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An extremely rare No. 402 sterling silver chased cable twist overlay eyedropper, black hard rubber section, endpiece imprinted "STERLING / WATERMAN / PAT'D".  133mm. No. 2 or 3 Waterman's Ideal (New York) heart-vent nib, slight flex. Excellent condition, unblemished, with wonderfully rich original patina. An important and historically significant early Waterman eyedropper, one of two known to exist. 

In the early 1880s L. E. Waterman was a New York City insurance salesman, and routinely filled out client paperwork in ink as his duties required. One day, having finished an application for a client's large policy, he commenced to sign the document with a typical fountain pen of the era. His pen failed and flooded ink all over the document, humiliating Mr. Waterman and losing him the deal. This mishap changed both the course of Mr. Waterman's life and the history of writing instruments.

A mechanically talented fellow, Mr. Waterman set out to create a dependable fountain pen. He understood that the vital factor was solving the problem of ink flow, and decided that employing the principle of capillary attraction was the key. Using only a pocket knife, saw and file, he constructed a nib feed that both channeled ink to the nib point and facilitated air intake to control the ink flow.  Waterman's "fissure feed" made fountain pens practical; he applied for a patent and the rest is history.

Director's Note: The origin of Waterman as related in Andreas Lambrou's "Fountain Pens of the World", including the "ink blot" story, has been carefully refuted by Messrs. George Rimakis and Daniel Kirchheimer, who offer a well-researched, fascinating and highly plausible alternative to Waterman's foundation story in their article "Blotting Out the Truth". The traditional "ink blot" story, while charming, must therefore be considered apocryphal.  The refutation may be read in full here: 

https://danielkirchheimer.com/articles/blotting-out-the-truth/

Pens produced by L. E. Waterman during the company's first few years of operation are rare and highly prized, not only for their historical significance but also for their boldly iconic designs. Not content merely to create utilitarian writing implements, Mr. Waterman innovated compelling full sterling silver overlays that stood out in the marketplace as marvels of both style and substance (Waterman did not introduce filigree overlays for another seven years, and gold overlays followed three years after that). The present lot is a splendid example of the technical and artistic advances that heralded the Waterman revolution.

-Lambrou, Andreas. Fountain Pens of the World. [Epping: 2014], pp. 28-29. See p. 26 for more information on the early days of L. E. Waterman Co.

-Fischler, George & Stuart Schneider. The Book of Fountain Pens and Pencils. [Westchester: 1992], p. 149.

This pen perfectly embodies L. E. Waterman's design ethos, with an elaborate cable twist ornamentation that is both visually arresting and supremely functional. As the Waterman company was under-capitalized in its early years, it is likely that relatively few of these pens were made and circulated. Only two examples of the No. 402 chased cable twist are known to exist: the present lot and another example featured in Andy Lambrou's Fountain Pens of the World. The example in Mr. Lambrou's book appears to have been rather heavily polished, whereas this example retains its original patina (as watchers of Antiques Roadshow will understand, maintaining the original finish can make all the difference in value and appeal).