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A story of my Big Red


Kaweco

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Some years ago I made a speech at our local history club about early fountainpenproduction. The next day I got a telephone call from an old man and I visited him.

He gave me a Parker Big Red with a personal engraving, Paul Binger. It was his father`s name, he said and began to tell an amazing story:

1927 Parker expanded his production to Europe and his informant in Germany had told him, that Osmia, which was in that time the second largest fountainpenproducer in Germany, searched for cooperation. The quality of their writing equipment was outstanding but the margin in these times was absolutely not satisfying. Parker engaged a true hand office in Mannheim to make economical investigationes about the Osmia. The bureau belonged to Paul Binger.

The deal went well in the first time. Kenneth Parker, B. M. Palmer and C. Joseph Lamy visited the firm in January 1928 and gave their instructiones. In addition to the salary, Parker gave Binger the Big Red with the engraving and said:

Look at this pen. In a few years it will be a living legend!

 

No, please, I said to Mr. Binger jr., I am not the owner of the pen. It is a treasure for your own family history, therefore you should keep it.

He just laughed and said, don`t be silly. In a few years they will carry me out in a wooden box. And all the small things I ever had owned will go to trash.

 

Each day when I hold the Big Red in my hand, I am thinking about the story, Mr. Binger jr. had told me. Is it lucky or is it sad? What do you think?

Kind Regards

Thomas

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I don't know about lucky or sad, but I think it's a remarkable story and a touching story. Thanks for sharing it.

 

Bill

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Hi,

 

So touching... :wub: :rolleyes:

 

A pen with a story behind it.

 

Dillon

Stolen: Aurora Optima Demonstrator Red ends Medium nib. Serial number 1216 and Aurora 98 Cartridge/Converter Black bark finish (Archivi Storici) with gold cap. Reward if found. Please contact me if you have seen these pens.

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Dillon

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You are tremendously lucky, not just in getting the pen, but in getting the great story that goes along with the pen. Some people don't like engraved pens, but in this case, the engraving is absolutely crucial to the pen's history. Your story would make a great addendum to the section on Osmia in the new Duofold book, pages 80-81.

 

One small question, what is a "true hand office"?

 

George Kovalenko.

 

:ph34r:

rhrpen(at)gmail.com

 

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Thomas.

 

He was right. The pen and the story live on in good hands :)

Administrator and Proprietor of Murphy Towers

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Thanks for sharing your lovely story. I think the old man is lucky that the pen is in safe hands that will cherish it, and you are lucky that he wanted to pass the pen and its history on to you.

 

Dawn

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AWESOME!!!! Thanks for sharing.

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8, NKJV)
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Your receipt of the pen was his purchase of your willingness to repeat the story and perpetuate his memory among those (us) who find it meaningful.

 

Good deal all around.... I think!

 

Andy

"Andy Hoffman" Sandy Ego, CA

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Sounds a wonderful story to me.

 

And, the pen will live on rather than be trashed. What better way for his father and his own name to continue and be remembered, as well as a solid piece of social history.

 

Write the story down and keep it with the pen.

 

I have a few such things that have passed to me in similar ways - along with handwritten stories from the mid-1800s - that could have easily been trashed before my time. It is only now, 150 years later, when life has changed so much that they truely become meaningful and an insight into the past.

 

I see myself merely as the caretaker.

 

- Mark

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Great story...And I'm glad you got the pen. I'm sure Mr. Binger, Jr. really wanted you to have it because he realized you'd cherish it. Often family members aren't interested in the same things we are. Reminds me that I should leave instructions for my pens to go to pen friends that would want them!

 

Thanks for sharing your story.

Best, Ann

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Hello all

Thank you very much for your replies.

 

One small question, what is a "true hand office"?

Sorry it`s my bad English, I think I caught the wrong word. I meant a "trustee". He manages foreign goods, money, stocks, houses, bancrupties for example. The trustee needs a government licence for his work and has to swear, that he will always work with his best conscience for his clients.

Your story would make a great addendum to the section on Osmia in the new Duofold book, pages 80-81.

;) Yes, maybe. And I have got some more informationes. But I`m only a small collector and nobody asked me :blush:

BTW I `didn`t read the book yet.

 

Kind Regards and

Thanks to the best of all message boards

Thomas.N

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Hi kaweco.

 

The most beautiful story his the one that gets told by someaone who knows or feels its meaning.

 

The faber/parker/osmia/bölher story his yet to be told. Enlighten us if You please !!!

 

My specific interest in FPs goes for german and continental european FPs from the 20's and 30's.

 

Thanks for sharing

 

rusty

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I am very touched by the story. So many of my older pens have names engraved, and the stories are lost.

 

I have a black hard rubber duofold junior engraved to Mr Koch, and I wish I knew his story. Thanks.

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