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Vintage Italian pen series


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#1 AltecGreen

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Posted 27 April 2013 - 04:12 AM

DanDeM over on FPGeeks said I should show off my vintage Italian pens. So I'm starting this series of posts where I will go through my collection and talk about some of my pens.



So we kick things off with the pen that started me on the path of vintage Italian pens and vintage pens in general. I had fallen in love with the beauty of celluloid and had already acquired a number of modern Italian pens. One day I was browsing eBay and saw a pen for sale with a BIN. It was a vintage NOS Columbus 92 in a beautiful blue arco celluloid. I had not heard of Columbus and did some research. Columbus was one of the big 4-5 Italian companies and started around 1919. The company was known for high quality and beautiful celluloid. They were a big force until the early 1950's when they made the decision to go low end to survive. The company is still around but focuses on lower end pens.

The pen itself was flawless. The celluloid was incredible and blew away any of the modern celluloid pens. The pen came with a true vintage flexible nib. I never turned back. I slowly phased out my interest in modern pens (except Nakaya) and switched to vintage pens.


So here is the Columbus 92. The pen is from the late 1940's/early 1950's (before 1952) and is a piston filler. The pen itself is a vintage medium sized pen thus somewhat slim by modern standards.
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Highlighting the arco pattern. This pen is a pain to photograph. The celluloid is a deep rich blue with the veins of iridescent light blue.
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more of the pattern
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The true color is closer to this
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Here is the nib
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#2 Silviu

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Posted 27 April 2013 - 07:08 AM

Nice pen with beautiful arco pattern.
Same happened to me and I'm glad it happened early - switched to vintage. Much more interesting, lots of History, beautiful materials, a variety of filling systems and lower prices compared with equivalent quality modern FP.
I also own some vintage Italian FP and am looking forward for more of your posts on the subject.Thanks,Silviu

#3 Hugh

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Posted 27 April 2013 - 11:14 AM

Thanks, I look forward to learning a bit about Italian pens. Definitely a nice one to start with.

Regards
Hugh
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#4 AltecGreen

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Posted 28 April 2013 - 03:10 AM

I'm going to be lazy the offer up an Omas 361 in platinum celluloid. Silviu has already posted a nice review of his 361/T so I'll leverage off his post. My pen is probably a bit older than Silviu's pen. The 361 came in faceted and round bodies as well as the ogival bodies.


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fully hooded and stiff position
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Flex position
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Here's how it works
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#5 Marsilius

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Posted 28 April 2013 - 03:50 AM

Breathtaking.

#6 Wahl

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Posted 28 April 2013 - 04:04 PM

I love old italian pens, these are mine, two OMAS faceted Lucens Oversize from 1938, and an Extra Arco from 1950

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#7 JonSzanto

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Posted 28 April 2013 - 05:29 PM

Ricky, I hope you don't mind me poking this in the middle of your thread - I have a question: what does the Arco designation refer to? I ask because I'm familiar with the word from classical string playing: arco - to bow the string (as opposed to pizzacato - to pluck the string). Just curious.

#8 AltecGreen

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Posted 28 April 2013 - 05:40 PM

Ricky, I hope you don't mind me poking this in the middle of your thread - I have a question: what does the Arco designation refer to? I ask because I'm familiar with the word from classical string playing: arco - to bow the string (as opposed to pizzacato - to pluck the string). Just curious.



That's a good question for which I don't have a good answer.

On the practical level, it refers to a class of celluloid materials that have iridescent layers such that when the pen is machined it produces the effect above. The bronze/brown arco is sometimes called tiger eye. The material can be machined in the normal direction producing a different effect. I've never seen this version in a vintage pen but Omas made some modern pens and called the pattern Spina de Pesce.

As for the name, it does have a Italian/Latin sounding root. Of course, this is a bit odd since I think Bayer was the first to make this material.


I'll have to do some digging.

#9 Marsilius

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Posted 28 April 2013 - 06:10 PM

Arco can also mean bow as in bow and arrow. Like on those arrow clips? Sure someone knows, but there goes a wild shot from here.

#10 sloegin

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Posted 28 April 2013 - 10:00 PM

I like the information in this series.

