Morrison Battleship Grey Fountain Pen

I have previously written about Morrison Fountain Pen Restorations in three previous posts ~

No Tiers Shed Here — December 12, 2007

Golden Fountain Pen Dreams —  March 7, 2008

Morrison Wartime Pens — March 4, 2009

The Morrison Family of Fountain Pens are some of my favorite third tier pens as they are often well made and have quite good nibs.  This pen is one I have not seen before.

Below you can see the lever filler after I found it.  It had never been used before, but was in quite a neglected state.  You can see the sac has hardened and the nib is very discolored.  The cap rings, clip and lever have also taken on a greenish brown hue.  I first tested the gold furniture and determined that it was not cheap gold plate and could be polished back to its original gold color.  I then took quite a bit of time to scrub the cap and barrel and polish them.  The section and feed were soaked and cleaned.  I then reinserted the nib and feed into the section and attached a large size 20 sac.  A large j-bar was reinserted into the barrel and the  friction fit section was placed back in the barrel.  More on the nib later…

Here is a photo of the unposted and posted pen.  It measures 5 3/8 inches closed and 6 7/8 inches posted.    The clip looks to have plating wear and to have lost its gold, but if has not and this is a lighting issue.

I am intrigued as to how these were sold, or to whom they were sold.  The box has “A GIFT OF SERVICE”  on the top.  Morrison did market to the Military as shown in the advertising and pen in my Morrison Wartime Pens article of March 4, 2009.  This pen seems to be directed to members of the US Navy or Veterans in appreciation of their service.

Here is a photo of the completed pen, in its box.  The box contains two slots for writing instruments and I am going to assume there was a matching pencil at one time.  Morrison did make pencils to match their pens as is evidenced by other models.

The nib is a bit different than any Morrison’s that I have seen, with Morrison in cursive with a flourished “M”.  In fitting with the large pen, it is a large 14K No. 8 nib.

Here is the imprint, which refers to “BATTLESHIP GREY” as the pen name.  Clearly a Navy reference, this would seem to be a pen marketed as an appreciation gift to a US Navy Sailor for his or her service to their Country sometime after World War I (Thank you Greg, for this reference).  These are not as common as other Morrison brands, though I have seen a few in the past year.

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