Lot #286: Waterman Taperite Crusader, Grey barrel

(1950's) Grey Lucite barrel, lever-fill with Chromed clip on a brushed gold aluminum cap w/ horizontal lined pattern. Push-on capAfter WWII, Waterman's new American production was thinning down; cash was tight and competition extremely tough. Waterman's did produce two new lines starting as early as 1945, which are often confused: the Taperites and the Crusaders. The Taperites were first, with the Stateleigh and the Citation. 

These were Parker 51 copies, with hooded nibs but without Parker's sturdy construction and internal workings. Open nibbed pens were also produceed, but these were Crusaders, also in Stateleigh and Citation. Some of the Taperites were very attractive and wonderful writers, but the quality diminished in the later 1940s.Crusaders appeared with gold metal caps with silver stripes, until at least late 1953. The nomenclature got even more confusing in the late 1940s, as Taperites and Crusaders appeared as Dauntless, Corinth, and Medalist, some from Canada and some from the US. Even with the lower production quality, and their propensity to be extremely difficult to disassemble, these pens were often superior writers, with flex nibs and rigid nibs.