Eclipse BHR

Eclipse is a hard brand to pin down. PenTrace did a nice piece here, where he decries the lack of consitency and examples, and true to form, this pen doesn’t quite line up with any of his examples, either. It’s in fantastic shame, almost NOS, but carries no imprint other than ‘Eclipse’ on the clip. The nib is marked only ‘Warranted 14K.’ What makes this pen unusual are the spoon-shaped lever, and the translucent cap jewel, which I have not seen on any other pen, though Eclipse did seem to be fairly adventurous with their designs. According to PenTrace, the company changed to a new clip from the standard ‘z-clip’ of the early 1920s in 1923, and this model has the ‘Klein Clip’, which puts it at the earliest, 1924. I have this listed as BHR, which would also indicate 1920s, but it’s also possible that it’s plastic molded to empulate BHR. The spoon clip with the laurel wreath imprint does not have a lever box, which also suggests mid-to-late 1920s. In any case, it’s a really pretty, classically vntage styled flat-top pen.