Vintage EVERSHARP SKYLINE Fountain Pen Black, FLEX Nib Fine - 2.7 mm - RESTORED

Description

RESTORED Vintage Standard-Sized Black
Eversharp
Skyline Fountain Pen with
FLEXIBLE
Nib
Circa 1940's
Black body and cap with gold-filled trim, and 14kt gold nib.  Lever-filled.  Made in U.S.A.
Classic color combination.
Iconic pen.  Great for everyday writing, at the office or home, but super fun to write FANCY flex writing with it.
Really nice flex!
Ready to be used
Eversharp was one of the "Big Four" pen manufacturer's during the Golden Age of fountain pens (others were Parker, Sheaffer, and Waterman).  Renowned for their FLEXIBLE nibs.
Restoration - Installed New Sac and Cleaned/Polished
Restoration included soaking, disassembling, ultrasonically cleaning, scrubbing, swabbing, flushing, sanding, buffing, polishing and waxing.  Dismantled section/nib/feed and thoroughly cleaned, soaked, ultrasonically cleaned, and polished with jeweler's cloth. Smoothed and aligned nib and adjusted flow. Tested nib for smoothness and flex (See photo of writing sample.), then flushed.  Removed old ink sac and replaced with new.  Replaced broken breather tube.  Confirmed lever moves freely.  Confirmed lever depressed the new sac and draws water.  Brushed and swabbed to clean the inner diameters of cap and barrel.  Sanded and buffed the plastic barrel, and used jeweler's cloth to polish gold-filled components.
Materials and Conditions
-
Body including Cap -
·
Standard-sized
·
Black plastic barrel and cap.  Ebonite feed (ebonite holds ink better than plastic, which is especially important for flex writing).  Feed has Eversharp's "Magic Feed" design with the deep curving channels.  They touted it by saying "Prevents flooding, leaking, and skipping. Writes more words more smoothly."  They forgot to mention that it looks cool.
·
Gold-filled clip and lever.  The tips of the clip and lever have brassing, and I think both edges of the clip might, too.
·
Clip is imprinted with "EVERSHARP" plus the double-check "W" logo.  Imprinted on the band of the clip "EVERSHARP SKYLINE PAT. MADE IN U.S.A."  The second "E" in EVERSHARP on the clip band has a bad ding/scratch.  There is another scratch, not as bad, under the "A" in the same word.  There are noticeable scratches on the clip under the vertical "EVERSHARP."  Scratches look like little dents, until you magnify them and see that they are dings/scratches.
·
Cap:
·
Screw-on cap.  Threads nicely onto barrel.
·
Clip holds tightly to the rim of a pocket, but very easily slip over the rim when put into pocket.
·
Body:
·
Several noticeable scratches right above the lever, to its right.
·
Many, many mostly unnoticeable scratches and dings all over, despite sanding and buffing.  This little guy has had a rough life.
·
No chips, cracks, discolorations, bulges, or engravings.
Nib -
14 kt gold nib engraved "EVERSHARP
(diagonal banner)
14K    MADE IN USA"
Breather hole is oval-/elongated diamond-shaped
The face of the nib has a high luster.
Tines are properly aligned and touching with plenty of the iridium tips which are smooth (See close up photos).
The slit gap is pretty wide.  Definitely no touching from one side to the other.  Hence the super juicy.  I narrowed the gap, but it is still quite wide.  The writing sample does not LOOK like a Fine line, but after the sample I narrowed the slit gap and the ink flow allowed the nib to write as a Fine.
Writing sample was done by filling ink sac was to confirm ink feed could keep up with its flex.  That was NOT an issue.  In fact, my efforts were in trying to not lay down too much ink.
This nib is super wet ("juicy").  It lays down a substantial layer of ink.  Fountain-pen-friendly paper is strongly advised, if not required -- other paper will likely allow the ink to feather and/or bleed through.  You will not be happy.
