O.d.o. Afrika Korps Pen Info Please

[sanpei]

Hi from Italy,

few months ago discussing about Aurora Etiopia on a italian pen forum,

an "unidentified" colletor mentioned the O.D.O. fountain pen,

he told that was advertised as the pen of DAK (Deutsche Afrika Korp) during WWII

 

I never heard before that pen, anyone can confirm this pen really exist and maybe post a picture???

 

Thank you very much and Merry Christmas.

 

S

[Bo Bo Olson]

Can you explain to me why such a pen should be made and when, and disturbed in the first place?

I tend to doubt such a pen was ever made in the War.

 

Rommel to supply officer....make sure the pens have Afrika Korps on them.... so some one has to retool to do so....in the middle of war torn Germany. For a minuscule amount of pens.

Regular Nazi pens(from before the war), yes...but not the Afrika Korps.

 

 

Some 30 years ago...the American PX bought some Italian found Africa Korp's brandy and rum...that some how got stored in Italy and forgotten for 35 years....a great scam (Of course the PX big shots got a Kick Back)...lots of GI's bought it.

I tasted from a bottle and yep sure was soldier's brandy....not officer's.

35,000 liters...or so of the brandy, 15,000 of the rum or so...it's been a long time to remember exactly how big a ship was needed to transport that and not oil and gas.

I asked my self, why ship to Africa and back, when that place could have had wounded soldier on it.

That some could have been shipped...that could happen....that some didn't make it on to a ship to Africa, that could happen.

 

But with German paper work that would never have vanished but would have been issued to Kisslring's German Army.

It would have been sold to US GI's right after the war.

 

It's not that hard to fake brandy, rum....and that was not ever real Afrika Korps booze.

 

Italy was famous for counterfeit pens in the '30's with Parker among others and after the war too. Parker if I remember correctly went through some trouble making sure their pens sold in Italy had 'hard to forge' paperwork.

The Italian cops use to raid the counterfeit pen makers regularly...right after calling them up.

I can see a good market right after the war, selling Afrika Korps pens to US GI's.

 

I doubt if it's real.

[wykeite]

You may well get some answers on Wehrmacht-awards.com. but I'm with Bo Bo on this, I think .

[tfwall]

I doubt if it's real.

 

Concur for the same reasons that Bo Bo Olson mentions.

 

I've also studied a bit of the DAK history and have never heard of such a thing being mentioned. Neither in official supply documents or private correspondence.

 

Sounds like a scam to me, capitalizing on a well known and more politically acceptable Third Reich organization.

[FrankB]

Aurora did make the Etiopia , so anything is possible, I guess. If a DAK pen did exist, it would be really interesting to learn the story behind it. But, I also doubt its authenticity.

[sanpei]

Thanks for replies,

I don't know nothing about this pen, a white celluloid ODO really exist,

but don't know if connected or not with DAK, is a piston filler, Pelikan 100 looking pen,

for my opinion was made after WWII, but was hoping that a german collector could know something more.

 

S

[Baroz]

I just saw this thread, old as it is.

 

ODO pens certainly exist. I have a couple of these pens, one is white and a clear nod to the Etiopia and the other is a black '1939' model. This link provides further info about ODO

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262731896644?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[Bo Bo Olson]

That is the first one I've seen. I'd heard about it.

 

There were other concentrated ink pens...even back in WW1, if I can remember what I read.

Could be I saw a British pen of similar concentrated Ink Pill ink workings in the Imperial War Museum, in London.

None actually worked well,or there would have been more of them.

 

One of the problems would have been packing the ink tablets....to be Army Supply chain proof....

 

By the way...congratulations on your luck.

[Parker51]

Prior to the start of WW2 and for a time after it started there was an organization in Germany which was dedicated to the proposition that the Colonies that they lost would be returned to them. Also, the item which was pictured on EBay does not mention the Africa Corps. And, simply producing a fountain pen aimed at being sold to soldiers in the late 1930s without any specific political markings doesn't strike me as odd, but rather conventional. Thus my conclusion is the pen likely was made by who it was said to be made by, when it was said to be made and simply was a product made like any other product for a specific market segment. Now is it possible that some unlucky person ended up in Africa with one they, or a friend or family member bought for them years before, yes. That doesn't make it a pen "made for the Africa corps". Perhaps the pen was also advertised or featured in "signal", again possibly for sale to any soldier, including those in Africa, maybe even featuring soldiers on duty there. That doesn't make it a specifically "Africa corps" pen, nor does it mean any were sold and shipped there, but given there small size, yes in 1940, or say the summer of 1941could some have been mailed to a soldier stationed there, well, yes it is possible.

Edited December 11, 2016 by Parker51