Artcraft Pen Co Argentina

July 9, 2014

Hi, I live in Buenos Aires, I'm a collector of vintage Argentinian pens.

My big favorites are those made by Artcraft. They are excellent pens; I use many of them daily.
The company began in Birmingham, Alabama and moved to Buenos Aires in the 30s. There’s interesting data in this blog.

Today I want to share with you some information I have, supplementing what has been previously written.

The facts I know are that the company started its activities in Argentina in 1935, and operated until 1968. In the beginning it was "Artcraft Pen Co. Argentina SRL" (a limited liability company) and then, from 1951, "Artcraft Sociedad Anónima Industrial y Comercial" (an incorporated company).
The first items manufactured were branded “Artcraft” (the imprint in the barrels is "ARTCRAFT PEN CO. ARG. / INDUSTRIA ARGENTINA"). Then they created two brands, "Escritor" for its premium products and "Federal" for the cheaper.

I have a small book published by the company in 1946 which is very interesting. It’s called "Más Ganancias Con Escritor” (“More Profits with Escritor”)." It was addressed to retailers. It contains information about the company, basic technical details of their products, instructions for simple repairs, and guides to sell the merchandise: sales pitches, objections handling, suggestions to better display the pens in the store, ideas to expand the customer base.

Reading these suggestions I realize that marketing is an ancient science

Here I share some pages of this book.

(LINK TO LARGE IMAGE)

You can see a depiction of the factory in the second image.

The last two pictures contain the history of the beginnings in Argentina told by the company. The translation would be (TN: "our country" means Argentina):

****************

“Our factory is dedicated for over twenty five years ago to manufacture fountain pens, automatic pens and desk sets.
It was founded in our country in 1935 by Mr. Ford Cromer and Mr. William Reese, the first of which had previously the same company in the U.S. for over fifteen years and when moved here, brought with him the necessary qualified staff and the most modern and efficient machinery equipment.
In this quarter century of work, our factory achieved an experience, reputation and perfection that keep it ahead of the best of its kind in the world.

The specialist dealer, who already knows us, has had occasion to test this claim by comparing our pens with similar products, even from internationally recognized brands, which exceeded not only in quality but also in price.

Currently there are seven countries worldwide that manufacture fountain pens, being Argentina one of them.
By setting up the first factory of this industry here, we have the honor of have put our country within that group which stands out for its industrial advancement and economic development, while it is a reflection of our people’s culture to adopt the most modern advances that civilization brings us and help make more comfortable and pleasant the life.

This, while being promising, doesn’t fill us with vanity, but encourages us to strive to remain at the top of our industry and always make us worthy the trust our customers have shown us so far.

In addition, by establishing here and selling directly to retailers, it’s as if we had give them a new branch to their business, leaving them interesting profits, as sales activity of our items once was scarce and of little importance to most of them because, depending on the import, price was very high and it was very difficult to have a wide range of models without requiring a significant investment of capital”

************

One of the mysteries surrounding this company is the reason why they moved to Argentina, I tend to think that could be due to two things: first, to escape the economic crisis affecting United States after 1929; second, because they saw in this country a market with great potential, where there was no other player.
They said it was the second reason.

And the company really established the first pen factory in Argentina, many years before László Bíró start making his ballpoints here.

Next I'll show you three early pens form my collection made in Argentina under the brand "Artcraft". Sorry about the ugly pictures.

A pen/pencil combo

The nib is stamped “Warranted 14ct 1st Quality”.

(LINK TO LARGE IMAGE)

(LINK TO LARGE IMAGE)

Two Lever Fillers

The brown one was never inked; it only needed a light polish and a sac replacement. It has the original “Park Avenue” steel nib. You can find some Park Avenue nibs with golden plating too. I found the green one in an atrocious condition, the feed and nib were broken, had to be totally restored.

(LINK TO LARGE IMAGE)

I hope you enjoyed reading.

If you will (and if I learn to take better pictures ) I promise more posts with pens from my collection of Escritor y Federal. It could be one post for lever fillers, other for button fillers and finally the aerometrics.
I'm very interested in learning more about the history of this brand, if there’s a fellow collector who shares my curiosity, I'd love to get in touch.

SORRY ABOUT THE AWFUL ENGLISH!

Saludos desde Argentina,

Aldo

July 9, 2014

Thanks for sharing. The English wasn't that bad. I have certainly seen worse.

