13 replies to this topic

[John Martinson]

Hello Everyone,

I'm looking into pen companies which lasted for an extremely short time that made high quality fountain pens but were gone in less than a year. Were there any?

I suppose this would be a real "Fultz" question!

See you in LA!

John Martinson

Edited by John Martinson, 11 February 2014 - 05:05 PM.

[Roger W.]

Short lived is going to equal low production numbers.  Maybe they were quality but, no one has ever heard of them.  Colonial Pen and Colonial Fountain Pen were probably decent for the time and the longest of the two was 1899-1904 with the other being 1902-1904.  They took over from an AA Waterman partnership and became Boston Fountain Pen Company in 1904 which was bought by Wahl Adding Machine Company (Wahl Eversharp) in 1917.  How long did Carter's Ink make pens?  Not too long.  There are no doubt others that were short lived that made a high quality pen that others can think of especially if they started near the depression (which killed Edward Todd but, they made pens for a good while).

 

Roger W. 

[jonro]

Hartline was a Florida manufacturer that produced high quality pens for a short period of time, but longer than a year. The owner was hit by a car while crossing the street to his office. At least, that's the story I recall reading about him. His wife continued to sell pens under the Hartline name for a while, but they were very cheap pens, manufactured elsewhere. During their brief heyday, they made some very nice flat tops and smaller, unique pens with a roller blotter built into the cap. Hartline was Florida's only fountain pen manufacturer. They probably made quality fountain pens during the late 20's.

[Paul M]

Not a US made item, but there is an occasional appearance on ebay of a "TruePoint" pen. It has been claimed, probably incorrectly, that these were made for distribution by Dunhill. 

 

According to Steve Hull's book on English pen manufacturers (usually to be relied upon) the company behind this product (Truepoint Pen Co) survived for only 1 year (1948-49).

 

The pens are a decent quality, and the nibs usually a joy to write with.

[Jim B]

Not 1 year but Dunn burst on the scene in 1921, made lots of pens, went into receivership in 1924, then was gone.

[Frank(Federalist Pens)]

Any info/sources on the Franklin Pen Company??

 

(This was a pen maker based in Philly ca. 1920)

 

Frank

[marcshiman]

What about Schnell? (I don't know much about them)

[Fred H]

Marc, I found it.  The Schnell combo pen that was the last lot in the 2013 Ohio Pen Show Thursday night auction.  It was only made one year and represented as being high quality.

 

 

Fred

Edited by Fred H, 06 April 2014 - 02:39 AM.

[Jerry Adair]

Fred

I may be wrong but the PenselPen was around longer than one year.  I have owned 3 of them 1 w/o the famous clip and 2 with.  They are gone now but I think the patents were from around the 1915/1916 era and they were certainly around in the 1920's   I seem to recall a David Nishamura blog on them but I am in a motel room and geeting ready to leave.  Hit his site full of information not speculation which is what I am doing.

Jerry

[David Nishimura]

Still much to be done on Schnell, but the Penselpen Corporation lasted longer than a year. Brief look at my notes yields a reference to a bio of a fellow who worked for Penselpen in 1927, newspaper ads for the pen in 1929, and a directory of worthless securities listing indicating business defunct in 1931.

 

Master Pen is not Penselpen, note. See my article here.

[David Nishimura]

Franklin was around for decades, BTW.

[Daniel A]

As David noted, Franklin was around for quite some time.  Here is a Washington, a Franklin sub-brand, that I picked up recently.

 

 

 

 

 

Best,

Daniel

[Frank(Federalist Pens)]

Thank you for the info Daniel, and David!

 

Frank

[Jerry Adair]

I have a Franklin Self Filler Safety  in BCHR.  A rather "chunky" pen, capped at just under 4.9" long and .482" thick, plunger filler with a flexible large #5 marked FRANKLIN PHILA nib.

Rather neat pen.

Jerry