Jackwin Fountain Pens

Yellow….

The color yellow is associated with many things from the sun and bright flowers, to cowardice, caution and aging.

Vintage yellow pens are fairly rare.  The most famous is the Parker Mandarin Duofold, which can value at over a thousand dollars in pristine condition.  This week’s pen is far from a Duofold, but a nice example of a third tier imitation from the same time period, if not a bit later.

Below is the exploded view of a Jackwin Fountain Pen in Mandarin Yellow, probably manufactured in the 1920s or early 30s.  You can see the typical staining of the barrel and cap from years of neglect.  The old size 16 sac has hardened and the nib is very dirty.

I cleaned all of the parts in the ultrasonic cleaner and then scrubbed the barrel and cap, inside and out, with a dremel and Pentiques scratch remover and polish.  With these light colored plastic pens, extra time needs to be spent on the threads (0n barrel and inside cap) as they are very often badly stained.  I use Ink Nix and a toothbrush, followed by a trip to the ultrasonic cleaner, and repeat.  The gold furniture polished up well.  The photos below make the clip and cap ring appear washed out, but they retain their gold color and this is a camera (and camera operator) problem.  I cleaned the section and feed in the ultrasonic cleaner and reinserted the feed and polished nib into the section.  The nib is a small Warranted 14K nib with no size number.  I installed a silicon size 16 sac and reassembled the pen.  The final restored Jackwin is below.

Jackwin Fountain Pens were a sub-brand of the Eclipse Fountain Pen and Pencil Corp.  Refer to these posts for further history of Eclipse

Eclipse Gold Filigree Fountain Pen –  January 1,2009
Marxton Flat Top – May 20, 2009

I have placed this pen as a US production (NY / NJ) in the late 1920s.  This coincides to Eclipse’s history and their production of these colorful flat top pens that resemble the popular Parker Duofolds and similar pens of the day.

Vintage yellow pens present numerous restoration challenges above the usual aging issues.  They show discoloration more easily and are prone to cracking near the cap bands.  This one survived well.  For a glimpse of another large yellow flat top restoration from and older article follow this link:

A Dixie In Illinois  –  November 26, 2008

I think every vintage collection should contain one Yellow Pen as they are an interesting corner of the fountain pen history.  Often difficult to find and expensive (Duofolds), these third tier pens are a very attractive alternative to supplement your collection.