#11 AltecGreen

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Posted 29 April 2013 - 03:08 AM

For today, I have a pair of pens made by Tibaldi. This would be the first Tibaldi. The original Tibaldi went out of business in 60's. They were revived in the nineties and sold pens that honored the original Tibaldi pens. That went under and was revived by the group that owns Montegrappa.

The two pens are Tibaldi Trasparente in medium size. One cannot overlook the influence of Parker on the Italian pen industry. The Parker Vacumatic created a craze for pens with transparent bodies and non-sac filling systems. Almost all major Italian companies made pens that had transparent barrels. The Omas Lucens and Extra Lucens and the Aurora Optima come to mind. These pens came out in the mid-late 30's and are some of my favorite vintage Italian pens albeit they also come with a high price tag.




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#12 david i

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Posted 29 April 2013 - 11:38 AM

For today, I have a pair of pens made by Tibaldi. This would be the first Tibaldi. The original Tibaldi went out of business in 60's. They were revived in the nineties and sold pens that honored the original Tibaldi pens. That went under and was revived by the group that owns Montegrappa.

The two pens are Tibaldi Trasparente in medium size. One cannot overlook the influence of Parker on the Italian pen industry. The Parker Vacumatic created a craze for pens with transparent bodies and non-sac filling systems. Almost all major Italian companies made pens that had transparent barrels. The Omas Lucens and Extra Lucens and the Aurora Optima come to mind. These pens came out in the mid-late 30's and are some of my favorite vintage Italian pens albeit they also come with a high price tag.




Terrific thread. I have long history of enjoying "eye candy" chats, and these pens don't pop up too often in any setting.

regards

david
David R. Isaacson MD. Website: VACUMANIA.com for quality old pens with full warranty.
Email: isaacson@frontiernet.net

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#13 piscov

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Posted 29 April 2013 - 09:17 PM

Great looking pens!

Some of the celluloids remind me of Vacumatics. Any idea who come up first with these paterns?

Best regards
Vasco

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Check out "Pena Lusa by Piscov". Pens added on a regular basis!

Link for Vintage Montblanc pens here

Link for Vintage Pelikan pens here


#14 AltecGreen

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Posted 30 April 2013 - 05:02 AM

For today since time is short, I have an Ancora #4 buttonfiller. Ancora is one of the five big Italian pen companies from the golden age to still survive today . As of a few years ago, Ancora was still making their own nibs so that already sets them apart.

The Ancora buttonfillers and lever fillers were the medium budget pens in the Ancora range in the 1930's. They were below the faceted Damas and the round Maximas. The #4 was the large senior sized pen in the line. The shape of this pen is classic Italian; a shape duplicated by many of the great Italian pen makers. This is the shape I have in mind when I think of an Italian pen. Perfect balance and grace. This is one of the few vintage Italians in my collection that I ink up and use.

The celluloid is called oriental azure or something like that. It has deep rich blue color set off by veins of gold. Quite elegant and one of my favorites.


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#15 david i

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Posted 30 April 2013 - 11:33 AM

This could become a pinned thread. Great stuff.

regards

david
David R. Isaacson MD. Website: VACUMANIA.com for quality old pens with full warranty.
Email: isaacson@frontiernet.net

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#16 AltecGreen

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Posted 01 May 2013 - 04:19 AM

In keeping with yesterday's theme of large size round pens in gorgeous celluloid, I present today a senior sized Montegrappa Extra (ca. 1930's?). If you compare this Montegrappa and yesterdays Ancora, you can see the similarity in form. Classic Italian. This pen has a difference. The pen has a twist fill mechanism. It's basically a sac filler where the sac is depressed by twisting the rear knob. You do tend to find interesting variations on sac filling in vintage Italian pens. I'll get back to this point when I show a pen with a spoon filler.

On a side note. Montegrappa was one of the big five Italian pen companies and exist to this day. Montegrappa was well known for mass production and making pens for other companies. They don't seem to have the same cachet as the other companies I've presented so far. I don't know any Italian pen collectors (at least in the US) that are too keen on Montegrappa. They certainly are not something I focus on. Nonetheless, the pens are still gorgeous.

