I have received some interesting emails over the years but a recent one from Michael F. may be the best yet. He stumbled across a pen that had him stumped, and once I took a look at the pictures I had no earthly idea either. He did a little more sleuthing and came up with a name: The Rotring Roll-kuli. I'll let Michael explain a little more:
The Pollkuli pen I’m showing you is a mystery to me. It was included in an auction purchase, along with the target pen, a Sheaffer Snorkel. I date it to the mid 50’s to mid 60’s based on style and materials. I cleaned it up, and the seals were great.
The pen features:
integral twist dip style re-fill system; the ink is drawn up and around the clear point holder
bifurcated transparent reservoir, allowing the user to raise nib up, flow the captured ink into the tail part of the section, re-dip, and fill again
clear “feed” area, showcasing the ink near the paper
smooth writing ruby (?) ball point
sporty red band
rarity: few examples exist, apparently. I know of no others.
The pen is a smooth, smooth writer! Compared to the Hi-TEC 0.25, its luxurious! The line left on the Rhodia paper is rich, but not wet. Noodlers Heart of Darkness hints at grey-brown. The tiny bit of skipping I get (look at the ‘Rs’) may be due to my grip on such a novel pen.
He calls it a Pollkuli in his original email because that is how the red band reads, but he quickly came about the real name after starting a thread on the Fountain Pen Network. There is great history thread available there as well.
The pictures Michael sent are stunning and really show off this unique pen. Thanks for sharing!
