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Has Anyone Noticed Almost All Judaism/israel-Related Pens Seem To Be Italian?


Shavely Manden

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Since I'm converting to Judaism (and like Judaism-inspired designs), I was looking into Judaism-related fountain pens, and I was struck by a curious trend: almost all the pens I could find related to Judaism or Israel are made by Italian companies. And it's not just one company or anything...a lot of major Italian brands seem to have made one at some point. For example:

  • Delta Israel 60th anniversary
  • Montegrappa Fortuna Shema
  • Omas Israel 50th Jubilee
  • Stipula Israel 65th anniversary
  • Urso Mezuzah
  • Visconti Twelve Tribes of Israel
  • Visconti Jewish Bible

By contrast, the only non-Italian Judaica pens I've found are the Bexley Israel 50th anniversary and the Curtis Australia State of Israel 60th anniversary. It's kind of an odd trend...I can understand Japanese companies not being interested in making Jewish pens, but you'd think that the US or Germany would make more. Is there some cultural or economic connection between Italy and Israel that would encourage this sort of design from Italian makers, or is this just a strange coincidence?

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I know that the Israel 50th (of which I own one) was commissioned by Dana Pens in Tel-Aviv. As to the others, I'm guessing they too may have been commissions, or otherwise Jews buy a lot of pens ;)

Too many pens; too little writing.

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My guess is that the Italian pen makers you mention simply make way more commemorative / LE pens than other makers (and apparently in greater numbers per edition).

 

 

Since I'm converting to Judaism (and like Judaism-inspired designs), I was looking into Judaism-related fountain pens, and I was struck by a curious trend: almost all the pens I could find related to Judaism or Israel are made by Italian companies. And it's not just one company or anything...a lot of major Italian brands seem to have made one at some point. For example:

  • Delta Israel 60th anniversary
  • Montegrappa Fortuna Shema
  • Omas Israel 50th Jubilee
  • Stipula Israel 65th anniversary
  • Urso Mezuzah
  • Visconti Twelve Tribes of Israel
  • Visconti Jewish Bible

By contrast, the only non-Italian Judaica pens I've found are the Bexley Israel 50th anniversary and the Curtis Australia State of Israel 60th anniversary. It's kind of an odd trend...I can understand Japanese companies not being interested in making Jewish pens, but you'd think that the US or Germany would make more. Is there some cultural or economic connection between Italy and Israel that would encourage this sort of design from Italian makers, or is this just a strange coincidence?

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I know this won't necessarily be well received, however, it occurs to me that the makers of these pens (I own several on the list as well as ones that are not) are prepared to show support for Israel.

 

There is a market for them and the Italian pen makers see an opportunity.

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Yes, I saw one of those on a vintage list of pens for sale a week ago and I'm trying to get my hands on it.

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I know this won't necessarily be well received, however, it occurs to me that the makers of these pens (I own several on the list as well as ones that are not) are prepared to show support for Israel.

 

There is a market for them and the Italian pen makers see an opportunity.

There is quite a history of Italian companies making pens for the Jewish community. Columbus was very focused on that market in their early years. This was in the 1920's long before the creation if Israel.

2020 San Francisco Pen Show
August 28-30th, 2020
Pullman Hotel San Francisco Bay
223 Twin Dolphin Drive
Redwood City Ca, 94065

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IIRC, OMAS also made some Islamic-themed pens.

Rationalizing pen and ink purchases since 1967.

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