Aurora 88 Serial Number And Year Estimation

[simp]

Having read several times about this attempt to establish a date based on the serial number, I had already expressed my doubts, due to the fact that the assumptions with which the correspondence tables were constructed were completely arbitrary, lacking a certain dating of any specimen of this pen that would allow to associate a number to a date.

Today this is no longer true, since it has been possible to ascertain with certainty that the number 26921 was sold on September 27, 1948 (the images of the pen with the warranty card with the date can be seen on this page: https://forum.fountainpen.it/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=23439).
This certainly allows to disprove the initial part of the above mentioned tables. The production of the first years was certainly much slower than what is reported in these tables.

One point, however, is still too little to give an estimate, even a very rough one, of the trend of the distribution.

 

Simone

[mizgeorge]

I've just found this thread, so I'll add to it!

 

88, number 1529497 g/f cap. In dire need of some tlc, which it will get

 

(I have a better 88 and a K which I've put somewhere rather too safe, along with some other stuff...)

[Maarten73]

this one is:
364834

 

groeten Maarten

[Aysedasi]

As an aside, Praxim doesn't seem to have been around since the tail end of last year.  I'm hoping he's OK.  He was a huge help to me when I replaced the piston seal on my wonderful Aquila just over 2 years ago.    

[MarcoA63]

I have an 888P gold cap and the S/N is 3003879

[zorbski]

I have two Aurora 88s. Both with gold caps. One is 1529031 with a semi-flex nib. The other 1678230, with a fine nib. I think both have celluloid barrels, with hard rubber sections and piston turning knob. Both from sometime in the 50s I suppose.

[jnb]

I was missing one 88K on my small collection and found one in an Italian antiques shop. It has one odd serial number, it starts with a J. The pen is printed with the aurora oval with the 88K inside, a line with the brand Aurora, a line with Made in Italy and a nib size M and a code 33. Can anyone tell me the meaning of this serial? It is similar to the one on the Spanish models (in this case J-nnnnn). And what about the number 33 placed under the letter of the nib size?

I can upload some pictures tomorrow if it helps.

[lionelc]

my 88k 2557574

[Larry Barrieau]

Two      952949 and 560808

[lionelc]

aurora 88 18340 - pretty old one when ceat was still in italy

[Nenja]

Aurora 88 (gold filled cap) - 1582259

 

I purchased this on Ebay several years ago.  I've included photos of the pen and the case received.  Thank you for working on this, Praxim, and I hope all is well!

[ibpopp]

88K :- 1 841 217

[L A Brown]

Hello!
 

I just purchased a second-hand Aurora and it came with this certificate in the box. Is this the serial number? I,offer this to help your project but also to hopefully learn more about the pen.  It has a gold cap and body. 
 

thank you!

[simp]

On 3/30/2023 at 9:43 PM, L A Brown said:

Hello!
 

I just purchased a second-hand Aurora and it came with this certificate in the box. Is this the serial number? I,offer this to help your project but also to hopefully learn more about the pen.  It has a gold cap and body. 
 

thank you!

Yes, that's the serial number, but is seems too high for an Aurora 88. It's probably an 88K one. 

 

Anyway please note, "this project" is obsolete and the extimated  Serial Number And Year Estimation are plain wrong. Providing only serial numbers without the relevant date of manufacture or sale is basically useless.

 

All the number reported here have no reference to a production or selling date and this is unfortunately normal, because except for the first few years of production, the selling date for warranty was never written in the sheets that came with the pen, which only show serial number, nib size and testing signature. 

 

Thats because warranty was issued by the shop selling the pen, that almost never noted it on the papers.  The only date known, found written on an original accompaining papers is, as I said before, September 27, 1948 for # 26921. I recently found another on for # 400762, dated June 6, 1950. More information about this is on this wiki page: https://www.fountainpen.it/Aurora_88 but sorry, it's in Italian. 

 

Anyway 678938 in 1948 and 1238063 in 1950 as said on the table on page 1 are plain wrong. It's quite clear (and also reasonable) that sales started slowly and then grew very fast with the success of the pen after the 1950s.

 

I will try to update information here if I found new documented number-date correspondences.

 

Regards

Simone

[leicagirl]

I am the happy owner of four vintage Aurora 88 fountain pens, and here's what I can tell you about each of them: 

SN: 206708 with gold-plated cap.  Feels to be a medium nib with medium hardness. purchased in Rome. Single white circle on base of pen. March 2026

SN: 706861 with Sterling Silver cap.  Definitely medium, possibly a broad, with little flexibility. Purchased March 2026

SN: 1273214 with Nikargenta cap.  Medium nib, and most definitely flexible.  Oddly, the markings on the bottom of the pen would say it's a medium nib with no flexibility. (I can see red on the base.  it should be green given its flexibility!) Perhaps the nib was replaced.  This is my favorite of my four pens. Purchased from Letizia Iacopini a few years ago. 

SN: 1785869 with gold-plated cap.  Broad nib with medium hardness.  The way it writes matches the double white markings on the base of the pen. Purchased from Letizia Iacopini a few years ago.