1920s Conklin Student Special 20 Fountain Pen - FLEX/SUPERFLEX

Vintage: 1920s

Make: Conklin

Model: Student Special 20

Color: black chased

Materials: hard rubber

Filling System: Crescent filler (resacced and guaranteed to fill to capacity). To fill simply rotate the knurled lock-ring on the barrel to the open position and depress the metal crescent once with the nib submersed. 

Length: This full-sized model measures 5 3/8” capped.

Nib: 14k Conklin Student Special (SS) nib yields Super-Flexible variation with Flexible softness. It lays down a smooth and consistent XF line that widens to a 4B+ (approx 2.4mm) under moderate pressure.

Condition: Despite the factory black color of the hard rubber, this one is more of a user. Singificant wear to the chasing, which is all but worn away in places. But the HR has a smooth and lustrous surface with no deep scratches or other notable blemishes. Gold-filled trim shows brassing to the top and bottom of the clip, a sliver of brassing along the top edge of the cap band on each side of the cap, slivers on the side edges of the lever, and some pin-sized dings on the cap band. Manufacturer imprint on barrel is light and only partly legible. There is also a chip in the feed that has no discernible effect on the way the pen writes.

Details: The Student Special was a model Conklin marketed to students but it was virtually indistinguishable from its other lever-filling flat tops of the 1920s aside from the nib.