The fountain pen industry from it's outset has rarely been one where pens were manufactured from raw material to finished product by one company. In fact, I think it is safe to say that the norm up until 1925-1930 was to source from various suppliers, and assemble finished pens from these parts. Waterman, for example, bought their nibs first from Fairchild, then later from Aikin Lambert, and their hard-rubber parts from Day Rubber - later buying both of these companies to consolidate their operations.

Finding the sources that various companies used is one of the more difficult areas of pen research. We can sometimes tie a pen brand back to the retailer who sold it, and sometimes tie the pen back to a manufacturer, but getting the next level back to the source of parts is often much harder. Smaller pen manufacturers seem to have often purchased parts from the same suppliers, especially things like trim or metal fittings.

So I was quite pleased to discover the following article, "Waterloo Way Keeps Winning" from the Waterloo Daily Reporter, Friday, December 10, 1909 p.2, about William A. Welty, of the William Welty Pen Co., and his travels east to build the market for his pens. The article quoted The Lancaster News of Dec 7th, from Lancaster PA:



So now we have a name for one source of the metal parts used on Welty's pens, and most likely other small pen makers. So far I have not found anything else about the firm, but this shows us one source of these pen parts. It also shows the extent to which a moderate-sized midwestern manufacturer would be willing to source parts from hundreds of miles east.

John

Thank you John for this additional information on Welty. It is funny how Eastern Iowa sounds like the wild west in this article. I (naively) had always thought that Welty was getting his parts from Chicago due to the midwest connection and rail line connection. I wonder if the Evans pens continued to use United?

Phil

And United Novelty Works was the precursor to the United Novelty Co. in New York, a company owned by Abraham Shatkun, who later joined up with Benjamin and David Kahn to form Shatkun & Kahn, which later evolved into David Kahn, Inc., the makers of the Wearever, etc.

George Kovalenko.

Hi,

I have a soft spot for things Lancastrian (I went to college there). So I got in touch with the local historical society, just to see if those folks had any info on this company. They did, and I duly asked
for permission to post their answer, but there hasn't been a response. So I'm going to paraphrase, hopefully preserving all the relevant information.

United Novelty Works began life as the Lancaster Silver Plate Co. around 1900. It was initially a silverplating works located in the heart of Lancaster city. The president was a gentleman named Albert Rosenstein; his son Edwin was a partner in the enterprise, and later served as sales manager. Around 1904 a fire destroyed their facility. The works relocated to 630 N. Christian St. (also in Lancaster city). At that point the Lancaster Silver Plate Co. was combined with the Pennsylvavania Cane Co. (most likely a manufacturer of silver tipped walking sticks) under the new name of United Novelty Mfg. Co. (often referred to simply as the United Novelty Co. or United Novelty Works). By 1916 Edwin Rosenstein was serving as company treasurer, and Albert was still president. In 1923 the company was also making manicure sets. By 1931 Mr. Rosenstein is known to have been selling Venetian blinds, and United Novelty seems to have disappeared from the records.

My source also notes that there was at this time an unrelated Lancaster company called Novelty Mfrg. Co., W. Carl Winger, Pres., that made tin novelties.

Not sure how much of that is enlightening or interesting, but I wanted to err on the side of including more detail rather than less. Does this information dovetail with the Kahn connection?

Cheers,

Jon

George,

I would also love to hear some more about the connection with Kahn.

There were a lot of companies out there that used the name "Novelty Co," for companies that made everything from safety razors to portable steam engines. There was also a United Novelty Co. near Cleveland that burned down in the 1905-1908 range.

John

Jon, thanks for that Lancastrian excursion. And thank goodness for the local history societies, and local history libraries.

It seems that I may have jumped the gun in assuming a connection between the Lancaster company and the New York company. There were enough companies named United Novelty at the time to cast some doubt upon the connection. So I now retract what I said earlier about the United Novelty Works in Lancaster being the precursor to the United Novelty Co. in New York. All the rest still stands.

And John, I also would love to hear more about the chronology of the Kahn company, but some other local historian, or Wearever specialist, perhaps Dennis Lively, is going to have to come forward with the information. The other great Wearever specialist, Frank Dubiel, is long gone. ;~)

George Kovalenko.

George,

I hear you there. Not sure who is taking on the early Wearever research right now - DWL was somewhat surprised when I posted the FTC info on Shatkun and Kahn, so I don't know if he has run with that or not. I was mainly probing for more background on the supposed United Novelty Works - United Novelty Co. connection.

Jon - thank you very much for the local Lancaster history. I grew up just outside the big city about an hours drive East of Lancaster, so I also have a fondness for that area. I miss places with names like "Bird-in-Hand", and roads called "Pike".

John

John,

My pleasure. I've been the beneficiary of so much enlightening information in this forum that I welcome any opportunity to reciprocate by contributing - even in such a trivial way.

I lived in the same "big city" for years; now I live just a few miles east of it (and just a few miles north of the alleged haunts of Mother Leeds's thirteenth child). Like you, I miss the Lancaster area, and get out to visit it much too infrequently. Not just the country, but Lancaster itself; I still have fond memories of the good old Watt & Shand downtown store (they must have sold a nice fountain pen or two in their day).

If you need a good Shoo-Fly Pie recipe, just say the word!

Cheers,

Jon