pen boxes

[birder]

twg48 No Way! One of my coworkers is from Janesville and a relative of hers that worked for Parker gave me some cool Parker labeled pens that she received in those days. Wish Parker was still there. And Mrs Parker was still living there, cool. They made some quality Duofolds, vacumatics, 51, etc. I have gathered some of those, the really early lucky curve pens have eluded me or not for what I would spend anyway!

[birder]

Hello, I was thinking folks might be interested in this picture with some explanation of the history. I found a Sheaffer V-mail box and bottle and was interested in the way this worked during WWII. Apparently the mail was reduced in microfilm fashion to allow much more mail per transport, and was blown back to regular size at the ETO. Happy to have this little piece.
Sheaffer during the war made I believe bomb fuses, and also antenna tip protectors by the million.
The two pens are WWII Sheaffers, vacuum fillers that are challenging to restore to working order. The other ink bottles are also Sheaffer. The Jet black is unopened bottle from the 40's and I intend to keep it that way, the other bottles are variously labeled the blue stained one is a label I made on photoshop to mimic a 1935 original

[Don Boose]

A wonderful limage!

I don't recall if I ever used a Schaeffer pen, but I've used a lot of Schaeffer ink. The old bottle with the built-in inkwell is perfect for use with a dipping pen and is a pleasing shape. I don't know when they switched to the current cone shape, but am glad that I accumulated several of the old bottles over the years, one of which (bought within the last decade or so) still contains Schaeffer ink that I use. Now and then, I fill one of the others with the ink I am currently using and stick on a temporary label.

If only I had good handwriting!

Don

[birder]

Ah handwriting the ongoing challenge... I feel the same way about the Sheaffer inkwell bottle introduced in 1935. They work great, you're left bottle has the domed cap ( older, 1960s or earlier..) but other than that the bottle was used for a long time.

[Don Boose]

I wish I had kept the original label on. Who knew at the time it would be a collector's item?

But it's still a great ink bottle.

Don

[Paper Fun]

Are there templates for making these boxes?

[birder]

I drew up a simple template for these
The Xmas box is new drawn from an original box owned by a fellow collector who somehow found a Waterman baby safety
Very rare but the box was enlarged to size of my template

[Michael Mash]

Just stumbled across this thread today.
Can't believe it. Wonderful.
So if I understand correctly Glen, you scratch-build the boxes?

[Don Boose]

Hi Mike! Glad to have you here in the fountain pen fanciers' corner.

Not only did Glen design and scratch build the pen box, but I am the proud owner of a Birder Pen Box that holds my prized Pelikan M1000, which Lil gave me as a gift when I graduated from the Army in June 1992. The ink bottle with the silver cap inscribed with my monogram and the relatively new Pelikan M200 Smoky Quartz pen are also gifts from Lil.

My post describing the fabrication of the box is at http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/624536-post18.html

Cheers,

Don

[birder]

Hello there Mike I started out with one box and it kept going...
Now I use a simple template and photo off internet usually to photoshop and
Clean it up. Fun with old pens...