The second of the writing sample shows “normal writing,” which exhibits nice line variation with no effort. Writing with it like this made me rethink the idea of selling it.  It is just so smooth and juicy. Makes my writing look good... look at that "Maybe" I wrote in the writing sample.  That's a thing of beauty.
I THINK this pen had a hard life because people were constantly fighting over it, perhaps???  That makes sense.
WARNING
: flexing this nib beyond the 2.7 mm range will likely damage the nib, either by springing it or initiating a crack that will grow with every use.  Consider 2.7 mm inch the
extreme
maximum, and not the everyday writing line width.
Ink Feed System
New rubber sac
Sac was shellacked in place then powdered with pure talc to prevent if from sticking to the barrel walls.
New breather tube replaced cracked one
Due to the breather tube, filling instruction call for 5 cycles of the lever to obtain a complete filling.  The ink sac fills much more full than without a breather tube.  However, the drawback is that flushing the pen takes more cycles of the lever, too.
Filling system was tested with water and ink
Ink flushed from sac using lever/pressure bar -- may have some of the Waterman's Harmonious Green ink remaining
Dimensions
This is Eversharp's standard size Skyline pen
Length:
Capped - 5-1/4 inches (133 mm)
Posted - 5-3/4  inches (146 mm)
Maximum diameter of the barrel - 0.45" (11 mm)
Weight – 0.6 ounces (17 grams)
See the photos to get a feel for the other dimensions.  The grid pattern is in 1/2" (12.7 mm) increments.
Background on Eversharp Company and Skyline Design
(from Richard Binder’s site RichardsPens.com)
Eversharp Company Background:
(Wahl Company, later Eversharp, Inc.) A pen manufacturing company located in Illinois. Founded as the Wahl Adding Machine Company in 1905 by John C. Wahl, the company in 1915 purchased a controlling interest in Keeran & Company, maker of the Eversharp propelling pencil invented in 1913 by Charles R. Keeran. In 1916, Wahl completely absorbed Keeran’s company, acquiring the rights to the Eversharp name and gaining also the angular Eversharp logo that remained in use into the 1940s. In 1917 Wahl purchased most of the assets of the Boston Fountain Pen Company and moved its operations to Chicago. By about 1927, Wahl had risen to become a
premier pen maker and displaced Conklin as a member of the “Big Four” American makers
; and in 1940 the company changed its name to become Eversharp. Inc. Perhaps the
best known of Eversharp’s pens is
the 1940s
Skyline
, a streamlined pen designed by noted industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss. During World War II, Eversharp purchased the rights to László Bíró’s ballpoint patent and in 1945 introduced the CA, which was a catastrophic failure. In 1957 Parker purchased Eversharp’s writing instruments division.
Skyline Design = The Best in Streamlined Industrial Design:
In the summer of 1940,
the Eversharp company introduced a new fountain pen called the
Skyline.
Strikingly modern in appearance, the Skyline was designed by the noted industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss, who also streamlined the steam locomotives of the New York Central Railroad’s famed
20th Century Limited. You do not need a very sharp eye to detect a strong resemblance between the locomotive of the day and the Skylines.
Despite its futuristic looks, the Skyline was internally a relatively ordinary pen, although it had a breather tube that supposedly “flight-proofed” the pen for the “Air Age.” Because of the breather tube, however, the pen’s instruction sheet called for five cycles of the lever to obtain a complete filling.
The best feature of the Skyline was the justly renowned Eversharp nib
; the company offered Skylines with everything from manifold accounting nibs as rigid as nails to italics with
wonderful flex
, and
collectors today greatly prize Skylines for their writing qualities
.
Shipping Details:
Shipped with
USPS First Class
.  If being shipped
outside of USA
, will use Global Shipping Program (
except Canada
.
.. I will ship directly using USPS).  Please first confirm your country is NOT on the
exclusion list
(see
tab labeled "Shipping and Payments"
behind the "Description" tab).
I will
combine
shipping, happily
I will ship using a
faster
USPS method (Priority, for example), if you pay the difference in price