Vintage Tibaldi Fountain Pens?

[Keyless Works]

I recently acquired Letizia Jacopini's The History of the Italian Fountain pen (thank you Letizia!) as well as the Dolcini OMAS book. I am enjoying these books so much that I considering buying Letizia's book on Tibaldi but I am not sure it makes sense to buy if I wont be able to add any Tibaldi's to my collection....

 

I can't find vintage Tibaldi pens for sale or even ones that have sold recently.

 

I now have a few questions:

 

1) Do vintage Tibaldi pens ever come up for sale? If so, where should I look?

 

2) What range of prices do good quality examples go for?

 

3) Does anyone here have a collection of vintage Tibaldi pens (I would love to see pictures)?

 

 

[roberto v]

Tibaldi are not that common even here in Italy, go figure in the USA!

 

This is a scarce Tibaldi Rex (no, it's not for sale!)

 

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b181/rvetrugno/penne/italiane/tibaldi/file_zps571c112e.jpg

 

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b181/rvetrugno/penne/italiane/tibaldi/file_zpsff8493d1.jpg

 

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b181/rvetrugno/penne/italiane/tibaldi/file_zps9b2bddbb.jpg

[Keyless Works]

Wow that's a beautiful pen Roberto! Thank you for sharing.

[MarcShiman]

They come up from time to time - I sell about 1 per year. They aren't my favorite of Italian vintage pens - their plastic isn't terribly innovative and its quite brittle. The plating is usually worn. The really hard part of a Tibaldi is finding one with the correct gold nib in it. Most of the ones I see for sale have nibs that are too small or incorrect.

 

Tibaldi vintage pens are another brand that has benefitted from a very high priced modern brand. I don't think they would be so expensive if it weren't for the Impero, etc.

 

I sold the one in the middle earlier this year:

 

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac303/marcshiman/IMAG0062_zps5d642d61.jpg

 

For the larger size pens in good shape with the correct nib, expect to pay $800-$1200, although there are so few on the market that the prices can fluctuate wildly.

Edited July 24, 2014 by MarcShiman

[Keyless Works]

Thank you Marc, those pens are gorgeous. Please keep me in mind when it comes time to sell another one.

 

Which vintage Italian brands would you say are superior? There are so many different ones that it is hard to get a good sense of a brand unless they were large to medium sized like Aurora, OMAS, Montegrappa and Ancora etc.

[MarcShiman]

I don't know if its a matter of superior or not, because they made some nice pens (seems almost all of the brands have some pens that make you say "WOW!!") I even have an Estense that Roberto sold me that is really very nice!

 

But from a price to quality ratio, Aurora, Tibaldi, Montegrappa, and Ancora all seem somewhat overpriced for what they bring. With Omas its hard to say that, because their pens from the 30's and 40's are unmatched.

 

I think Columbus, Radius, Tabo, and my favorite Pecco are the most reasonably priced compared with their quality. A lesser known brand that made a gorgeous pen is Princeps, I've managed to stumble into four of them in my collection (I'm not sure how). The company that manufactured Radius, SAFIS, made a number of different brands that were of really nice quality.

[roberto v]

But from a price to quality ratio, Aurora, Tibaldi, Montegrappa, and Ancora all seem somewhat overpriced for what they bring. With Omas its hard to say that, because their pens from the 30's and 40's are unmatched.

 

 

Here I don't agree. Most Aurora, Tibaldi, Montegrappa and Ancora pens from the 30's are really top quality and of course top exemplars demand top prices.

 

These are from my collection:

 

Montegrappa:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b181/rvetrugno/penne/c49c0c37.jpg

 

Ancora:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b181/rvetrugno/penne/italiane/Ancora/DSC02373.jpg

Even the "duofold" style has been wonderfully reinterpreted.

 

 

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b181/rvetrugno/penne/italiane/Ancora/df12323b.jpg

This one is very close to the Omas Extra Arco, aside that it's a button and not a lever filler

 

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b181/rvetrugno/penne/italiane/Ancora/8175525f.jpg

 

The weak plating is a common issue with all italian pens of that age but consider that even Omas of Safis produced in reasons of 0.1 0.01 fraction compared to Parker, so no wonder that these pens are scarcer and more expensive :-)

[LetiziaJac]

Hi Everybody,

I am posting these lines first of allto answer Giovanni Abrate's question about my book on Tibaldi pens:I am very fond of it,not only because it is my first book,but also because it is a valuable source of information with good quality images. Unfortunately I know that it is not so easy to find it either in Italy or in the USA.

