The Turned-Up Nib Selection

Four vintage turned-up nibs from three Birmingham and English makers, each solving the same problem in their own way.

The turned-up tip wasn't unique to the Waverley. Once Macniven & Cameron's design proved its worth, other manufacturers began producing their own versions, each with a slightly different degree of curve and a different character on the page.

This set brings together four: Hinks, Wells & Co.'s Rob Roy Pen, a flexible nib that shares its literary naming with the Waverley itself, both drawn from the novels of Sir Walter Scott; Joseph Gillott's Hollow Point Pen, also flexible; the rigid Plexograph from Geo W. Hughes of Birmingham; and, also from Hughes, the General Post Office Pen, its name a small reminder of the desks and counters it was once destined for.

Between them, the set shows the range the turned-up tip could offer. Two are flexible, two are rigid, and the degree of curve varies across all four. Each nib has been checked from the archive.

This is a small selection, limited by what the archive currently holds of each. Once a particular nib is exhausted, it may not return in the same form.

Included in this set:

Hinks, Wells & Co. - The Rob Roy Pen
Joseph Gillott - Hollow Point Pen No. 11 (B)
Geo W. Hughes - Plexograph 977
Geo W. Hughes - General Post Office Pen 0405