Rare 1920s Moore with Enameled Decoration and Jade Cabochon
Moore ringtop lever filler in smooth hard rubber with fascinating and very rare decoration. The elaborate trim appears to be marked '14KT'. Just under four inches. Medium, flexible 'Maniflex'-style nib. Excellent condition but with some fading to the hard rubber. These enameled Moores are very hard to find, and they command a strong premium among those who know what they are; the stone on top is something I've never seen before in my many years of Moore collecting. The pen is unrestored and will need a new sac installed in order to fill. 
Item 5024 $235 plus $8.20 shipping and insurance (in USA)

Parker Duofold Senior 'Big Red' Pen and Pencil Set circa 1926
Owned by R.H. Woods, the 1920s Miami Beach Chief of Police
R.H. Woods must have had his hands full. As head of the city of Miami Beach's small fledgling police force, he had the whole jazz age to contend with: the Florida land boom was in full swing, bringing hordes of investors and suckers, and the flappers and gangsters of New York had discovered the city, where one could have plenty of fun and plenty of sun, and unlike the more established Palm Beach to the north, pedigree didn't matter. Behemoth hotels---the predecessors of the art deco jewels and midcentury-modern monuments that we're more familiar with today---began to cover the beachfront. The Roman Pools and Casino went up in 1920, at 22nd Street and Collins Avenue, and was followed within a few years by the Flamingo, the Nautilus, and the Rooney Plaza. Industrialists were flocking there, too. Harvey Firestone, J.C. Penney, Harvey Stutz, Albert Champion and Frank Seiberling all built mansions, turning a three-mile stretch of Collins Avenue into "Millionaire's Row."

History records Woods presiding at the 1928 funeral of the first Miami Beach police officer to be killed in the line of duty. On March 19, three ne'er-do-wells drank a quart of gin and broke into the Ft. Lauderdale Hupmobile dealership. They stole a brand new coupe, drove it through the plate glass display window and out into the streets, beginning a joyride through the city. The ensuing car chase led to Miami Beach, and Officer David C. Bearden, 24, managed, before being fatally hit himself, to kill one of the thieves and injure another. The city council passed a resolution praising his supreme sacrifice, and Chief Woods issued an order requiring all officers to attend target practice twice weekly, pointing out that the ill-starred Bearden had himself recently undergone the training. "Had it not been that, by such practice, he was enabled to improve his shooting, his assailants might have escaped." The 1930 census places the police chief at 42 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach where, though listed as married, he seems to have lived with one 24-year-old police officer and with the clerk of the municipal court.

R.H. Woods' 1920s pen and pencil set, offered here, is everything you'd want in an early Permanite Big Red. Raised cap band, monumental beaded thimbletop on pencil, early spear feed, huge Duofold nib with correct period markings. The feed even has the original 'Lucky Curve' at the back. You don't see that much after the hard rubber models. The nib is one of the best I've seen: it's a good solid medium point in width, but is squared off at the tip, giving your writing a slight italic quality. The difference is as much in the feel as in the writing: you'll feel a little tooth just where it helps. The set's in textbook excellent condition, I'd say, with clear imprints, very minor trim wear, minor dings in pencil crown (much better than most). The color match of the Permanite cap and barrels is perfect, and the matching engraving in the barrels ("R.H. Woods, Chief Police, Miami Beach, Fla.") shows that these two instruments indeed started out life together. The pen is restored and working with a new sac installed, and the pencil works too.
Item 6109 $515 plus $12.55 shipping and insurance (to USA addresses)

For my eBay listings, click here.