Myers School pen, a Gillott 404 Clone

Bob Hurford has an excellent set of articles on dip pens at IAMPETH. He begins a tour of flex pens with the Gillott series of nibs as a bench mark and how all manufacturers had similar series of pens.

For example Gillott's 404, 303, 290, 170 had equivalents in Esterbrook 358,357,356, and 355 , Similarly Hunt had the 56, 22, 99 and 100 and so on..

These are a rarity these days., and Joseph Gillott being the pioneer of steel pens in the early 19th century, has a special place for collectors. A full box of Gillott 303 would typically go for $300 if one can be found. Esterbrooks are relatively inexpensive.

In his article Bob mentions how these pens were copied and imitated by several manufacturers. Recently I chanced upon a box of nibs in Ebay, curiously titled 'OLD ENGLAND SCHOOL PEN 404 '. I took a chance and got the box containing a full gross.


...and bingo ! They were as expected, clones of the 404 ! They are of great quality made of bronze and came from none other than Myers and Sons, another famous pen maker from Birmingham.

Here are the 404, 358 and Hunt 56(also curiously called a School pen) ... amazingly similar.

Needless to say this is one of the best class of dip pens, with solid construction, a reasonably good flex, and the interesting ridge allows more ink to be picked up during the dip. The Gillott though has considerably more flex than the others. With the right ink and a good solid wood holder these are a pleasure to write or draw.

Of these the Speedball Hunt 56 is the only pen manufactured to this day.

The Virtual Paintout : Google Street View

The Internet is providing avenues for creativity in remarkably new ways. One that is recent and relevant to artists and connoisseurs as well as anyone who likes to do art travel (without the hassles) is The Virtual Paint out.

The self taught American painter Bill Guffy's innovation is based on Google's Street View. The idea is simple. Each month Bill identifies a location in Google maps. A location reasonably large and interesting enough to explore. He provides the details on the website on the 1st of every month.

Artists around the world can log in, get the details, and go explore the location using Street view walk through. Then choose a location that they like, and make a painting/drawing/sketch of it and submit to Bill.

What a way to explore a new place, and create new art.Here are the past locations explored by the Virtual Paint out artists.


Bill mentions that only photos from Google Street view are to be used, and confirms that these are officially usable for art creation, that can be commercially sold. :)

So far some amazing locations have be explored and its a treat to look at all the wonderful art that has been produced. Its a great new way to do virtual travel. One can pick a painting that is posted , look up the location and start exploring.

Here is my attempt of a beautiful beach front in Jersey, using a vintage Hunt 512 and Pebeo Incre De Chine.


This is a great and zero cost way of exploring the world in a new way, with the camaraderie of fellow artists.

Hope you check out the site, and start travelling, painting and exploring.

Thanks Bill for this lovely idea!

Macniven and Cameron Waverley Pen

As I explore the exotic world of dip pens, each day I discover something amazing. One such gem of a pen is the Waverley from Macniven and Cameron.

As part of an assorted set of nibs that I got on Ebay, this nib has a very unique design. The plume of the nib is bent in an interesting manner, perhaps to hold that extra bit of ink, and also a very smooth point that prevents paper from catching the nib.

Dipping it into a bottle of dense black Pebeos Incre De Chine, which also happens to have a nice sheen, the pen produces very thin strokes smoothly. There isn't a great amount of flex, though I could get a good bit of variation in width. The pen is very feathery and felt like I was drawing with a metal brush, having a nice bit of springy-ness.

An interesting story related to this specific nib is that, Sir Walter scott, used this pen for a series of novels, known as the Waverley novels. They were named after this pen, since he used them to write the stories!

I was so attracted to this Waverley, I went ahead scouted for more and got lucky. I found an awesome seller in France who sold them by the gross, in its original tin box ! How much better can that get?!

The slight upturned point that resulted in a smoother pen tip, has resulted in the name Waverley being associated with any nib that is of such design. There are fountain pen nibs that have the same design and are known as Waverly pens!

For me though, I would like to stick with these lovelies!