A question I ask myself when writing with vintage pens is this...did the letter writers of the 30's, 40's, 50's actually write with a fountain pen? Did they use a dip pen? Did they use pencil?
Most correspondence I've seen from those years, would suggest that the latter can be ruled out. They did use ink pens, but whether they were of the fountain or dip variety, I can't be sure.
The pen in the picture is one of my favourite Conway Stewart 286's. These were in production from the very late 1920's up till the latter half of the 1940's. The model shown, is actually a later example, and could certainly have been used to write the featured letter, in 1945.
The date on this letter, is just three days before Hitler commited suicide, and just two weeks (give or take) before VE day on the 8th May 1945, when the Allies accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany...
If you know anyone who might be old enough...why not ask them what they wrote with, in those turbulent times. Who's ink did they use. What colours? Who's writing paper? Do they have any old letters you could have a look at? Do they still have the pens?
Then, let me know...
Best viewed as a larger image.
GORGEOUS pen!!
ReplyDeleteWhen I try to view large, though, Flickr tells me the page is private and I don't have permission to do that.
MM...Thanks for the feedback on the larger image. I'm hoping that I have sorted this!!! I'll have to go back through my other entries, and look at their links.
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