Product Description
Type Vintage fountain pen and mechanical pencil set. NOTE: the pencil is lovely but non-functioning!
Product Name Leverless Lizard - Type 3, with "Type B" barrel imprint.
Manufacturer and Year Mabie Todd & Co., England -- circa 1941-42.
Length The fountain pen is 5-1/4" long, and the pencil is 5-1/8" long.
Filling System Leverless filler (twisting the knob at the end of the barrel twists the sac to compress it, and and untwisting causes the ink to be sucked into the sac). We've restored it with a new sac and it's working well. The pencil extends the lead by pressing down the top half, though again, the pencil is currently not working.
Color Garnet Lizard Skin, which is a really deep pink/magenta color. Really unusual celluloid (?). Black finials. Gold plated cap bands and clip.
Nib Fine 14k gold #4 Mabie Todd "Swan" nib. It's soft and flexible - see our writing sample below. The pencil takes 1.1mm leads.
Condition Excellent condition. This is a richly colored, shiny set. The fountain pen looks fantastic. The cap and barrel have light scratching and handwear. There is a line of surface marks on the barrel, likely from sitting in a tray. The twist knob at the end of the barrel has some light bite marks around the edge. The cap also has light surface marks and wear. There is a chevron-shaped dent in the cap, pointing toward the top left of the clip. The cap bands look good. There is brassing at the top of the clip, down the central spine, and around the ball end. The cap finial has bite marks around the edge. The imprint is clear. The mechanical pencil looks lovely, though as mentioned above it is not working and probably needs to parts to be replaced. There is handwear and light scratching on the cap and barrel. The cone has scratching, some small dents, and tiny dots of pitting. The cap bands look good. The clip has brassing around the ball end. The swan emblem in the cap top has some plating wear, especially around the edges. The imprint is worn, but legible.
Note: this material is known to be somewhat delicate and prone to cracking. There aren't any cracks in the pen's cap lip, and we STRONGLY recommend not posting the cap.
Regarding the pencil not working: the mechanism does seem functional, though somewhat stiff from non-use. The very tip of the cone may have an internal burr preventing the lead from sliding through; without the cone, we could see the jaws inside opening and closing and the lead moving. The lead didn't slide through the tip of the cone unless pulled with a twisting motion and showed grooves in it, suggesting that there is something inside the cone preventing the lead from sliding freely.
