How rugged are pre-WW II pens?

[Arnav]

I'm very keen on many old German pens, and they're often cheaper to buy than a modern pen with a custom-modified nib.

 

How rugged are pre-WW II fountain pens made from hard rubber or celluloid? (Were any other materials commonly used?) After 60-90 years of aging, do they hold up to the bangs and occasional drops of regular, heavy use?

 

Any advice? Thanks in advance!

[Arnav]

Hi.

 

I thought I'd try to make a go of this topic by adding another question:

 

What are the visible signs that old celluloid or hard rubber are degrading to the degree that they'd be too delicate for significant daily use?

 

And is it true that solid-color celluloids are more robust than patterned or laminated ones?

 

 

Thanks!

 

-Arnav

Edited March 23, 2005 by Arnav

[chris burton]

Hi Arnav,

 

Pre-WWII German pens are some of my favorites. I almost always have one in rotation. All of mine are either celluloid or hard rubber and, although I am careful with them, I *use* them and don't coddle them. Hard rubber pens seem to be some of the most durable pens ever made.

 

hope this helps,

Chris

[Arnav]

Thanks, Chris.

 

Which makes and models have you been happy with?

 

What do you like about prewar German pens?

 

-Arnav

Edited March 23, 2005 by Arnav

[chris burton]

Hi Arnav,

 

I have some Montblancs and Pelikans that are pre-war. I have lots of pens that are great writers, but there is just something about the MB's and Pelikans from this period that allows them to disappear into my hand. It's hard to describe, although I will say that I do love the nibs on these pens. Lots of expression and easy to use.

 

Here is a pic of two of my favorites...

http://home.earthlink.net/~cburton1277/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/mbandpel.jpg

 

and another of my favorites...

http://home.earthlink.net/~lasvegasburtons/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/mb6two.jpg

[Arnav]

Thanks, Chris.

 

Do you have any experience with the lesser German brands -- the Osmias, Gehas, Matadors, Luxors, ... ?

 

-Arnav

[chris burton]

I've had a Osmia that was a nice pen and I also have a Wende, which I *believe* is German, but I really don't know for sure. I'd love to find out. Both of these pens are (were in the case of the Osmia) great pens. I don't think that I've ever had an old German pen that I didn't like, although most of my experiences have been with MB and Pelikan.

 

What do you have/what do you like? I've heard good things about Geha's and Matadors, but I don't know anything about Luxor's.

[Arnav]

Hi, Chris.

 

The only pen I own now that I really like is a new Pelikan M200 with a narrow "cursive italic" nib. I was trying -- and had some success! -- to reproduce what I had seen of the writing of old German pens, like Pelikans.

 

I find myself attracted to pens that were designed to appeal to certain "writing cultures". My recent ancestry is central-European -- culturally rather German-influenced. Central Europeans of my parents' generation (post-WW I) had a "writing culture" very different from the American one, and that's influenced me very much. My impression is that ballpoints have largely, but not completely, imposed a "least-common-denominator" in this respect, though cultures change slowly. (Many European children still learn to write with fountain pens.) I see clues that the English "public" schools had a "writing culture" not unlike that of the Germanophilic world, and so I find myself attracted to many English pens, also.

 

In my American schools, unfortunately, handwriting was taught in a form-over-substance manner. I'm slowly discovering that there are principles of legibility, and that pens can participate in those principles.

 

-Arnav

[wimg]

Hi Arnav,

 

I would like to add something about Osmia's: they are lesser pens only because it was a smaller brand, not because of quality. They are of equal or better quality than most pens of the same time, and undervalued, because many people don't know them.

 

Just my 2c,

Kind regards, Wim

[Filot Palcon]

Hard rubber and celluloid are not that rigged after sitting around so many years

[Moonraker]

I haven't had the best luck with pre WWII pens. While some are still in great shape, the constriction of the cheaper pens may have not been good enough to last 70+ years.

 

I've seen some literally unravel in a helicoidal shape at the seam.

[Bo Bo Olson]

BHRC Osmia or Osmia-Faber-Castel of the early '50's are great pens. A diamond with a nib size in it is semi-flex, one labeled Supra is a 'flexi'/maxi-semi-flex and the gold nib is as good as the steel nib, both grand nibs.

 

How ever you will have to get them re-corked more than likely, in they didn't go plastic gasket until after Faber-Castel bought them up 1951, then the fools started erasing the Osmia name. By middle '50s-56-57 or so Osmia was gone on the pen leaving only the Osmia diamond on the Faber Castell nib. I don't buy such. By me it's still has to have Osmia on the pen.

The pencil maker Faber-Castell only made second tier pens and needed a major quality pen.

[Ernst Bitterman]

Generally speaking, they're both as up to bumping around as they were when new, although the rubber ones are more likely to show extra fragility. This is still not to say that they're as impact insensitive as most modern plastics; the exception is (from reports I've heard) the resin Montblanc uses, which sounds like it acts in a vintage manner. I regularly use inter-bellum pens, mainly US-made, and I don't treat them any differently from the majority of my moderns as far as handling... but I'm pretty careful with pens generally.

