Welcome to- The Fountain Pen Community!

Your right, that Dart patterned cap was really sweet. I sort of regret selling it a few years ago. I've not seen another since.

A very basic way to guage flex, how much line variation there is when you apply moderate/light pressure to the nib. There's no hard & fast rule, but in my shop, if a nib has a 2:1 line ratio, I call it a semi flex. 3-4:1 I consider flex and 5-6:1 or greater I call super flex.

The nib in your pen looks like it could be a decent semi flex nib.

I truly love skylines. capped they have a very sleek look & posted they are so well balanced. Then there are the to die for nibs. IMHO you'll never go wrong with a skyline.

They do have a semi bulbous look. I was leery of them for years, until I found one cheap, managed to get it restored & fell in love with the first stroke. Like I mentioned above, the balance is just devine. When I come across another I'll send it your way so you can try it out & see what the hype is all about.

These are considered a first tier pen.

I think the balance comes from the cap posting so deep on the barrel. The onlky draw back is the cap rubs the high spot on the levr & nearly every single one you find has a swath of brassing on it. Par for the course though with vintage pens.

$34 is a very fair price for a good conditionuser pen. You right, these can still be had for fair prices ($40 or less unrestored) & if you learn to restore them yourself you'll save even more green. Not to mention getting the satisfaction of doing the job yourself.

a couple of cautions on the pens. The over strap on the cap is fairly delicate & is often broken off. It's a major PITA to try & track down good clips. I often just use them as at home pens & love 'em all I can..lol. The barrel material can often be a bit brittle & the barrel lips are famous for breaking. Just use gentle heat, slowly build the temp & don't use much of a rocking motin when you pull the section out.

' i think mine is semi-flex!!'
Wait until you land a full flex nib.

If you don't need to change your shorts after your done, there's something wrong..lol.

Dennis

Restored for $34 is a steal. Fully restored & in good or better condition $45-60 is fair. With a high flex awesometastic nib, it wouldn't be unheard of to add $20-30 or so to that.

If you haven't checked out the article on these at Penhero.com your missing out. Jim has an amazing site with TONS of really good reference info.