July 9, 2014

Nice history. I have some examples of Escritor pens, as I'm also from Argentina. The quality wasn't that good, I had to replace all the sacs in my aerometrics Escritor 52 (open nib) and 47? (hooded nib, a Parker 51 clone). I also saw striped Escritor pens, just like a Parker Vacumatic but with lever fill. Some time ago I bought a lot of 12 unused Escritor pens by a dollar or so. They all smell very bad.

July 9, 2014

Thanks for the history and photos. If you decide to pursue this line of inquiry, please do post more--it's very interesting.

ron

July 9, 2014

I have written a bit about Artcraft in Alabama (US) and John Hubbard (who currently resides in AL) has continued to do great research about the US (pre 1934) Artcraft.

Here are links to several small articles on their US history, as well as some Argentinian Advertisements, Stock Certificates, and Pens, that I have put together over time. As to why part of the Company left for Argentina in the 1930s, there is no definitive answer, but declining sales and economy are a good guess.

Artcraft Advertising in Argentina

Artcraft (Argentina) Stock Certificate

Artcraft in Argentina

Artcraft Wedding

Artcraft Fountain Pens

Artcraft Filigree

Cromer - Artcraft

Artcraft Ringtop

I hope some of this helps to further the discussion.

Phil

Edited July 9, 2014 by philm

July 9, 2014

Nice history. I have some examples of Escritor pens, as I'm also from Argentina. The quality wasn't that good, I had to replace all the sacs in my aerometrics Escritor 52 (open nib) and 47? (hooded nib, a Parker 51 clone). I also saw striped Escritor pens, just like a Parker Vacumatic but with lever fill. Some time ago I bought a lot of 12 unused Escritor pens by a dollar or so. They all smell very bad.

Hi Icardoth, yes, some Escritor 5x smell bad. It's because a nasty component inside the collector/feed unit (rubber maybe?). It depends on the storage conditions suffered.

The Escritor 4x models are my favorites, they were made in the golden years of the company, just before Parker landed in the country. They have the best manufacture quality. The striped and marbled cellulloid they have is very beautiful.

Postdata: ¡VAMOS ARGENTINA! :bunny01:

Aldo

July 10, 2014

I have written a bit about Artcraft in Alabama (US) and John Hubbard (who currently resides in AL) has continued to do great research about the US (pre 1934) Artcraft.

Here are links to several small articles on their US history, as well as some Argentinian Advertisements, Stock Certificates, and Pens, that I have put together over time.
..
I hope some of this helps to further the discussion.

Phil

Hi Phil, I've read your posts on Artcraft many times, they were a motivation to get into this brand. So thank you!

Here are many public sources to assemble a fairly complete story.

For example, business records are kept in the Boletín Oficial De La Républica Argentina and Inspección General de Justicia. Our National Library and Library of Congress contain a complete collection of newspapers and magazines to obtain advertising and related articles. You have to go in person there. The chance to meet a former employee or a descendant is remote, but not impossible.

Time availability is an obstacle, I should win the lottery, this could make things easier.

Aldo

July 10, 2014

The Escritor 4x models are my favorites, they were made in the golden years of the company, just before Parker landed in the country. They have the best manufacture quality. The striped and marbled cellulloid they have is very beautiful.

You can help me in identify my Escritor pens. I have two with "Escritor 52" engraving, but I also have a bunch of pens with no identificaction at all. They are all aerometric fill with "Escritor" engraved in the pressing bar. The barrels don't have any imprint, Nibs are all hooded, just like in a Parker 51, and the caps are stainless steel with golden clip and black jewel. I have examples in blue, green, burgundy and black color. I thought it was an Escritor 47, but later I realized the 47 has gold cap. Can you identify my pens? Thanks!

July 10, 2014

Hi Phil, I've read your posts on Artcraft many times, they were a motivation to get into this brand. So thank you!
Here are many public sources to assemble a fairly complete story.
For example, business records are kept in the Boletín Oficial De La Républica Argentina and Inspección General de Justicia. Our National Library and Library of Congress contain a complete collection of newspapers and magazines to obtain advertising and related articles. You have to go in person there. The chance to meet a former employee or a descendant is remote, but not impossible.
Time availability is an obstacle, I should win the lottery, this could make things easier.

Aldo

Hi Aldo,

We should all win the lottery....thank you for all of the background information. I will pass this thread on to John Hubbard as I think he would be very interested in the Argentina information.

Regards,

Phil

July 10, 2014

Hi Aldo,

We should all win the lottery....thank you for all of the background information. I will pass this thread on to John Hubbard as I think he would be very interested in the Argentina information.

Regards,

Phil

That's great!

Aldo