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FINE & VINTAGE WRITING INSTRUMENTS
THE DEPARTMENT
Swann Galleries is well-known for auctions of books and manuscripts.You could
say we have built our reputation on the written word. And so it should come as
no surprise that we’ve expanded our sales to include Fine & Vintage Writing
Instruments. Indeed, these are the very tools that helped to create the fine
documents and other quality material we have auctioned over the past 70 years.
In late 2011, we met with pen collector and historian Rick Propas, who has sold
fine pens both on his own and working with another auction house. In the
following months, the Fine &VintageWriting Instruments Department at Swann
came together with ease and swiftness. Marco Tomaschett, a specialist in
autographs, was named coordinator and is in charge of day-to-day operations.
Within weeks of announcing the department we had property sufficient for a fine
sale and since then have been able to add property that completes this sale and
another, equally strong, to follow in the early Spring of 2013.We are grateful to
those consignors whose trust has helped us start this enterprise and with pride
we put before you our first sale.
THE SALE
The pens you see here represent a wide range of modern and vintage writing
instruments from several collections. As a result there is no set theme to this sale.
Each of these collections, from the early Parkers andWatermans of one collector,
to the fine vintage German and Italian pens of another, reflect the values of those
who gathered them and a vision of collecting at its best. If there is a common tie,
that is it.
A major part of the sale is the Chilton collection ofWilliam Baisden, who has long
been known to the pen community as one of the most serious Chilton collectors.
This portion of the sale contains the finest group of Chiltons ever offered at one
time in one place. Established by Seth Crocker, who started his first pen company