As regards the issue of vintage Italian pens and their prices,I do not think that quality pens are overpriced.If you keep an eye on ebay,you will see that desirable pens in acceptable condition are not so common. You can find as many Aurora 88 and Hastil as y

ou want,but models from the 1930s/1940s are actually very rare. Plus,there is a level of absolute originality in terms of colors,designs and technical aspects in most of the major ( and many minor) Italian brands,beyond Aurora and Omas, that are hard to find anywhere else. Italian pens can hardly be compared with Sheaffer,Parker or Waterman pens, nor with Pelikan or Mont Blancs. They are the expression of a peculiar productive scenario,where everything was in smaller scale than anywhere else and deeply tied to the personalities of the people who run the business. To a certain extent, most Italian pen companies never lost an evident heritage of craftsmanship typical of family-based activities. Then,there is the question of numbers: being the product of small companies, they were produced in small numbers ( would you compare the numbers of i.e. Waterman Patrician and Omas Extra,or Parker Vacumatic and Tabo Trasparente?)as a consequence,the ratio between offer ( very limited) and demand( very high) nowadays makes prices rocket.

Finally, Tibaldi pens exist on the market,they are only as rare as beautiful, colorful Omas facetted Extras or Ancora Duplex or Aurora Duplex etc. etc.

[Sazerac]

Knucklehead question here: We are not counting the Tibaldis from the 90s as vintage pens are we?

 

I am assuming the answer is, "no" since that was a resurected company, and the pens were not made with the same production ideals as Letizia describes above. But I wonder if there is something like consensus in the following question: How old must an Italian pen be to be 'vintage'? 30s-50s? Is a pen from the 70s 'vintage'?

 

I have serval pens, and they are almost all modern productions. I have a Pelikan 140 from the 50s and an Italia '90, but that is as old as they get for me. I do have a couple of the Tibaldi pens from the 90s though.

[MarcShiman]

Personally, I define "vintage" fountain pens as pens that are pre-ballpoint. My logic is that before ballpoint pens, pen manufacturers were constantly looking to improve on the performance of pens. Once ballpoint pens came out and were vastly better functionally (leaks, etc) fountain pens, after a fairly dark period, focused on various aspects of aesthetics while for the most part they stopped looking for better ways of drawing ink, storing it and delivering it (with notable exceptions).

 

I don't think there was a modern Tibaldi company manufacturing pens in the 90's - they were having them manufactured elsewhere. I know that they Transparante was made for them by Stipula, but I can't speak to the Iride, Impero, or 50/60. I do know that a lot of the pens that were on the market in the early 2000's were assembled after the company closed as nibs and barrels were floating around.

 

I love those 90's pens too. Absolutely some of my favorite contemporary pens.

[Keyless Works]

Hi Everybody,

I am posting these lines first of allto answer Giovanni Abrate's question about my book on Tibaldi pens:I am very fond of it,not only because it is my first book,but also because it is a valuable source of information with good quality images. Unfortunately I know that it is not so easy to find it either in Italy or in the USA.

As regards the issue of vintage Italian pens and their prices,I do not think that quality pens are overpriced.If you keep an eye on ebay,you will see that desirable pens in acceptable condition are not so common. You can find as many Aurora 88 and Hastil as y

ou want,but models from the 1930s/1940s are actually very rare. Plus,there is a level of absolute originality in terms of colors,designs and technical aspects in most of the major ( and many minor) Italian brands,beyond Aurora and Omas, that are hard to find anywhere else. Italian pens can hardly be compared with Sheaffer,Parker or Waterman pens, nor with Pelikan or Mont Blancs. They are the expression of a peculiar productive scenario,where everything was in smaller scale than anywhere else and deeply tied to the personalities of the people who run the business. To a certain extent, most Italian pen companies never lost an evident heritage of craftsmanship typical of family-based activities. Then,there is the question of numbers: being the product of small companies, they were produced in small numbers ( would you compare the numbers of i.e. Waterman Patrician and Omas Extra,or Parker Vacumatic and Tabo Trasparente?)as a consequence,the ratio between offer ( very limited) and demand( very high) nowadays makes prices rocket.

