Posted 01 February 2012 - 01:47 AM
There is an interesting connection between Edison Pen Co. and the Cromer Artcraft Pen Co. (later just Artcraft Pen Co.) of Birmingham, Alabama. Ford D. Cromer was a traveling salesman for Edison Pen Co., living in Atlanta, GA, and presumably traveling the southeast. About 1920 he met and married Harriet Forbes, daughter of a Birmingham pharmacist. My assumption is that Cromer was selling pens for resale to the pharmacist, met the daughter, and married her. What I do know is that his next address was he and Harriet living with her parents.
In 1920, Cromer, his wife, and his father-in-law incorporated the Edison-Cromer Pen Co., which name was changed almost immediately to Cromer Artcraft Pen Co. Very soon pens bearing the Artcraft name were for sale, but I don't know how or where they were made. My speculation is that Cromer, having worked for Edison, may have had pens made by Edison and branded Artcraft. I do have a copy of an ad that appeared in the Montgomery Advertiser newspaper in October, 1923, for the Artcraft "New Lifelong" pen.
In a Birmingham Chamber of Commerce publication dated April, 1925, there is an announcement: "Artcraft Pen Co. announces that it will manufactur pens in Birmingham." It goes on to say that machinery is being installed and production will commence within a short time. So, presumably at this time some parts must have begun being made in Birmingham.
In 1929, Alabama state records show that the Cromer Artcraft Pen Co. was dissolved. I suppose this was a victim of the market crash. But, the Birmingham City Directory shows that the company remained in business at the same address into 1934, but the principals have changed to Cromer, James G Ervin, and LIllian Sharpley.
In 1932, Ford Cromer filed an application for a patent for certain design features of a fountain pen. A look at the patent shows that he was patenting the decoration on the clip and lever - very art deco. The patent was granted in 1934.
In 1933, three different people: H.E. Rost, W.F. St. Clair, and E.E. Glover incorporated Artcraft Pen Corporation. Alabama state records show that this corporation still "exists".
After 1934, Birmingham City Directories show no further mention of Artcraft at any location.
Here's the really fun part: In 1934, James G. Ervin (see 1929 above) moved the company to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where it continued to make Artcraft pens and later, Escritor pens into the 1960s. I have pasenger manifests that show Ford Cromer traveling into the USA from Buenos Aires in 1937 and again in 1947, and giving that city as his permanent address.
I own several Artcraft pens and know of several others. My small collection spans from about 1925 to early 1930s and includes BCHR pens in cylindrical, flat-topped style; celluloid pens in striking colors in very similar flat-topped style; and larger, tapered celluloid pens typical of the early 1930s. A friend has one of the latter type actually bearing the clip that Cromer patented. He also has a gold-filled full overlay ringtop that could easily be from the pre-1925 period. The newspaper ad from 1923 shows a pen quite similar to my earliest Artcraft. All of the Artcraft pens are made to a very high standard of quality.
If you are still with me after all that, I have one more thing, and it is speculation. I have a small collecton of pens and combos marked "Ford's" or "Ford's Jr." on their clips, fitted with Warranted 14K nibs, and having no other markings on the barrel at all. They are brightly colored celluloid, not made to the same high standard as the Artcraft pens, but really typical third-tier pens. I have been unable to find who, or for whom, these pens were made. I have them simply because their overall look, but not size or quality, is similar to the late model Artcraft pens, and of course the man behind Artcraft is Ford Cromer. So, I wonder if he went back to Rennie Arnold, who eventually owned Edison, SoPenCo, and Arnold, and had these "Ford's" pens made for a lower end market. But, I have no proof at all of such a connection.
