I just grabbed a pen on eBay that I am hoping someone here will know more about. It is stamped Camel, Made in Italy. It has a very interesting design near the nib and is a piston filler. This particular pen has some issues - cracks in the barrel near the threads and some dings on the cap. But after I cleaned and polished it, I filled it with ink and... I think it's the smoothest writer I have. So I'd love to know more about this company. I'm attaching a picture from the eBay listing, so that was before I polished it. The cap is now a very light gold color, but there's no mark to identify the metal.

Thanks,
Jim

Interesting!

I saw this pen on ebay but forgot to put a bid in. I have a small collection of New Jersey made Camel pens but I'm sure there is no connection, although the clip looks similar in shape to their later models.

No other info to offer. Sorry.

-Tom

one hump or two?

One - but it holds a lot of ink in that one hump!

Jim! Good to see you back! How was England? Neat pen you've got there!

Hey Ryan! Unfortunately, the London trip was cancelled - I got to stay here and work long hours instead, so that was a good tradeoff... Right?

Oh you're kidding! Man, I was up there that week! Got together with James and Jason for dinner one night, and Patrick Rhone the next! Would have been nice to make the hat trick!

Next time...I still owe you a few sheets of paper from a ream of HP 32# Premium Laser. BTW, did you ever get that 9550/9555 figured out? If not, I might have a spare if you need it.

Let me know when you come up next, although I won't be available much until after the holiday season has ended. I actually haven't used the Estie much lately - I've moved on to other pens: VP, Aurora 98, Lamy Safari...

Now...is there anyone on the board who knows more about this pen or the company? Come on... someone has to know something!

Jim, I think you come across something I call "Aurora 88 clone". A88 is the most famous and produced Italian FP. During the 50s everybody got one. Its design derived from Parker 51, imported during the WWII by US Army soldiers, but in Italy was a complete novelty. For that reason, several other pen makers just copied the A88 overnight. Tipically the name was made to sound like "foreigner". You know, after some 20 years of "forced" nationalism (including product names), foreign languages were very cool!
It is amazing to see how many of those clones are now on the counter at any "open-air sunday antique market".

I got something similar this summer. The name stamped on barrel is "Forever". I'll post a pic if you are interested.

Cheers,