Finally, Tibaldi pens exist on the market,they are only as rare as beautiful, colorful Omas facetted Extras or Ancora Duplex or Aurora Duplex etc. etc.

Thank you Letizia! That is certainly helpful. I will continue to search for my first Tibaldi and if I love it as much as my two Extra Lucens then I think I will have to put in an order for your book.

 

Knucklehead question here: We are not counting the Tibaldis from the 90s as vintage pens are we?

 

I am assuming the answer is, "no" since that was a resurected company, and the pens were not made with the same production ideals as Letizia describes above. But I wonder if there is something like consensus in the following question: How old must an Italian pen be to be 'vintage'? 30s-50s? Is a pen from the 70s 'vintage'?

 

I have serval pens, and they are almost all modern productions. I have a Pelikan 140 from the 50s and an Italia '90, but that is as old as they get for me. I do have a couple of the Tibaldi pens from the 90s though.

For me (<--not an expert at all) I start to lose interest in the 1960s...pens got a lot more boring with introduction of the ballpoint.

 

The watch world had the "quartz crisis" in the 80s which destroyed lots of great Swiss and German watch companies and the ones that did survive produced a lot of mediocre designs (until Swatch got involved)...that's what I equate the introduction of the ballpoint to. The ballpoint was the end for a lot of good companies. OMAS for instance didn't get back on its feet (with good new designs and interesting pens) until the 1980s.

[MarcShiman]

Thank you Letizia! That is certainly helpful. I will continue to search for my first Tibaldi and if I love it as much as my two Extra Lucens then I think I will have to put in an order for your book.

 

 

I don't think you should wait for the Tibaldi... get the books (two volume set) now! Those books are absolutely the most important thing that has happened to Italian pen collecting.

[Keyless Works]

I already have her two volume set, The History of the Italian Fountain pen which I agree is the best resource I have come across for Italian pens.

 

Do you know if her Tibaldi book, Tibaldi: A Story of Fountain Pens and Men, gives a rarity and value type rating like the Dolcini OMAS book? If it does then maybe it is worth buying beforehand.

[Keyless Works]

...I bought a copy of the Tibaldi Book for $80...not cheap. Now I HAVE to buy at least one Tibaldi (<---sunk cost fallacy in action).

[bleair]

Does anyone have a hint for where to find the Dolcini book about OMAS pen history? I've searched for a while and so far no luck.

 

Echoing others, I'll also chime in to say that Letizia's book about the history of the Italian fountain pen are great. The tibaldi book is wonderful too though it's much closer to (highly and dangerously effective) marketing information about Tibaldi pens

[Keyless Works]

I bought my Dolcini OMAS book on that famous auction site but they don't come up often. It is helpful to use the follow search tool. The minute one came up I made a offer for less then half of asking and it was accepted, luckily.

[PENKOS]

Hi i have a nice collection of tibaldi pens vintage that are beautiful that i might be interested in selling

[PENKOS]

I recently acquired Letizia Jacopini's The History of the Italian Fountain pen (thank you Letizia!) as well as the Dolcini OMAS book. I am enjoying these books so much that I considering buying Letizia's book on Tibaldi but I am not sure it makes sense to buy if I wont be able to add any Tibaldi's to my collection....

 

I can't find vintage Tibaldi pens for sale or even ones that have sold recently.

 

I now have a few questions:

 

1) Do vintage Tibaldi pens ever come up for sale? If so, where should I look?

 

2) What range of prices do good quality examples go for?

 

3) Does anyone here have a collection of vintage Tibaldi pens (I would love to see pictures)?

 

 

Edited September 21, 2017 by PENKOS

[PENKOS]

I have a collection if you are interested in seeing the tibaldis I have let me know

[sidthecat]

I have a little ringtop; gold-filled and tiny. A scratchy writer, though.