Geha Fountain Pens. Where Now?

[richardandtracy]

Many years ago, when an Army brat in the mid 1970's, my parents were posted to Germany. There I used my pocket money for a 'Geha' fountain pen with an under nib orange emergency 'reserve' plunger. I've not seen these pens for a long while. In fact, I can't ever remember seeing them in the UK.

Having just dug the pen out, I realise it's a cartridge pen, and uses an odd cartridge type. Are there any places doing cartriges for them? Do 'Geha' still exist? Will I need to explain to the Police Ossifer that it's ink in the syringe, not some lethal variant on cocaine, and I'm actually refilling an old cartridge?

 

Regards

 

Richard.

 

[Oxonian]

Hi Richard,

 

Geha pens were seen in UK from time to time, one of the boys at school had one that I swapped for something or other, this one is a piston filler. The company was taken over or went out of business on the late 70s or early 80s, I don't know what sort of cartridge they used but unless you see some on e-bay it is unlikely that you will find any in UK.

 

Providing that you are not loading transparent pale purple/violet ink it is unlikely that the local constabulary will think you are loading anything illicit with a syringe, although you may have to explain what a fountain is, what it does etc. Apologies in advance to Andy (if my memory serves me) the only FPN member serving in the Kent constabulary, he would know what an FP is and would probably debate your choice of ink colour.

 

Cheers, John

[donwinn]

If you do a search on eBay for Geha, you should be able to find something. I used to see a vendor who sold the pens, but cannot rembmer who it is. That vendor might also have a line on cartridges for the pens.

Donnie

[adair]

I searched for the classic Geha during my last trip to Germany and was told by various pen sellers that this wonderful school pen is no more. I think that the company still exists and makes other writing products. The new hot school pen is the Lamy ABC. Some stores still carry Geha's great rival, the Pelikano. But here's some possible good news: I think that you can use Pelikan cartridges in Gehas, only you have turn them around. I will double-check tonight.

[Bizkaia]

According to German Wikipedia Geha was bought by Pelikan in 1990. Today, only printer cartridges and presentation systems seem to be marketed under the Geha brand name (www.geha.de).

Also, according to what I have read on a German forum on pens (www.penexchange.de), original fountain pen cartridges are not produced anymore and it seems that there is currently no adequate alternative cartridge available that would fit the bill.

[adair]

Alas, I am looking at a Geha cartridge and it seems that it, and not the Pelikan cartridges, can be turned around and used on standard fountain pens (including Mont Blanc and Pelikan). The Geha end of the cartridge however has a unique indented nozzle or connector. What a pity. Save your Geha cartridges and refill them with a syringe. I don't know if there is a converter that was ever made for Geha pens. That would solve the problem. My two old Gehas, sadly, came without converters. Does anyone know about Geha converters, if they even exist?

[donwinn]

I just remembered the name of the seller where I saw the Geha pens. eBay seller sccsales; however, they currently are not offering any pens at all. I did a quick eBay search, and saw some piston filler Gehas advertised, which looked interesting, but I am in NAM (non acquisition mode) by SWMBO.

Donnie

[saintsimon]

This may be the remedy for your withdrawal symptoms: royal blue Geha carts.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Geha-Universal-Tintenp...7QQcmdZViewItem

 

Seller seems to ship worldwide, but you better ask if the carts do fit your pen.

[richardandtracy]

Well, thank you, gentles all. I feared I might get a response along the lines of "Uh?". Silly me.

 

saintsimon, I'll keep an eye on the seller you show. The old Geha cartridges did come in 6 packs, so it's probably the right type.

 

adair, your idea of a convertor has set me thinking. The latest Parker plunger convertors have a fractionally too small hole but are of the right length. I'm sure one could be drilled out in 0.1mm increments until it fits.

 

Regards

 

Richard.

 

[Penfold]

adair, your idea of a convertor has set me thinking. The latest Parker plunger convertors have a fractionally too small hole but are of the right length. I'm sure one could be drilled out in 0.1mm increments until it fits

 

resurrecting this topic - has anyone tried the above?

[richardandtracy]

adair, your idea of a convertor has set me thinking. The latest Parker plunger convertors have a fractionally too small hole but are of the right length. I'm sure one could be drilled out in 0.1mm increments until it fits

 

resurrecting this topic - has anyone tried the above?

To be honest, I haven't. I have the pen still, but it has a fine nib, so I rarely use it. I really ought to try I suppose.

 

Regards

 

Richard

 

[Silke]

When it's a little bit cooler, I am going to spend the day in the loft and go through boxes. And boxes. And boxes.

I used to pick up a fountain pen on average once every couple of months when I was in School.

Among them were several Geha's. I remember them as nicely flowing pens, but that's about all I remember about them. I might still have them.

God, if I'm lucky, I still have the boxes from when I moved to the UK and they should have many pens in them.

You know how they say the Scots are hoarders? Well, where I come from, we say Scots are Swabians who were banished for being wasteful.

