An Unbranded Silver Engraved Leaf Pattern Fountain Pen c. 1949-53

by Jim Mamoulides, October 6, 2023

Unbranded silver engraved leaf pattern fountain pen c. 1949-53

Sincerest Form of Flattery

At first glance this pen appears to be a rare 1930s era Platinum silver hand engraved leaf pattern lever-fill fountain pen. The engraving on the cap and barrel is a very carefully executed copy, but after the initial surprise, certain details quickly show it was not made by Platinum.

The gold plated clip is a nearly exact copy of the arrow clip on the Parker 51 Aerometric pens, where the Platinum version, admittedly also a Parker homage, but of the earlier Parker Vacumatic type, at least has some distinguishing characteristics, such as the featherless silver arrow clip or the later gold filled PLATINUM stamped feathered arrow clip seen in my article (link below). Just below the tip of the clip arrowhead at the cap band is stamped simply SILVER, not the more complete Platinum company stamping with PURE SILVER.

Unbranded silver engraved leaf pattern fountain pen c. 1949-53

Looking at the barrel reveals that there is no lever slot, so the pen obviously can’t be a lever filler. Taking the cap off and then unscrewing the barrel from the section reveals a clear plastic inner barrel under the silver sleeve as well as a clear plastic section that shows the nib and feed. The section is attached to an unmarked highly polished aerometric type filler unit.

On the Platinum pen the nib would be 14 karat gold, stamped with the Parker Vacumatic arrow design and Platinum markings. The nib on this pen is gold plated stainless steel with KING over 1952 over (A). The lack of a JIS stamp dates the nib to before 1954. The aerometric type of filler dates the pen not earlier than 1948, so the likely date range is 1949-1953. This makes the 1952 stamping on the nib more likely the date at least when the nib was made.

Unbranded silver engraved leaf pattern fountain pen c. 1949-53

Before World War Two, Japan was home to many small pen making shops. These shops made and decorated caps and barrels but generally bought hardware, especially nibs, from specialty manufacturers. The number of shops dwindled after the war, but small pen makers still produced pens in this same way through the 1950s. This pen was likely made by a small shop with an in-house engraver or jewelry shop connection. Does the King branding on the nib identify the pen maker? Possibly, but it’s also possible King was a brand of nib that the shop used. Without some solid primary information, I’m going to say I just don’t know.

Unsigned, But Nicely Done

Whoever did the unsigned engraving work was very capable. It’s as deep and distinctive as the Plaintum original but does have noticeable differences. The rows of four leaves on the cap are very uniform and all run in the same direction. The barrel engraving shows more differences, beginning with five leaves per row instead of four on the original, with the top and bottom leaves being incompletely rendered, with the top and bottom leaves sliced to an edge, as if the design was shifted and yet had to fit in the same space. The shading at each leaf’s edges and the darkening lines between the leaves are sharper and show some rough and sharp cuts, indicating less confidence and familiarity with the design than the engraver(s) employed by Platinum.

Unbranded silver engraved leaf pattern fountain pen c. 1949-53

The deeply engraved leaf design is definitely an homage to the original Platinum pen. The leaves here are also similar to a grape leaf, though as first seen on the Platinum pen, the curved tips are a puzzle. In this case the artist is merely copying and not adding any additional references. If they symbolize the leaves of a grapevine, the design also wishes a bountiful harvest or a long life to the owner.

For comparison, the Platinum model can be seen in my previous article or in Fountain Pens of Japan on page 295. There are no maker’s marks on this pen, only the SILVER hallmark stamped on the cap lip and the King stamped nib. It's possible the pen was made by a small pen maker or jewelry shop based on the Platinum design.

Fountain Pens of Japan describes the original as rare and this pen indicates the impact in the Japanese pen market where some shop would attempt to make a worthy copy, possibly for a wealthy client. This design also exists on a gold plate version that will be covered in a future article. Not as nice as the original, but impressive as an homage. It is beautiful, highly tactile, but with some sharpness to the touch. The clear plastic elements and the stainless steel nib are detractions in my mind, but if you can’t get the original, this would be a nice placeholder waiting on the superior Platinum version.

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References

Fountain Pens of Japan by Andreas Lambrou and Masamichi Sunami, 2012 Andreas Lambrou Publishers Ltd. Epping, Essex, UK, pages 290-315

Grapevine, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

"Platinum Silver Engraved Leaf Pattern Fountain Pen c. 1930s", Jim Mamoulides, PenHero.com