Busacca Gallery

For the antique dip pen aficionado. Two-sided slider Victorian pocket writing tool pen. Antique Engraved sterling silver Ink and Graphite Pen holder. All-in-one Victorian Antique Silver Sliding Propelling Pencil And Ink Pen. Very unusual and rare. Dip pens emerged in the early 19th century, when they replaced quill pens and, in some parts of the world, reed pens. Dip pens were generally used before the development of fountain pens in the later 19th century, and are now mainly used in illustration, calligraphy, and comics. The dip pen has certain advantages over a fountain pen. It can use waterproof, pigmented, particle-and-binder-based inks, such as India ink, drawing ink, and acrylic inks—each of which would destroy a fountain pen by clogging it—and the traditional iron gall ink, which can corrode fountain pens. Dip pens are also more sensitive to variations of pressure and speed, producing a line that naturally varies in thickness; and they can also produce a finer line than any fountain pen. There is a wide range of exchangeable nibs for dip pens, so different types of lines and effects can be created. The nibs and handles are far cheaper than most fountain pens, and allow color changes much more easily.

The earliest known split-nib metal dip pen is a surviving copper-alloy pen found in Roman Britain (ad 43 to 410).[1] Several other surviving all-metal and removable-nib pens from the Middle Ages and Renaissance have been found, suggesting they were used alongside quill pens. The Jewellery Quarter and surrounding area of Birmingham, England was home to many of the first dip pen manufacturers, which some companies establishing there to produce pens. In Germany the industrial production of dip pens started in 1842 at the factory of Heintze & Blanckertz in Berlin. By the 1850s, Birmingham existed as a world centre for steel pen and steel nib manufacture. More than half the steel nib pens manufactured in the world were Birmingham-made. Thousands of skilled craftsmen and women were employed in the industry. Many new manufacturing techniques were perfected in Birmingham, enabling the city's factories to mass-produce their pens cheaply and efficiently. These were sold worldwide to many who previously could not afford to write, which encouraged the development of education and literacy. By 1860 there were about 100 companies making steel nibs in Birmingham, but 12 large firms dominated the trade. In 1870 Mason, Sommerville, Wiley, and Perry, merged to form Perry & Co. Ltd. which later became one of the largest manufacturers in the world, with near 2,000 employees. Dip pens continued in use in schools into the 1950s and 1960s, mainly on grounds of cost, since fountain pens were expensive to buy. Even when ballpoint pens became cheaply available, some schools banned their use, perhaps because writing with a dip pen had to be done with greater care. School desks were made with a socket for a small ceramic inkwell which had to be refilled on a daily basis, a task often delegated to one of the pupils. Dip pens are rarely used now for regular writing, most commonly having been replaced by fountain pens, rollerball pens, or ballpoint pens. However, dip pens are still appreciated by artists, as they can make great differences between thick and thin lines, and generally write more smoothly than other types of pens. Dip pens are also preferred by calligraphers for fine writing. Dip pens are still in use for nib paintings, mostly round tip ones with a slit in the centre.

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dip_pen

A dip pen or nib pen usually consists of a metal nib with capillary channels like those of fountain–pen nibs, mounted in a handle or holder, often made of wood. Other materials can be used for the holder, including bone, metal, and plastic; some pens are made entirely of glass. Generally, dip pens have no ink reservoir, so the user must recharge the ink from an ink bowl or bottle to continue drawing or writing. There are simple, tiny tubular reservoirs that illustrators sometimes clip onto dip pens, which allow drawing for several minutes without recharging the nib. Recharging can be done by dipping into an inkwell, but it is also possible to charge the pen with an eyedropper, a syringe, or a brush, which gives more control over the amount of ink applied. Thus, "dip pens" are not necessarily dipped; many illustrators call them "nib pens".