Forgotten Fountain Pen Manufacturers From The Past

[punchy71]

What are some other vintage fountain pen manufacturers that also made top quality fountain pens that you don't hear much about today? In other words; forgotten marques from the past? These can be long since defunct brands, and brands that generally tend to slip under the radar screen of most collectors now days or brands that most collectors tend to ignore or show little interest in (and really shouldn't).

 

Thank you

[ThirdeYe]

I can think of a couple...

 

Yankee/Dixie/Pencraft

Moore

[david1600]

Kawuska in Poland

Matador in Germany

[jar]

One that I have always liked is the Venus pens from American Pencil Company.

 

http://www.fototime.com/3FB3EA7CEBF19CB/orig.jpg

Really well built pens that were a joy to write with.

[T. E. Samad]

There's a pen company in Bangladesh that's called Matador.

[fpman]

Geha, Greif, Luxor and Tropen in Germany

Burnham, Unique, Summit, Stephens, Valentine and Wyvern in the UK

Bayard, Gold Starry, Edacoto, Stylochap and Stylomine in France

Penol in Denmark

Helios in Italy

John Holland, LeBoeuf, Pick, Weidlich, Wirt in the US

Centropen in Czech Republic

 

Not everyone will agree these are all 1st tier pen makers. Most I do not own examples of.

[impossiblebird]

I have a Stylomine 303 (France), which was a present out of the blue from a friend who though he was turning me on to fountain pens; I use it dipped only, as I'm reluctant to swap out the accordeon sac. For some reason, it's the only pen I have that gets treated as if it were precious.

 

Also a Kingswood (UK) with a nice broad stiff nib.

 

I don't know whether they're regarded as top drawer, but they don't seem to me to be lacking in quality or performance, compared to pens I own of similar vintage, made by better-known manufacturers.

[rhosygell]

How about Sagitta from Czechoslovakia - excellent pens now long gone. Probably absorbed into the post war Centropen operation along with Kroutl / Ripet and many others.

[nxn96]

A few items not otherwise mentioned:

 

Although known more for their mechanical pencil business, the old Autopoint Company in Chicago used to make fountain pens. I believe they made fountain pens over two brief periods in the early and late 1930's. Those I have are from that second fountain pen "venture", and they are well constructed pens with 14k nibs imprinted with the Autopoint name. The pens have a blind cap much like that of the Parker Duofold, but instead of the "button" filler that Parker used, the Autopoints have a somewhat unique (i.e., I've never seen it elsewhere) lever under the blindcap. I've only used these as dip-pens, but the nibs do seem very nice.

 

While not considered a top-tier pen manufacturer, Wearever could make a pretty decent pen for the money; particularly their "Pacemaker", which was Wearever's top-line model in the 1940's. 14k nib, button filler not unlike the Duofold (or Parker VS) and a profile much like the latter series of US Duofolds. Wearever was the great "mimic" in that they knew how to make a pen that looked "just enough" like the higher end companies. Wearevers don't last like Parkers, but at $2.75, a Pacemaker was a pretty quality pen for the money.

 

Again, while not considered top-tier in its time, Eberhard Faber USA produced a line called "Permapoint" that's also a nice pen. Simple pens, steel nibs, but nice construction.

[spinningtrees]

Morrisson's pens from New York. They didn't innovate so much, but following the styles, yet they made some good pens. I have a gold-filled overlay from late 20s or early 30s that is an excellent writer with some flex.

[welch]

I have found and revived some nice lever-filling marbled "American" pens. Clearly mid-30s, from the placement of the clip. I guess they were from American Pencil Company. Never saw anything as nice as this hooded Venus, though.

 

 

One that I have always liked is the Venus pens from American Pencil Company.

 

http://www.fototime.com/3FB3EA7CEBF19CB/orig.jpg

Really well built pens that were a joy to write with.

[basterma]

I have a German pen made by Solid. Would like to know more about the company.

[jar]

I have found and revived some nice lever-filling marbled "American" pens. Clearly mid-30s, from the placement of the clip. I guess they were from American Pencil Company. Never saw anything as nice as this hooded Venus, though.

 

 

I have a couple of the Venus hooded pens and they really are quite nice pens, in the picture below they are second and third from the right.

http://www.fototime.com/8F86D6F999B6946/standard.jpg

 

I was lucky enough to pick them up at just slightly off MSRP too (they were NOS in a cigar box found at a garage sale for $1.00 IIRC).

[Autopoint]

Although known more for their mechanical pencil business, the old Autopoint Company in Chicago used to make fountain pens. I believe they made fountain pens over two brief periods in the early and late 1930's. Those I have are from that second fountain pen "venture", and they are well constructed pens with 14k nibs imprinted with the Autopoint name. The pens have a blind cap much like that of the Parker Duofold, but instead of the "button" filler that Parker used, the Autopoints have a somewhat unique (i.e., I've never seen it elsewhere) lever under the blindcap.

