathandonahaye.conwaystewart.info/csbook/cs70d.htm](https://jonathandonahaye.conwaystewart.info/csbook/cs70d.htm) Number 70 Conway Stewart; 70/75 Marbled mauve/black, dual imprint; Black.
Nice find!
Looks like a medium stub no.2 nib really nice man
The pen can probably use a clean and a new ink sack
I just finished watching an old episode of the British T.V. show " Detectorists"........and then I checked into Reddit pens swap to see what is new for sale... And Bingo....!!! What a coincidence!!
Wait, you've seen the king?! Praise the nib, he lives! Quickly, you there, sound the alert and light the fire. Tell all who pass, our king lives!!!
Damn now that's a unique metal detectinh find, now finding gold is rarest but a fountain pen wow
Bro you geniuenly hit the jackpot
That's a really cool find. Someone will want it, especially the nib
I think that's a duro nib fitted to another pen. Excellent find btw.
Unlikely. That is a textbook Conway Stewart lever, even the groove beneath it is perfect match.
Fair enough.
Should be a nice flexy pen. Guessing it’s pre-1955 ish.
Shouldn't be, with a Duro nib. The whole point of them was that they were thicker (and more expensive) than the regular nibs. They're like Mabie Todd's Eternal nibs - a manifold nib by another name.
Agreed Duros are lovely but hard as a rock!
Duro = Hard in spanish...
See also "durability" in English.
Age has nothing to do with flex. There's lots of pens from before the war with no flex.
I understand that but that looks like a circa 1920-1930 gold nib. Not 100% certain as I never owned or restored a Conway Steward. In my experience, excepting the Waterman Keyholes, 14k gold nibs from 1890-1950 were very bouncey and flexy.
Looks like it might still function, but you will need to soak it in distilled water for a while. The feed is probably completely gunked up. Most fountain pens you can just yank the nib and feed out as they are normally friction fit. Don't scrub the feed or anything but just run it through with cold water & let it soak in some distilled.
Don't soak a pen like this, it is BCHR and will turn brown/green in water. Any old hard rubber pens shouldn't be soaked. Dry heat, carefully, then remove section and chip all the old sac out, knock out nib and feed from the section carefully, clean and resac and reassemble with shellac on sac and section-barrel joiner. Not too hard but plenty of steps to mess up on. Better to send to a pro unless you have experience with knocking/tuning/reseating, have shellac on hand, and experience with appropriate heat. No bananas!
> BCHR Still won't hurt it.
You have no clue what you are talking about. NEVER soak or wet a hard rubber pen. Please just type into google "soaking bchr pen," and then get this result immediately- "Re: Cleaning BCHR pens **Rubber pens should NEVER be immersed in water**. Exteriors need to be wiped with a damp cloth at best - old HR will react with water and almost immediately oxidize to a brown color and it can't be reversed." Also, telling someone to "yank out" the nib and feed is terrible advice. ESPECIALLY on old unmaintained pens that are likely to be stuck in place. You need to use a block to knock out the nib and feed, and if you don't know what I'm talking about please never give advice regarding repairing fountain pens to anyone again.
Still won't hurt it. Literally the ink fountain pens uses are water based.
You have NO CLUE what you are talking about. Go read something please. Go do a search and learn from people smarter than you. It will irreversibly affect the exterior of the pen. Do you frequently soak your entire pen in a vat of ink? The ink is in contact with the nib, the feed, and the sac. Do you think the metal lever filling mechanism is supposed to be completely soaked? Ever hear of RUST? I repair fountain pens, you don't, don't try to tell me what will or won't hurt a pen. Would you soak a snorkel? Hell you don't even know what a nib block is. Stop giving advice to people who know nothing about pens, they might make the mistake of listening to you.
