a rubber gasket necessary to maintain vacuum in Sheaffer's touchdown and snorkel filling pens.

an alloy of eight metals used by Parker to make nibs in the '50s. Octanium nibs perform equally well compared to 14k nibs.

Metal covering - usually gold or silver. Can be solid or filigree. Some people refer to the entire pen as an "overlay" rather than just the covering itself. "

any pen larger than standard size. Most of the major pen lines of the '20s and '30s came in oversize models. They include Parker's Duofold and Vacumatic, Waterman's 58 and Patrician, Sheaffer's Balance, Wahl's Equipoise and Doric, and Conklin's Endura and Nozac.