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Vintage 1938 Mordan Everpoint Fountain Pen

Vintage 1938 Mordan Everpoint Fountain Pen
Photo Credit: Fountain Pen Emporium

Vintage 1938 Mordan Everpoint Fountain Pen

Asking Price: $223.48 (price as of 2019; item no longer available)

Pros:

-A sterling silver barleycorn pattern barrel and solid 14 karat gold nib are key features of this 1938 Mordan Everpoint fountain pen from pre-World War II Britain.

-This vintage Mordan fountain pen measures a compact 3.7 inches (9.3 cm) long when capped.

-Sampson Mordan founded the eponymous firm of S. Mordan & Co. in 1824 in London.  The company manufactured a range of small gold and silver items, but specialized in mechanical pencils under the “Everpoint” patent/copyright.  The firm was succeeded by Mr. Mordan’s sons after his death at the age of 53 in 1843.

-This 1930s Mordan Everpoint fountain pen carries the appropriate hallmarks for its time, including the lion passant (indicating the sterling standard), the uncrowned leopard’s head (London) and the letter “C” (1938).

-S. Mordan & Co. flourished from the mid 19th century through the early 20th century.  Unfortunately, the company ceased trading in 1941 after its primary factory was flattened by the German Luftwaffe during the London Blitz.  After this debacle, its patents were sold off and the firm was formally liquidated in 1952.

-This fine old fountain pen comes in its original box, which is labeled on the inside with “Mordan Everpoint” and “London Made”.

-This Mordan Everpoint fountain pen has a solid 14 karat (or “14 carat” in British parlance) gold nib.  Solid gold nibs are highly prized by vintage pen collectors because of their superior writing characteristics compared to cheaper steel nibs.

-This is the sort of pen that sometimes gets overlooked because it isn’t from a big brand name like Montblanc, Parker or Waterman.  But the true pen aficionado will understand that the $223 asking price of this vintage English fountain pen is easily justified by its high build quality and bold 1930s styling.  Mordan Everpoints were very good, very expensive pens in their time.

 

Cons:

-I wish the seller had taken better photos of the hallmarks and the nib.  That would have helped confirm some of the pen’s details.  But in spite of this drawback, there isn’t any evidence that a single piece of this fountain pen has been altered or repaired.

 

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Set of 1830s French Silver-Gilt Teaspoons in Louis XVI Style

Set of 1830s French Silver-Gilt Teaspoons in Louis XVI Style
Photo Credit: moniques-antiques2

Set of 1830s French Silver-Gilt Teaspoons in Louis XVI Style

Buy It Now Price: $371.25 (price as of 2019; item no longer available)

Pros:

-This magnificent set of 11 French silver-gilt teaspoons from the 1830s features an ornate Louis XVI style with laurel leaves, scrollwork and torches.

-The set weighs 209.7 grams (6.74 troy ounces) of solid .950 fine silver in aggregate.  Each individual spoon is 19.06 grams (0.6128 troy ounces) in weight and 5.625 inches (14.3 cm) long.

-This set of French silver-gilt teaspoons has all the appropriate hallmarks for the 1830s: the head of Hippocrates facing right (indicating the First Quality .950 fine standard used between 1819 and 1838) and a Greek mask (representing the Paris guaranty mark for medium-sized items).  There are other hallmarks as well (including the maker’s mark), but they cannot be identified from the photos provided.

-These fine solid silver teaspoons have been fire gilt!  Fire gilding, also known as mercury gilding, is a near-legendary type of gold-plating.  Unfortunately, the art of fire gilding gradually died out in the mid 19th century due to the introduction of the cheaper (but inferior) electroplating method.

-According to the seller, these French silver-gilt teaspoons were made by Charles-Salomon Mahler – a prolific silversmith who operated in Paris between 1824 and 1838.

-Even though these spoons have a medallion at the end of their handles meant to accommodate a monogram, they have never been personalized.  The fact that these lovely old teaspoons are not monogrammed will tend to boost their value slightly.

-Although there are many different kinds of old European silver available to the discerning collector, in my opinion French silver has the perfect combination of decorative flair and understated charm.  This is in contrast to German silverware, which is often too stiff, and British silver, which can be too conservative in its decoration.

-Antique French silver is substantially undervalued in today’s marketplace.  The fact that you can pick up this set of 180 year old French silver-gilt teaspoons for only $371 – less than $34 per spoon – is proof enough!

 

Cons:

-Antique silver flatware can be either double-struck or single-struck.  Double-struck means that the design elements are present on both sides of the handle, while single-struck means they are only on the front.  Unfortunately, this set of French silver-gilt teaspoons is single-struck with a blank reverse, which is less desirable and valuable than more ornate double-struck versions.

 

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1970s 10 Ounce CMI USS Constitution Silver Bar

1970s 10 Ounce CMI USS Constitution Silver Bar
Photo Credit: hrcpm

1970s 10 Ounce CMI USS Constitution Silver Bar

Buy It Now Price: $220 each (price as of 2019; item no longer available)

Pros:

-Each vintage 1970s USS Constitution silver bar contains 10 troy ounces of .999 fine silver and bears a logo depicting the famous U.S. Naval vessel.