My bunch hoards. To the extreme. We throw *nothing* out, even if it doesn't work anymore. You never know when it might come in handy... (Never mind the bucket has a hole, the wardrobe has no doors, the fountain pen has no nib / bottom / top...)

 

Silke

 

[simonrob]

adair, your idea of a convertor has set me thinking. The latest Parker plunger convertors have a fractionally too small hole but are of the right length. I'm sure one could be drilled out in 0.1mm increments until it fits

 

resurrecting this topic - has anyone tried the above?

To be honest, I haven't. I have the pen still, but it has a fine nib, so I rarely use it. I really ought to try I suppose.

 

Regards

 

Richard

 

This doesn't address your immediate problem, but I thought it worth mentioning that several ebay sellers, mostly German, as well as sellers on martiniauctions.com routinely sell Geha pens, most of which are piston fillers from the 1950s; over the past year or so I've bought several, all with impressive nibs - flexible and either stub or oblique. They're rather conservative looking, but I find them attractive - I especially like those with black caps and black/cream striped barrels (I have one in my pocket as I type); they remind me of Whitehall Civil Servants (though I suspect they don't dress like that any more).

 

Simon

[AllWriteNow]

Hi Richard

We were fortunate to be able to buy several dozen GEHA fp's from our source in India.

Unfortunately, none are cartridge fillers.

All are Eyedropper filled. India is no place for rubber sacs or thin walled carts. The heat and humidity destroy them faster than I destroy Key Lime Pie :-)

As my waist line can attest.

 

Steve

I'll check with our source and have him search for you.

 

[piembi]

This doesn't address your immediate problem, but I thought it worth mentioning that several ebay sellers, mostly German, as well as sellers on martiniauctions.com routinely sell Geha pens, most of which are piston fillers from the 1950s; over the past year or so I've bought several, all with impressive nibs - flexible and either stub or oblique. They're rather conservative looking, but I find them attractive - I especially like those with black caps and black/cream striped barrels (I have one in my pocket as I type); they remind me of Whitehall Civil Servants (though I suspect they don't dress like that any more).

 

Simon

 

This might be the way to go.

I have one of those all black Geha piston fillers (and won another today ) with a wonderful flexible oblique goldnib. They have not the most exciting design but the nib is great!

 

Ebay Germany has them every now and then and the plain black pens sell for reasonable prices.

 

[donwinn]

If you really like the pen, a conversion to ED fill is also an option. A little silicone grease on the threads to help seal it, and away you go.

 

Donnie

[aloofy]

Yesterday I went pen hunting to neighboring stationery shops, and found a GEHA fountain pen. I can't identify the exact model, but the cap is stainless-steel and barrel is green. Fortunately it came with a converter.

 

I've heard before that GEHA is a german based fountain pen company and now became part of Pelikan. That was all I knew about my new pen, so I started to seek some new information available. (That's how I reached this thread.) In a Korean fountain pen forum, someone suggested that Platinum(the Japanese pen company) cartriges would fit to GEHA. Didn't have a chance to try the tip, though...

 

My new GEHA seems to have stayed in the shop for at least 10 years...I'm happy to salvage it.

[TorPelikan]

A few days ago, I purchased GEHA JEANS school pen on eBay.

And I found two cartridges I've never seen before inside.

It's not confortable for me to re-use a cartridge by filling ink into it.

So, I decided to make a converter.

 

First, I cut the ink cartridge 16mm from the Geha connector end.

Next, I took an old Montblanc converter with a deep tear on connector but whose piston still work and cut off the connection port. Then I put the converter into the ink cartridge and glued. It worked. The diameter of the metal part of the converter just fits the inner diameter of the ink caratridge.

This modified converter is too long so I have to cut the filling knob, piston shaft and brass covering to fit to the pen.

 

It's a too expensive way to make cheap school pen like mine useable to sacrifice a new converter. But if you own some converters no more in use, you can consider this way.

 

 

regards,

 

Tor

[richardandtracy]

Yesterday I went pen hunting to neighboring stationery shops, and found a GEHA fountain pen. I can't identify the exact model, but the cap is stainless-steel and barrel is green. Fortunately it came with a converter.

 

I've heard before that GEHA is a german based fountain pen company and now became part of Pelikan. That was all I knew about my new pen, so I started to seek some new information available. (That's how I reached this thread.) In a Korean fountain pen forum, someone suggested that Platinum(the Japanese pen company) cartriges would fit to GEHA. Didn't have a chance to try the tip, though...

 

My new GEHA seems to have stayed in the shop for at least 10 years...I'm happy to salvage it.

Only just seen your post - sorry.

Sounds very much like my one https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=52501

 

Regards

 

Richard.

 

[pagsoper]

I have exactly the same situation (albeit a few years later!). I found a Pilot cartridge and it fit the pen perfectly. I imagine that the converter would, too but I plan now just to re-fill the cartridge with a syringe.

Hope this suggestion helps other Geha fans!