A fantastic bit of Aussie pen history here. Rare is an understatement !! Very limited production ( think "out of garage") as per the following pamphlet, the "Pen Shop" no longer trades. I'm happy to have been "in the right place at the right" to pick these up, having never seen Dasi in what appears to be celluloid (?). The only other older one I've seen appeared to be BHR. Pics when they arrive
The Story of the DASI Pen Company
Australia's First Pen Manufacturer
1938 - 1974
The DASI Pen Company was founded by a David and a Simon, the company name being taken from the first two letters of each of their names. It started as "Casa Dasi", or the House of Dasi, in Barcelona, Spain. Alfred Wolf, who had been involved in the wholesaling of pens in Germany, joined David and Simon in Barcelona as the third partner prior to WW II. It was Alfred Wolf who set up the manufacturing for Casa Dasi. When the Spanish Civil War began in 1936, David emigrated to the USA and Simon and Alfred emigrated to Australia via Paris in 1938. Alfred Wolf commenced the manufacturing of DASI pens in a garage at his home in Bronte (suburb of Sydney).
The DASI Pen Company set up a small shop in Hunter Street from which they sold the pens they manufactured. This was called "The Pen Shop". The Pen Shop is now in O'Connell Street Sydney, and is owned by Charles Wolf (son of Alfred).
As supplies of all brands of pens and repair parts was drastically reduced by the war, there was little for The Pen Shop to sell except what the Bronte garage produced. In order to produce, it had to have raw materials and imported components that could not be made in Australia. Old records show the difficulties that arose when ships bringing materials to Australia were sunk en route. During this period, the daily production from the garage was sold to a queue of people at the shop before 11am the following morning.
In 1964 the company commenced to diversify into wholesaling. With sale of the DASI shorthand pen, and the acquisition of agencies for overseas manufacturers, the company ceased to manufacture its own product in 1974.
The above is from a leaflet prepared by Charles Wolf.
Regards
Hugh
