Looking for help IDing this Stipula Etruria pictured here. I bought it from the bay a long while back and forgot the particulars. It's not the same dimensions as the current production being smaller in both the capped/uncapped configuration. It's an almost translucent amber color, C/C fill. Looking for a production date and any other details. The photos are from the eBay listing when I bought it.

Thats a beauty!!!!!! Very nice colouring.
I'm sure Wim can help with that one.

Jim

Thanks Jim.

The nib is a medium, one of the very few I own. Writes very well, fairly moderate wetness and very smooth. The trim is not heavy and by that I mean the clip and cap band are on the thin side. Exactly the same as the LE Swisher I own and not like the more stouter trim on their regular production. It leads me to believe it was manufactured for someone to market as their own LE. They couldn't tell me much when I contacted the factory via email.

Well i will say if that pen ever goes up for sale,it won't be there for long.

Jim

Wow... nice pen! How come I never seem able to score pens like this on eBay? Let me know when you get tired of it, and I'll buy it from you!

I think it's the old Etruria, that was produced in 2 sizes: medium (converter) and large (piston).
It was made in brown-amber celluloid, with 18 kt gold nib, and trims were in solid gold 9 Kt (not vermeil!). High value for its price, and very beautiful.
Completely sold out years ago. I did a special close-out final selling for Christmas 2002 or 2003..
This is what I mean:



I think it's the same, isn't it?

I'll certainly keep that in mind


Yes, it really looks the same. Thanks for the help, Susanna. It's an interesting pen and very beautiful.

Shoving Jim and Charlie and standing at the front of the line if you ever decide to sell this one...

The celluloid looks like the celluloid used in the Novecento REX, though I can't be sure because the pen is home and I'm not. How closely does it resemble the celluloid used in the Etruria Volterra? You have one of those too, yea?

In addition to the Etruria 991, I'd say the Novecento REX and Florentia are the most stunning Stipula celluloid pens. Yours is a definite winner as well. Congratulations on your find!

Ladies first I guess, sorry guys.

It's not even close to the Volterra. Honestly, I don't think this is celluloid, the amber color is transparent. I'm not thinking demonstrator here, but you can see the inner workings through what I'll now call resin. The pen looks like celluloid on Susanna's photo but if you go back to my photo's, you might be able to make out the innards if you look closely enough.

Help, Susanna, any comments on the material this pen was made from?

EDIT: If you look at the last photo of my post, you can make out the threads where the section screws into the barrel and almost make out the converter.

greencobra wrote:

" ... It's an almost translucent amber color, C/C fill. ... "

"If you look at the last photo of my post, you can make out the threads where the section screws into the barrel and almost make out the converter."

My response would have been nearly identical to Susanna's. When the Etruria first came out, I grabbed one of the large piston fillers and the celluloid was so lovely I went back for a medium sized c/c version. I was so taken by the celluloid, I also jumped on a Florentia. I still treasure all three. ("They'll get my amber celluloid Stipulas when they pry them from my cold, dead hand ... etc. etc.")

What you picture and describe sure sounds like the medium sized version of this pen. The thing that stumps me is the intensity of the translucense that you describe. None of my pens have that level of translucense. If your pen is older and you have no tarnish on the gold trim, it probably is the 9 karat gold of the original production run. I am curious to know what number your pen has imprinted on the barrel.

It is always possible that someone had Stipula make a run of the medium sized Etruria as a proprietary offering. The only vendor I know of who would do a medium sized pen is Levenger. But a Levenger pen would have a Levenger nib, no matter who manufactured it. Swisher would use a Stipula nib, but I am completely unaware of their even contracting for a medium size pen. Swisher did three colors of the O/S Etruria.

In the end, the translucense has me stumped.

Edited: Sorry. I went back to your pics and saw the number "326." My medium has a four digit number, "0162." My O/S version also has a four digit number, "2075." The numbers lead me to believe your pen was a different production run from the original Stipula offering. But 326 is a pretty high number for a proprietary offering.