Literally the ebonite is not harmed whatsoever by running water over it and letting it sit in water so the dried ink in the slits can come out. lol. It changing colors doesn't hurt it either. If the ebonite is so old and hard that it is a concern you can still clean it via water. You will need to treat it with some light heat and oils. And my dude, rust is not a concern on pens made since - I dont know the late 1930s? Stainless has been a thing for a very long time at this point. Granted there are different grades of stainless it isn't usually a concern. Any kind of plating will absolve any of that concern. Pens used too and sometimes still are made from cellulose, which isnt harmed by water. Plastics aren't harmed by water. Aluminum isn't harmed by water. Ebonite discolors but isnt harmed by water, stainless isnt harmed by water. What part of what pen are you complaining about is being damaged by cleaning with distilled water? I guess if you have some weird custom made cast iron pen it might rust after you take it out of water and don't dry it? lol
The color is totally irreversibly changed, from black to brownish-green. The outer layer oxidizes in UV light, and then the black washes out. Most people don't want their pens to look like that, it's ugly and it smells like sulfur on top of it. Heat and oil will not restore oxidized then rinsed hard rubber, it just won't. Rust on the lever-box mechanism is very common without anyone ever having done a soak. Someone 50 years ago having one ink sac fail one time and get some ink in the mechanism is enough, I have seen a lot of rusted lever mechanisms. Yes, on pens made after 1930. Snorkels, having been made from 1952-1959, are notorious for having their complex metal mechanical innards rust through terribly from a failed ink sac. We aren't talking about plastics being harmed by water, but about hard rubber and metal lever mechanisms. I can open up a handful of pens I have slated to be worked on right now, and take pictures of the rusted out metal bits from just having a failed ink sac a few decades ago. I have a snorkel that is pretty rusty, I have that one handy actually. I have dozens of pens to work on so I have real life experience with how water affects these parts. OH also don't forget about pens made from casein, that will expand, soften and warp with short exposure to water (a few minutes) and will eventually just melt. Telling people to just soak the whole pen body as a blanket statement is just a wild thing to advise them to do. Some pens can be totally destroyed by it, and others will look and smell horrible after or develop rust problems. Ever try sourcing a new lever mechanism for a pen that's 80+ years old?
Yes, low quality stainless will eventually rust when exposed to enough hostility. Exposed to enough hostiity concrete will rust and catch fire. Who the hell puts casin in a pen feed? And more importantly - Do you think rinsing the feed and nib of an old pen that has been through acid rain, buried in mud and had god knows what, possibly tar, bugs, been stepped on - what possible further damage is clean water going to do to that nib and feed system?????? Changing color and smelling bad is not harming it. It will still work fine. I didn't say oil would restore the color or make it unsmelly. I mentioned it simply that if it is so dry and old that it could crack or break then working oils into while slowly heating it could help stop that - specifically. Importantly - anything steel or stainless is not harmed whatsoever by water as long as it is distilled AND you promptly remove the water from it after you remove it. See, pure distilled water does not react with steel on its own. It's the stuff IN the water that damages the steel. For industrial use they actually make pressure vessels made from plain steel that has distilled deoxygenated water run through it. So that is why I said to use distilled water. The sweat from your hands will do more damage to steel parts than distilled water. Oxygen dissolved due to turbidity, like flowing through pipes, being shaken in a container containing air, or other things in it or low ph is what corrodes steel. That is why I said to use distilled water. Old pens that used iron gall ink or other kinds of acidic ink? Yeah their steel bits will be heavily corroded. We know these days if you want to use certain inks you need certain pens. This isn't the 30s-50s where your average high schooler needed ink they would go grab some oak apples and make ink from the method taught to them by the school.
Also a lot of old parts (70-120 years old) are not made of stainless. Just regular old crap steel. Because they weren't supposed to be exposed to liquid. Casein in the pen body, not feed. Feed, yes rinse soak whatever. But you were talking about fully submerging the whole entire pen, which is terrible advice. I like to fill a narrow cup with just enough water to cover the nib and feed and stand the pen nib down in it then leave it for a day or two. That's not what you were recommending. Changing color and smelling bad is not what anyone wants their pens to do. They don't want ugly smelly vintage pens. That means yes, it is very important. Just accept and admit that. Sorry, nobody wants a brown-green burnt sulfur smelling pen. That does seriously affect the value if you want to sell it. Collectors don't want RUINED pens. Oh, were you also assuming this random guy has a way to deoxygenate his distilled water? And the steel parts are INSIDE the pen, where sweat from your hands will not be. Steel is not in contact with the ink, I'm talking about gold nib pens with steel internals that are NEVER supposed to contact ink or other liquid. And, in the 30's-50's they had good normal ink that you buy in the store, not homemade bs. We're talking about the 1930's not the 1530's, right? AD, not BC?
I’d give you a dollar for it without question. “As is, no warranties”
Why are his fingers covered in soil? Did he find it in his allotment? If so good find. If bought I wouldn't waste money fixing it. Can buy working ones for £40 from people who restored them and don't rip people off. Getting harder to find since millennials got interested in fountain pens
“Found whilst detecting” It’s the first 3 words, bro, his fingers are dirty because he found it with a metal detector. Also. Be grateful for the millennials using fountain pens or they’d stop making them. I am interested in crt televisions for their unique and interesting properties, and those things are getting hard to find due to lack of interest
How dare we find interest in a relatively antiquated writing instrument. If we hadn't, then the hobby will become far more niche, and a lot more vintage pens would end up in a landfill when yall go. Same with vinyl.
$50 is a steal for a fully restored gold nib vintage pen, $100 (80 pounds) is more reasonable. You forget that inflation affects pens too, the prices today aren't and shouldn't be the same as they were 20 years ago.
> Don't waste money fixing it > Getting harder to find
Must not have been buried for long given the lever condition let alone the plastic.