This pen attracts dust like no other.
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Green Celluloid
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Twist Fill knob
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Nib
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#17 AltecGreen

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Posted 02 May 2013 - 04:27 AM

I started this thread with a pen from each of the major vintage Italian makes. To round that off, I have today an Aurora from the late 1930's early 1940's. People are probably somewhat familiar with Aurora from their modern pens. Aurora like Omas was one of the early big Italian companies and one that survived to the present and still going strong. The Aurora Optima probably rings a bell since it is one of Aurora's flagship pens today. However, the Optima traces it's roots back to 1938 when Aurora introduced the Optima as their entry into the transparent barrel trend and as an answer to Omas' Lucens and Extra Lucens. The original Optima resembles the modern Optima with the Greek key band with a narrower profile. I actually do not have a first series Optima. What I have shown here is a later series three Optima with a really transparent barrel (a hallmark of the third series pens) and three cap band rings. The thrid series Optima can be found in a range of celluoids that resemble the Watrman Inkvue ray celluloids. The Optima also sported a Sheaffer style plunger filler, not uncommon for Italian pens of this era. Piston fillers only really took hold in Italy after WWII. Of course, this pen has the Aurora logo etched into the section like the modern pens.

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#18 AltecGreen

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 03:21 AM

I missed yesterday's update due to coming home late from work and then watching the Golden Gods Awards (RIP Jeff Hanneman). To make up for that, I offer two pens today from makers that are probably not commonly discussed in the US.


The first is a Radius Superior. Radius is one of the brands under the company S.A.F.I.S. based in Turin. Radius was their higher end line while Astura was their mid-range line. Radius started in the mid-30's and the Superior was one of heir first products. The Superior was made into the 50's albeit with several styling changes over the years. The early Superiors sported a very ornate triangle and lines cap band and the pens were made in both round and faceted versions. Of course, these pens were made in gorgeous celluloid. S.A.F.I.S. also made pens for third parties and heir pens can be seen in a lot of places under different names. Radius is not a bad place to start for people wanting to start collecting vintage Italian pens but are scared off by the price commanded by the more famous makes (i.e. like the pens I've shown so far) but with similar quality.

Radius Superior in a dark brown arco celluloid.
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Unique capband
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The next pen is a Tabo Mentis. Tabo was a company based in Bologna, same as Omas. There is not that much information on Tabo. Pens with the Tabo name started appearing in 1939. The pen I am showing is a Tabo Mentis. This is a large button filler with a very nice celluloid pattern. Tabo also made a series of transparent barrel pens with a Parke Vac-like filling system and the ubiquitous lever filler. Other than that I don't really know much more about this pen.

Tabo Mentis
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Wild celluloid pattern
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Mentis logo on a slightly darkened barrel.
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Tabo Nib
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#19 Silviu

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 08:31 AM

The celluloid is called oriental azure or something like that. It has deep rich blue color set off by veins of gold. Quite elegant and one of my favorites.

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Beautiful celluloid!!! The gold accents on the blue give the pen a "royal" look.

#20 Silviu

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 08:53 AM

The next pen is a Tabo Mentis. Tabo was a company based in Bologna, same as Omas. There is not that much information on Tabo. Pens with the Tabo name started appearing in 1939. The pen I am showing is a Tabo Mentis. This is a large button filler with a very nice celluloid pattern. Tabo also made a series of transparent barrel pens with a Parke Vac-like filling system and the ubiquitous lever filler. Other than that I don't really know much more about this pen.

Mentis logo on a slightly darkened barrel.
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A bit of info. about Tabo:
In 1919 Giuseppe Tantini and Giorgio Stiassi established in Bologna the ASCA company which produced stationary (the company changed it's name several times).
In 1920 they began production of "The Scotland" fountain pen. The nibs were probably produced by Omas or MonteGrappa. The production of "the Scotland" pen ceased in 1930.
In 1939 they began the production of the TABO pens. The name "TABO" stands for TAntini-BOlogna. They produced button fillers named "Mentis", vaccum fillers named "Transparent" and faceted lever fillers marked "1931".

Production of TABO ceased around 1948 - 1950 when Stiassi and Tantini closed their pen and stationary business.

Edited by Silviu, 04 May 2013 - 08:56 AM.





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