The Tower/soennecken. Identify Nib. Made In Usa?

[FountainNewbie]

Hi!,

 

Recently I'm starting to get some 'The Tower' fountain pens. The tower was basically a subbrand of soennecken for the scandinavian market.

 

I got a couple of them and research on the internet. Typically the nib is stamped 'the tower'; however, i've got 2 with a strange stamp which I'm not 100% are original. They have a symbol 'W' and it says 'MADE in U.S.A'.

 

This puzzles me as I don't understand why a german subbrand in Scandinavia will use USA nibs. I guess would have made more sense/cheaper to buy the nibs from Soennecken in Germany.

 

It's a bit too much of a coincidence that these 2 pens have the same non 'The Tower' nib.

 

Could anybody please help me out identifying these nibs?. Are they from 'The tower'... maybe waterman?

[Bo Bo Olson]

I thought Tower was either a Soennecken or Tropen subbrand. Thought it sold in England.

 

US nib must be a replacement......Can't quite make out the mark under USA.

 

Need to see the rest of the pen, and a good photo of the clip and final, the top of the pen. Is it piston or pushbutton?

 

If Tropen.....The new British labor government refused to finance the rebuilding of any Great Briton's fountain pen factories which were all bombed out.

The British Army ordered 50,000 German Tropen fountain pens right after the war. Tropen was a company that exported most of it's production. For a number of years after the war Tropen made more pens than any other German company.

 

Well I'd looked for quite a while to finally get a Tropen here in Germany. I think I got mine off of English Ebay.....

They produced mostly for export, some 6-700,000 a year in the '50s'...in the early-mid '60's 500,000 and from '65 175,000, and there was a renaissance for fountain pens @ 1980, when 500,000 were made. But the company made plastic parts for cars, and fountain pens were minor and allowed to die off in the '90's.

 

Mine had a gold colored nib, 'goldur' 8 for the size...dur is short for a nail. No where it was made or by whom.

 

 

Right after the war Tropen made gold nibs out of the Mayor's gold chancellery chain, so it could be possible that they had ordered some gold nibs from the States in Gold was in very, very short supply in Germany in Hitler had stolen it all. Even the jewelry production at Pfortzheim the jewelry center of Germany was doing silver right after the war in there was 'no' gold.

 

Info from Lambrou's book.....and there I'd thought it was Pelikan who got the gold from their mayor's chancellery chain....but it was Tropan.

Edited June 30, 2019 by Bo Bo Olson

[FountainNewbie]

Many thanks for the info Bo,

 

I found this post about The tower being a sub-brand from soennecken in Sweden

http://fountainpenboard.com/forum/index.php?/topic/4321-the-tower-soennecken-sub-brand-for-sweden/

 

I can confirm that the mechanism is the same than for Soennecken.

 

In my case, I got 2 The Tower from different independent sellers. And both pens had the same 'W' stamp nib.

That's why I'm a bit hesitating, it's a bit of too much coincidence buying 2 pens (of a rare brand) at different times, and they both have such an uncommon nib with a W stamped... I thought the W could be from the toWer?.

 

The W stamped nib itself is flexible, very good quality. But the shape is somehow different.

 

Please find attached the pics, both are piston fillers. One is 'The tower Superior' with an uncommon cap (I checked and it's an original model).. the other one is just a common 'The tower' fountain pen.

 

I saw once a nib stamped 'The Tower USA', original ... but never just a 'W'.

 

Your explanation for Tropen could also apply to The Tower. But also, because of the 'The Tower USA' I mentioned above, could it be USA grabbed a business opportunity?... maybe the subbrand was independent and could decide on subcontracting independently?

 

Many thanks for your message and the history about Tropen

[Bo Bo Olson]

I think I remember seeing a Tower pen on English Ebay, near a decade ago when I chased Swan pens so slowly I never got one.

When one is Hunting hard on a limited budget......and as a then 'noobie' in the Pen of the Week in the Mail Club................my budget was still quite low, I couldn't afford to get distracted....especially with a pen that would lead me into deep waters of Soennecken.

 

Soennecken was always two levels over my limits. Eventually I got to but a few Osmia off the German bay.....Then some 20% more than Pelikans....now some are dirt cheap....the same price from @ a decade ago. E-60-70-80, when a Pelikan 140 cost E50...and a old 400 E75. (back when I was sweating when I crossed the 50 border.

Quite a surprise to me.................... same problem as back then.....LOM.

 

The MB's I'd picked up were at live auctions but for bought the Woolf for me by my wife when my B&M was having a sale.

I forgot the small print.

Our money!!!!

It was a good 9 months before I could afford another pen, any paper or a bottle of ink.

 

Thanks for the link, that was a very pretty pen the Tower Queen..........and it would have been affordable on English Ebay......but....I was Hunting a 'flexi' Swan.

 

I got a German no name in flexi, and cheap right down the road, in a junk/'antique' shop.

The owner was doing OK, he had a '38 Austin.....