 

If hard rubber has gone white or at least very pale, it's probably rather more sensitive to bumps than otherwise. Celluloid failure tends to be an all or nothing prospect, when it decomposes into a heap of crystals; there is a preliminary phase to this, sometimes, in which the material starts to turn pale or even translucent. There's nothing to be done for this, other than keep it away from other celluloid objects, as the gases from the process will catalyze the same process in previously unaffected items.

[Dubois]

Wow. This thread seems to have been resurrected from around the time of WW ll.

[Sasha Royale]

After six or seven decades, the rubber tends to become brittle. While far from being "delicate", be careful not to drop one.

Old, hard rubber can shatter ! It will make you cry.

[fb1949]

Makes like Melbi, Luxor, Reco, Orgea, Garant (ex DDR) Merkurit, Fridia, Osmia of course, Böhler, were as well made and of equal good quality as Montblanc and Pelikan were.

 

You can find them on Ebay.de for peanuts (even 20 to 50 $, sometimes around 100 for high range pens under these labels) and get a top quility pen that will satisfy you like a 1000 $ pen !!!

 

And don't care if the nib is made of steel alloy, in Germany they were at least as good as the gold ones ! As for Montblanc and Pelikan nibs, that said. Some wealthy people even have a preference for WW2 steel alloy nibs, even on a Montblanc 13e to 139 or 234 1/2, considered by many as the top of the top in fountain pens, with justice.

 

The makes I have mentionned above will offer to you the same quality level and also evident quallity in design and matters.

 

Enjoy !

[mitto]

I have a lil Osmia 661 and it has a KM nib that is super flesx. Now I don't know how the Kugal nib may turn out to be a super flex?

[Bo Bo Olson]

I think I have Luxor because of the nib and the fishbone pattern under a Pfortzheim silver overlay.

I have a Tropen, after the war....very solid made nail. The Brittish army needed a lot of pens after the war and ordered 50,000 from Tropen who was a well known German pen exporter. They would end up ordering lots more from Tropen.

The new Labor Party in GB refused to allocate one cent for the bombed out fountain pen factories in GB; so Tropen took up the slack.

 

Osmia of course, Böhler, were as well made and of equal good quality as Montblanc and Pelikan were. Osmia & Böhler were once the dame company. After Faber-Castel who bought in first in 1936 started saying wat was to be done. The two Böhler brothers split up the company, in 1938....Osmia remained Osmia, Böhler kept the same model numbers. I have three, had four.

By 1950/51 Faber-Castel finished buying up Osmia, two years later had started erasing Osmia the top of the line name from the pen....

Osmia did have 4-5 tops and clips. The Osmia Diamond cap jewel disappeared, the Osmia stamped clip was erased. Eventually all that was left was the Osmia Diamond in the nib...in the nib is very good, gold or steel. By late '50's Osmia was gone, only Faber Castel remained and soon they stopped making fountain pens....in the Ball Points won.

 

Böhler continued to make cartridge pens into the '70's. I have one perhaps from the '60's, with a spade semi-flex nib.

 

Another pen the Original Reform...................not the cheap junk 1745 made under that bought up name.

As soon as the war was over companies who bought exported Original Reform pens send cash in advance so he could buy supplies. He was another Heidelberg company. I have two war pens....very, very solidly made. In the mid '50's ball points were coming in strong. The owner decided he was not going to make a cheap fountain pen and shut down his factory. Some years later he sold his machines and name to Mulschner(sp) a Heidelberg company specializing in second and third tier pens....who made the 1745 pens, still under the Original Reform name.

 

Soennecken having the best fountain pen in the world (according to Lambrou) , did not get into ball point pens quickly like MB and Pelikan so went out of the pen business by @'60.

 

 

 

One of my BCHR Böhler pens decided to crack all to hell...of course Murphy was watching, it was the spiffiest of my BCHR pens. The other one is good.

The Full Tortoise is still good too...all three were pre-war.

A few years ago...4-5, Böhler was very affordable, in it was not a name. Osmia was more expensive than Pelikan. Still is.

There's not a lot of Böhler's out there....or not when I was looking occasionally later.

 

I had thought my 100n was pre-war but found out if it's got a green ink window it's post-war.

Edited August 18, 2017 by Bo Bo Olson

[sandy101]

I have a Parker Vaccumatic from the 30's. I'm not sure what its made of, but after getting it resacced it's almost as good as new. The material looks a bit thinner than it was, and I wouldn't like to step on it as I suspect it would crack quite easily, but its robust enough to be used for writing.

Edited August 19, 2017 by sandy101

[siamackz]

My favourite MBs are from the pre war era, many of them are made of hard rubber. I actually find the material to be very comfortable to handle, and I don't feel like it is brittle. Not had any bad experiences yet. With celluloid that is cited you need to watch out for discolouration. With celluloid that is not coloured I just look to see if it is opaque still, or transparent (which means that it has been overpolished and has lost much material).