How Well Do You Know Your Spencerian #1 Pen

How Well Do You Know Your Spencerian #1 Pen?

Like many pen companies struggling in the late 30s mid 40s, short cuts and attempts to manufacture on the cheap were a must while somehow holding onto the quality you were known for. Esterbrook thankfully didn’t have to cut that many corners; their pens remained of reasonably higher standards than their competition, even more than Spencerian Pen Company of New York. In today’s post I am going to show you the evolution of the famous Spencerian #1 requested by the Ivison & Phinney Stationer in New York City and how I believe some are more valuable than others.

Calligraphers are shelling out big bucks to acquire as many Spencerian #1s they can get their hands on, with good reason.  It is one of the finest copperplate, ornamental script pens ever made, second ONLY to the Joseph Gillott #604EF Double Elastic pen! Its point is durable, flexible, and extra fine. The heritage of the Spencerian #1 is the secret to its success. Remember how I said it was second only to the Joseph Gillott #604EF?  There is a truth behind that statement that not many people are aware of. A respected pen maker was behind both designs of the ever popular Joseph Gillott 604EF, and the Spencerian #1. Sir Josiah Mason was the genius behind these pens. He made a good number of pens for many pen manufacturers in England, including the Spencerian Pen Company. A New York stationer, named after its owners, Ivison & Phinney requested the Spencerian #1 exclusively for their shop. At this time in the mid 1800s, Spencerian ornamental scripts were in popular use and thus the value of the pen sky rocketed. As time went on, the pen would only change slightly, in unperceivable ways. Once WWII hit, that all changed as it did for everyone. It was time to cut corners and sadly Spencerian made some very bad decisions, in my opinion.

Above is a picture showing the three most noticeable differences in the Spencerian #1. The top most pen is the oldest I have seen. It has a heavy grind over the top of the pen, carefully hugging the curvature of the side cuts and keeping the actual point untouched. This gave the maximum flexibility while keeping the point hard, sharp, and durable. The bottom most pen is the younger version that is most commonly found in the vintage pen world. You can see the grind is almost an afterthought. It is reminiscent of groove stamping and might have been Spencerian’s way of showing handmade quality but in reality it was cheating the customer.

Here is a close up of the younger pen. You can see the gravity well is no longer cut out of the metal, but is melted into shape. I have verified this with a Materials Engineer. This will no doubt affect ink flow. Also, look at the shoddy work on that side cut! It just juts without making full contact with the twines. Therefore, it is not offering proper support for flexibility. These flaws are common amongst Eagle Pencil Company’s pens from 1936 onward; melted gravity wells, and flawed side cuts. Yet, even with these outrageous flaws, people will still spend seven or more dollars each for these pens. I have seen pictures of the versions that came later and they are even worse.

Shown above in these two photos, the grind isn’t the only major difference. Before 1930, it was not required by the United States to state where your product was made. England, being the proud country it is, did make sure everyone knew WHO made the pen! The early versions are simply stamped “ENGLAND” on the bottom. After 1930 they are stamped “Made In ENGLAND.” Spencerian did have the foresight to continue their heavy grind in the 1930s, but for some reason they thought it best to shorten the side cuts.  This affects flexibility. My best educated guess was that this was in response to the customer of the day. From the late 20s onward, people began to demand stiffer pens. This was because the customer felt they could write more per dip if the pen didn’t exhaust all its ink on flourished writing. It didn’t help that the popularity of Spencerian Script was now only a passing curiosity and hobby. This is most likely why Spencerian returned to making the pen more flexible again because it knew it couldn’t compete in the school markets, so it targeted calligraphy enthusiasts and that is where it stayed. In the late 40s, the company actually moved production in the USA and thus the pens are stamped "Made In USA." Thankfully, I do not have any of these as they are absolutely terrible.

I have personally used each version and I am here to tell you that the older version is the stuff of legend and worth every single cent you spent on it. I haven’t changed the one I use regularly in over two years. It’s a wonderful blackish-purple and still writes as smoothly and easily as it did when I first inked it. Furthermore, I expect that it will last another two years! :)

So the next time you hunker down at your computer, ready to snipe that box of Spencerian #1s on eBay, you would be wise to think twice before you go “all in” on that box.  If the seller doesn’t have clear pictures of the pens, ask them to try to give a clearer picture of the features of the pen, or at least describe the grind and say what country is stamped on the pen.

Here is a shot of the oldest and newest versions for future reference.

Happy hunting!