1920s Century MHR Flat Top Fountain Pen - Superflex

Vintage: 1920s

Make: Century (Boston?)

Model: Flat top

Color/Pattern: Mottled red and black

Materials: Hard rubber, gold-filled trim

Filling System: Lever filler (resacced and guaranteed to fill and write as designed)

Length: This full-sized model measures 5 3/16” capped. 

Nib: Super-Flexible 14k Century #3 nib with teardrop breather hole lays down a smooth and consistent XF line that widens to a 4B+ (approx 2.5mm) under light pressure 

Condition: Hard rubber retains its factory black and red colors with no discernible oxidation. HR surface is smooth and lustrous with no deep scratches or other notable flaws. Plating on clip is pristine but cap band shows a sliver of brassing along the bottom edge all the way around with a spot on each side of the cap that’s a little wider. There are also 2 small spots of high point wear at the apex of the lever. I see no trace of the barrel or cap ever having a manufacturer imprint. 

Details: This pen is a bit of a mystery to me. The functional, gold-filled (“14kt 1/10”) roller clip stamped “WHH” is similar to those I’ve seen on Boston pens while the lever is a dead ringer for Wahl, which came to acquire the Boston Pen Company. Yet the nib is stamped Century, a pen company from Whitewater, Wisconsin founded in 1892. For simplicity’s sake, I’ve identified this pen as a Century but I can’t rule out a replacement nib here. The pen itself is made of mottled red and black hard rubber complemented by gold-filled trim. Handsome red and gold emblem with a bear’s head in relief framed by “California Ins. Co. / San Francisco” is embedded in the cap’s crown.