-This USS Constitution silver bar has been extruded into a classic kit-kat shape.  Struck and extruded silver bars were first produced in the 1970s as a response to overwhelming consumer demand for precious metal investments as a hedge against inflation.  Extruded bars were faster and cheaper to produce than hand-poured bars.  As a result, by the early 1980s poured silver bars were no longer commonly made.

-The USS Constitution, also known by the nickname Old Ironsides due to its stellar performance in the War of 1812, is a three-mast U.S. Navy frigate built from live oak.  The ship was launched in 1797 and, after a gallant career, retired from active service in 1881.  She is currently open to the public as a museum ship in Massachusetts’ Charlestown Naval Yard.

-The Constitution Mint Inc., or CMI for short, was a silver fabricator that operated out of Provo, Utah during the 1970s.  It was known for producing 1 ounce silver rounds and extruded, kit-kat style silver bars in 10, 25, 50 and 100 troy ounce sizes.

-CMI silver bars are some of the more readily available vintage ingots in the marketplace today.  They were produced in quantity during the 1970s and a fair number have escaped the melting pot over the past 40-odd years.  This means they generally command modest premiums over the spot price of silver, making them a great choice for novice antique silver bar collectors.

-This USS Constitution silver bar comes in its original shrink-wrap plastic!  The snug factory plastic has kept most of the bar shiny and bright over the decades, while allowing its unprotected ends to tarnish.

-Vintage ingots – like this USS Constitution silver bar – are an economical way to stack silver while also providing some numismatic investment exposure to the desirable antique silver bar market.

-Vintage poured and extruded silver bars are currently trading at some of their lowest premiums over spot in the last several years.  With spot at around $17.50 an ounce right now, this USS Constitution silver bar is selling for a premium of only 25.7%.  At an asking price of $220, this CMI silver bar is quite a bargain – with as low a premium as you could realistically hope to get.

 

Cons:

-If you’re really lucky, you might be able to pick up one of these wonderful old silver bars in your local coin store’s junk silver bin for only 50 cents or $1 over spot.  Sadly, this is becoming a rarer and rarer occurrence as word gets out about the insatiable collector demand for these unique pieces.

 

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Japanese Woodblock Print by Tsuchiya Koitsu – Evening at Ushigome

Japanese Woodblock Print by Tsuchiya Koitsu - Evening at Ushigome
Photo Credit: Craigkc

Japanese Woodblock Print by Tsuchiya Koitsu – Evening at Ushigome

Buy It Now Price: $299.99 (price as of 2019; item no longer available)

Pros:

-This Japanese woodblock print is a vintage reprint of a 1939 work titled “Evening at Ushigome” by the well-regarded Shin Hanga artist Tsuchiya Koitsu.  The work features a rainy urban night scene set in a Tokyo neighborhood populated by haunting, ethereal women in traditional Japanese dress.

-This Japanese woodblock print measures 15.375 inches (39.1 cm) tall by 10.125 inches (25.7 cm) wide, making it one of the larger, “Oban” sizes.

-Tsuchiya Koitsu was a Japanese artist known for his atmospheric landscapes in the Shin Hanga style.  He apprenticed under the Ukiyo-e master Kiyochika Kobayashi before eventually adopting the Shin Hanga style around 1931.

-This Japanese woodblock print was published by Doi Hangaten, a well known mid-20th century publisher of Shin Hanga works.  It also displays an offset “Harada-Yokoi” carver-printer seal, which is fairly common on vintage Tsuchiya Koitsu prints.  This combination of seals (reference K34) allows us to pinpoint the date of this particular print between 1950 and 1963.

-The back of the print features an old art gallery tag that reads “A Genuine Wood-Block Print | Ace Art Shop | 115 Nakasato-Cho, Kita-Ku, Tokyo, Japan | #27”.  The Ace Art Shop is a now defunct Tokyo gallery that was active back in the 1960s (and possibly earlier).  It’s really great to have this little extra piece of provenance attached to the print.

-Although it isn’t a first edition, this Tsuchiya Koitsu Japanese woodblock print is undoubtedly an earlier, circa 1950s version.  This makes it much more desirable (and valuable) than later 1990s to 2010s Heisei era reprints.

-Given that this is a genuine vintage Japanese woodblock print from the mid-20th century by a famous Shin Hanga artist, the asking price of $300 is a bargain.  It is far more common to find later reprinted versions for hardly any cheaper, so why not pay an extra $100 and get a vintage version with greater appreciation potential?

 

Cons:

-This example of Evening at Ushigome has the remnants of yellowed tape residue around the margins.  This means the work isn’t in pristine condition, a fact that decreased its desirability somewhat.  Even so, I feel it is still in fairly good condition and certainly worth the asking price.

-The work comes unframed.  With acid-free matting and UV-resistant glass, framing costs will typically run another $100 to $300 (in addition to the $300 asking price).

 

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