 

Please provide some more details about the Autopoint fountain pens made in "two brief periods in the early and late 1930's". I have a number of 1930's flat top Autopoint fountain pens (and a few from the mid-1940's), but I didn't know Autopoint made fountain pens at two different times during the 1930's. You can certainly PM me this information, or post it here.

- - - mark me Autopoint enthusiast Jim

Edited February 24, 2012 by Autopoint

[Beechwood]

In terms of a forgotten manufacturer, I have a pen made by Everfill, it could be a one-off.

 

I found the patent filed in New York in the early 50s for the pen and its unique feature is that it had a glass inkwell built into the cap of the pen, not sure that it was particularly practical as there was no obvious means of filling the lever filled pen from the glass cartridge.

 

If ever I would like to reunite a pen with its owner or his descendants this would be the one.

[Azuniga]

Geha, Greif, Luxor and Tropen in Germany

Burnham, Unique, Summit, Stephens, Valentine and Wyvern in the UK

Bayard, Gold Starry, Edacoto, Stylochap and Stylomine in France

Penol in Denmark

Helios in Italy

John Holland, LeBoeuf, Pick, Weidlich, Wirt in the US

Centropen in Czech Republic

 

Not everyone will agree these are all 1st tier pen makers. Most I do not own examples of.

 

I certainly agree with you, I have a good collection of most of the pens in your list, and most of them are very good writers...

I use Greif and Le Boeuf every day since long time ago...

Cheers

[basterma]

Centropen still makes student pens. I have one called the Pluto. I have Gehas from the mid 80's and would love someone to come up with a converter for them because they are great pens.

 

Isn't Luxor a current Indian brand?

[publishing guy]

One that I have always liked is the Venus pens from American Pencil Company.

 

http://www.fototime.com/3FB3EA7CEBF19CB/orig.jpg

Really well built pens that were a joy to write with.

+1 Suprising quality.

Edited February 29, 2012 by publishing guy

[nxn96]

Although known more for their mechanical pencil business, the old Autopoint Company in Chicago used to make fountain pens. I believe they made fountain pens over two brief periods in the early and late 1930's. Those I have are from that second fountain pen "venture", and they are well constructed pens with 14k nibs imprinted with the Autopoint name. The pens have a blind cap much like that of the Parker Duofold, but instead of the "button" filler that Parker used, the Autopoints have a somewhat unique (i.e., I've never seen it elsewhere) lever under the blindcap.

 

Please provide some more details about the Autopoint fountain pens made in "two brief periods in the early and late 1930's". I have a number of 1930's flat top Autopoint fountain pens (and a few from the mid-1940's), but I didn't know Autopoint made fountain pens at two different times during the 1930's. You can certainly PM me this information, or post it here.

- - - mark me Autopoint enthusiast Jim

Like yours, my "collection" of Autopoint fountain pens are from that later series. Flat tops, blind caps on the bottom with a "lever" mechanism to fill the sac; overall, not unlike the Parker Duofold in look and design. Given that all have 14k nibs with "Autopoint" inscribed suggests that this was manufactured as a higher quality pen.

 

My earliest Autopoints date from the 1920's; pencils that look much like the high-end Duofold pencils of the day. I've not seen one, but I understand from a "good" source (that can be a PM) that Autopoint did a fountain pen line as well, but got out of it around 1932 so as to slim down and focus on the pencil business during the Depression. When times got better, Frank Deli thought there was a "play" for Autopoint in the pen business and filed some patents to secure Autopoint's "place" there in the late 1930's.

 

Autopoint, although focused on the "pencil" business, seemed to keep an eye on the pen business as well. Just as an example, in addition to the cheap "clcker" pens that Autopoint did in volume for the ad/specialty business in the 1960's, you will also find some very nice quality ballpoints with clip-actuated mechanisms that Autopoint did in (I think) the 1950's; almost anticipating the Sheaffer ballpoints.

[welch]

One that I have always liked is the Venus pens from American Pencil Company.

 

http://www.fototime.com/3FB3EA7CEBF19CB/orig.jpg

Really well built pens that were a joy to write with.

+1 Suprising quality.

 

I ghad no idea that American Pencil / Venus made so many pens...but just did a search in everyone's favorite attic / basement, AKA EBay. One of these hooded pens is up for auction; several of their open-nibbed pens that seem to have taken the same sort of screw in nib as Esterbrook's Renew-point. Oh, but the advertisements! This one is the "ordinary" Venus hooded pen. They had a more expensive model with more gold.

 

Any idea what they mean by "quick drying" ink? Could that have been Superchrome/Parker 51 ink? Could this be the one other pen that could tolerate Superchrome?