Edgardo and Elvira Ercolessi founded a famous pen store in Rome, Italy during the 1920's. A lot of pens have been sold baring the name of the shop founders but were masde by Omas.

To celebrate the 75th anniversary Omas was asked by Ercolessi which is still in business to manufacture a limited edition of 1921 pens which resemble Ercolessi's pens of the 1930's. The modern Limited Edition is made from grenn celluloid with black veins.

Of the 1921 pieces, 921 have been sold in stores all over the world of which only 44 have been available on the German market.

The two pens pictured look identical on the first view but show some differences in detail. One pen both shows the "E.E.Ercolessi" and "LE number" imprinted on the barrel and gripping section; the other does not show any imprints on celluloid parts at all! Also the pen not showing any imprints is made from a different celluloid material which is much more opaque and shows a lighter and brighter shade of green. Also the black veins are much more obvious.

Unfortunately the picture above does not show this difference as much as it becomes visible in real life.

One pen is equiped with an original "M" E.E.Ercolessi nib while the other has a single tone "BB" Omas nib; in 1996 Omas Germany changed the nib on the original customer's request to a "BB" which was not available on the Ercolessi design.

Both pens write very nice as you might expect from an Omas (or Ercolessi ) pen.


I really would love to learn something about the pen without any markings which also is made from a slightly different celluloid material. I assume that this is some sort of "pre-production" sample !?

Michael

Thank you for a great post. I covet an E.E. Ercolessi, but I just do not have the financial resources at the moment to track one down. I missed out on a chance to buy one from Nouvelli when they first came out.

The Ercolessi is nice; it's so interesting because it does not look like an Omas but feels and behaves like one.

I'm sure you will find one one day - they turn up once in a while.

You can take a look at a vintage lookalike on E.E.Ercolessi's website:

http://www.ercolessi.gpa.it/

Go to:

1. English
2. The Service we offer
3. Collector's corner
4. Green pen in the upper left corner

(sorry, I cannot link directly)

Looks like the LE is a mixture between this pen and the earlier eydroppers which had the cap threads right at the front of the section.


Michael

Not a very good picture but it shows the difference in the material nicely.

Michael

IIRC, I got my Ercolessi from Howard Levy. It is a wonderful fountain pen that looks nothing like any of my other Omas pens. I love the way it writes and thankfully I enjoy its fine nib. Did not have a good picture of mine by itself so here is a group of green pens, mostly Italian.

Lets see, Stipula Saturno, Visconti Manhattan, Aurora Optima, Pen Plus LE by Visconti, Omas Ercolessi, VP, and lastly a Visconti Michangelo Grande.

Wonderful image; I love green pens!

What does the celluloid look like you've got? I assume yours has the Ercolessi imprint as well as the LE # imprinted on the section?

Did you get yours with the matching ink? Unfortunately I only got the pens (but will get the matching wooden box soon) but not the ink.

Cheers

Michael

Thanks to both of you for the great photos!!!

Jim

It did come with the ink and boxes. It is stamped and numbered. I started my quest for thi spen many years ago when B, of acpp fame, convinced me that the Ercolessi, Michangelo Grande and the Pen Plus LE were the three finest looking green pens available. The Optima probably should also be on that list.

Hello,

could you please post a picture of the Ercolessi and Michelangelo Grande together without their caps? I would like to see the size of both pens compared.

Regards,

Nelson

This is an interesting comment. We have perhaps been conditioned to expect an Omas to look like the familiar 55x series of tapered, faceted pens. Early in its history, Omas, given Armando Simoni's association with Parker, made Parker-like flattops. As Omas made pens for sale by others like Ercolessi, it's to be expected that some Ercolessi may have been Omas flattops.

Here's an example of an Omas flattop made pen for Fetti. Note the washer clip and the knurled captop:
Click to view attachment



This is not really comparable to the modern Ercolessi LE. It's based on the Omas Minerva Ellitica.

From the Ercolessi website:
Click to view attachment

A Minerva Ellitica:
Click to view attachment

Compare this with an Ercolessi flattop, albeit with an Ellitica clip:
Click to view attachment



The threading is indeed unusual. This forward threading began, as far as I know, with Moore's retracting nib safeties around 1902 and continued on many other safeties thereafter. I'm not sure why Ercolessi did this. Perhaps there was a forward threaded pen in its past that they were recreating.

Many thanks for your wonderful and interesting reply!



Yes, I was refering to the better known models like the Extra or Ogiva which we think of when we think "Omas" pens :-)




This is a wonderful pen; the color really looks similar to the one of the modern LE.


Have you ever heard about the story that Elvira Ercolessi liked the Swan pens of their time and had some Ercolessi models made to look similar to those?

Cheers

Michael

Do you know if the ink is the same as the regular Omas Green ink or if it is a different color?

Here is a link to my review of Omas inks:

Omas Inks




...don't forget the Arco Green Celluoid and Tibaldi Bononia!


Michael

I have done a deal for a Bononia and it should be on its way to me soon. The Omas green celluloid pen just did not appeal to me.

Interesting articles about the Ercolessi 75 yr LE. I will have to check mine for the #'s and their locations. Interesting comments about green Italian pens. What about the Idra and Superba??

Regards,

Chuck S.

The Minerva Ellitica pictured above has a form somewhat like the "Superba," and a similar cap band. But the celluloid in the "Superba" and "Idra" is deep, dark and rich, and differs from all the green pens in this thread. I regret that I am photo impaired and can only verbally hint at their beauty.

Michael, thanks for posting that information. I just bought an Ercolessi and was afraid I might have buyer's remorse because it was the most I have ever spent on a pen. Buyer's remorse? No way! It is going to become one of my very favorite pens. It is the model with the imprints and has the original B nib which I am going to have ground to a CI by Deb Kinney. It is such a smooth writer - like other Omas pens - that I am slightly hesitant to have the nib reground. But a CI nib would make the pen perfect.

I like the darker green better. I hope you will post any further information you have about the differences between the two models.

Thanks again, Michael -

mehitabel

Glad that such an "old" LE (1996) gains popularity again - I can imagine that it still is available NOS from stores in Italy.

I will get a matching box soon as well.

This leaves me behind just being curious what the original ink which came with the pen looked like.



Michael