Most, probably all, were made by electrodeposition: the overlays were literally plated onto the caps and barrels. These precursors are scarce they appear to have been introduced towards the end of the 1890s, with most being made of fine silver. While the patterns shown above are the most common, other Filigree patterns preceded them. Despite the "basketweave" monicker, these later Filigrees seem to be a simplified version of a rather short-lived pattern that is shown on the ½V-size eyedroppers and lever-fillers in Waterman's 1919 catalog, in which the intersections of six strips (five, next to the barrel indicia panel) with the round central boss are quite clearly rendered as connected six-petaled flowers. The same 1925 catalog shows both forms of this pattern, with the lower version appearing on smaller and slenderer models. The half-size LEC above is slenderer than the 452 above it, but the altered proportions of the Filigree pattern do not appear to reflect a substantially different production date. The geometricized handling of a motif ultimately drawn from the natural world is characteristically Art Deco. It has been variously dubbed "basketweave" or "bamboo" by collectors. Two more examples, showing variations within the most common version of the trefoil vine pattern.īy the time the 1925 Waterman catalog was published, the trefoil vine pattern had been supplanted by a new Filigree, shown above. ![]() ![]() The blockier, more abstract treatment places it later in the pattern's run The cap's flatter crown is also indicative of a later The design is Art Nouveau, and may be described as a trefoil vine pattern.Īnother example of the trefoil vine pattern appears above. 1923, and is most commonly found on eyedropper-fillers - though it was also used on coin-fillers, pump-fillers, safeties, and older lever-fillers. The Filigree pattern above was in use from 1907 to c. Many of Waterman's competitors - Parker, Conklin, and Sheaffer, to name but a few - also advertised "filigree" pens with similar pierced sheet-metal overlays. The use of the term "filigree" to describe this sort of work was widespread in the American jewelry trade of the era, and being generic and descriptive, was ineligible for Although most are shown in sterling silver, they were offered in gold filled and solid 14K gold as well. ![]() The pictures below show the most common variations. Waterman's Filigree pattern changed over time, though its name did not. Not the first, but surely the most popular of the patterns offered was "Filigree" - not true filigree, which is wirework, but pierced-work, allowing the hard rubber (and on very late examples, celluloid) underneath to show through. Waterman offered pens with precious metal overlays from very early on in the company's history.
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