It also looks a lot like the celluloid used in the DaVinci Infinity.

As Susanna pointed out, this is the model from a few years ago, the Media, and it is the original amber celluloid used.

This pen was available, AFAIK, available with gold and with silver trim, and actually was a quite expensive pen. The gold trimmed Media sold for about 420 euros over here ....

Both the silver and gold trimmed PF Grande versions are in my collection, one of which came from Susanna, BTW .

Warm regards, Wim

wimg wrote:

"As Susanna pointed out, this is the model from a few years ago, the Media, and it is the original amber celluloid used.

This pen was available, AFAIK, available with gold and with silver trim, and actually was a quite expensive pen. The gold trimmed Media sold for about 420 euros over here ....

Both the silver and gold trimmed PF Grande versions are in my collection, one of which came from Susanna, BTW."

Now I am really confused! Are you saying the medium Etruria was also called the "Media?" Her pen is clearly imprinted with "Etruria," but that is not to say it did not have another informal name. I was also unaware of the silver trim.

So it is celluloid.

Frank, the gold fittings are still bright. Also, the pen was new in the box when I got it and never inked.

I'll admit I've avoided using it because of the medium nib. Until recently it was still un-inked but it turned in to the go to pen when I wanted to give a medium another try.

Thank you to everyone for the help on this.

Sorry, if I confused you. The medium size was called the Stipula Amber Media, Media for short, the large size the Stipula Amber Grande, Grande for short.

Personally, I have never seen or handled the Media in silver trim, only in gold trim, but I was assured it exists/existed, but as I mentioned, I do have both the silver trim and gold trim editions of the Grande.

Warm regards, Wim

Wim wrote:

"Sorry, if I confused you. The medium size was called the Stipula Amber Media, Media for short, the large size the Stipula Amber Grande, Grande for short."

Once again, I have learned something new here. I got my first Etrurias within a couple months of their initial introduction. Here in the U. S., in all the advertizing and all the on line chat, I never once came across the terms "Media" or "Grande" in reference to Etrurias. I have only seen "medium" and "oversized."

I think I was aware that there were some silver trim examples available. I think I had blown all my money on the marvelous gold trim, so I passed. Nevertheless, I have not encountered any silver trim on the early amber Etrurias.

So many variants, so little time.

Just thought I'd mention that, based on a side-by-side comparison, it is the same celluloid.

Hi Deirdre,

The old PF Etruria Amber Grandes and Media, AFAIK are made of "amber" celluloid from cellulose nitrate, the ones after that, and the Novecento Rex and DaVinci Infinity of a very similar amber celluloid, made of cellulose acrylate. The latter is slightly lighter than the earlier version, but has the same deep red marbling within the brown and golden brown mottled structure of the celluloid. Beautiful IOW.

The Volterra is made of the same celluloid as one of the Tibaldis, namely a reddish brown mottled celluloid, with green flecks/stripes embedded, so that is a different material, but also breathtaking to look at.

Warm regards, Wim

Interesting. Offhand, do you know which the grande with 9ct gold was? I have a piston filler one I picked up yesterday; the model was discontinued a few years ago.

Hi Deirdre,

Well, yes, they are easy to recognize. The picture you linked in from Susanna's site shows it clearly: the section is tapering straight down, and has a lip at the nib /feed end, while all the newer ones have a concave, "hollowed out" section.

I hope Susanna doesn't mind, but I have linked two examples here, from Susanna's site.



The above is the old version.



And this one, also linked from Susanna's site, although not an Amber, shows clearly what I mean. The 991 was the first Etruria to have a concave section. Some of the models have a chamfered edge at the nib end of the section, and some don't. The 991 does.

The Etruria Amber Convertible also has a rounded clip, of course which both the old Amber and the new don't have; they both come equipped with the feather shaped clip.

Warm regards, Wim

Fascinating. Yes, I definitely have one of the old style ones. The color match for the old cellulose nitrate and the new cellulose acrylate is incredibly good (better than I can photograph because of how the light reflects through the underlying materials).