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Penkala And Penkala-Moster


4lex

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I am interested in Penkala-Moster pens. I think Penkala brand name is still around but they are only selling rebranded Chinese pens so I am looking around for a vintage pen.

Another interesting fact is that Penkala purchased exclusive rights to the piston filling mechanism from the inventor Kovacs. When Pelikan who at the time was an ink manufacturer only decided to venture into fountain pens they bought the rights to it from Penkala but the deal was that Penkala kept the exclusive rights for the piston filling pens in the Southeastern Europe, countries like Yugoslavia and Turkey. Pelikan is still using this filling mechanism in many of its pens.

Penkala brand was so dominant in the countries of former Yugoslavia that penkala became and still to a large extent is generic word for fountain pen. In Croatia or Serbia you dont go to the store to buy a fountain pen, you go to get yourself a penkala.

Penkala was Slovakian born, of Polish-Jewish-Dutch descent but is today claimed by Croatia where he has done most of his business. Moster was born in Jewish family in Croatia. He was successful businessman. Unfortunately he perished in concentration camp run by Croatian Nazi Puppet State. In the current nationalistic fever you sometimes get some hilarious claims about Penkala in Croatian media. Most hilarious one recently was that he invented the first pen in 1906 and first fountain pen in 1907. That kept me laughing all day.

 

I am interested if anyone has got any experience with this brand? My grandmother owned one and it was literally indestructible.

Inked: Sailor King Pro Gear, Sailor Nagasawa Proske, Sailor 1911 Standard, Parker Sonnet Chiselled Carbon, Parker 51, Pilot Custom Heritage 92, Platinum Preppy

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I don't have one, but after picking up a Hungarian-made Gracia, and being very impressed with the quality and looks, I'm more interested in learning about the Central/Eastern-European pens that we just don't see this far west.

 

Wish I had more for you. Any pictures of what they look like?

 

Here's the Gracia. It's also a piston filler, very similar to the pelican style, so probably also based off of the same patent. I've not tried it yet, but a knowledgeable person this weekend encouraged me to fill with water and let it soak to re-hydrate the seals as it seems like it may work with just that. It's a blind-cap piston filler with an ink-view barrel below the section.

 

fpn_1530193203__gracia_open.jpg

 

 

fpn_1530193212__gracia_blind_cap_off.jpg

 

 

fpn_1530193223__gracia_ink_view.jpg

 

“When the historians of education do equal and exact justice to all who have contributed toward educational progress, they will devote several pages to those revolutionists who invented steel pens and blackboards.” V.T. Thayer, 1928

Check out my Steel Pen Blog

"No one is exempt from talking nonsense; the mistake is to do it solemnly."

-Montaigne

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Wow thank you all so much just for giving me the opportunity to see these pens. They are beautiful. Thanks

Inked: Sailor King Pro Gear, Sailor Nagasawa Proske, Sailor 1911 Standard, Parker Sonnet Chiselled Carbon, Parker 51, Pilot Custom Heritage 92, Platinum Preppy

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm working on two videos on pens made by this company. Here is the bibliography that I will be using. Hopefully someone finds something useful here!

 

[2] Biography of Eduard Penkala - http://www.penkala.net/Penkala/penkala.html
[3] Book about Penkala (I want one!) - http://www.penkala.net/home.html
[4] Biography of Eduard Penkala from the company (in Croatian) - http://www.toz-penkala.hr/slavoljub-penkala
[5] Modern TOZ Penkala website - http://www.toz-penkala.hr/
[6] Penkala listed among other Croatian inventors - http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/et22a2.html
[7] About the company as well as Moster and Penkala - https://www.revolvy.com/page/TOZ-Penkala
[10] More on Edmund Moster - https://www.revolvy.com/page/Edmund-Moster

 

Proud resident of the least visited state in the nation!

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I'm working on two videos on pens made by this company. Here is the bibliography that I will be using. Hopefully someone finds something useful here!

 

[1] FPN Discussion on the brand - https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/341103-penkala-and-penkala-moster

[2] Biography of Eduard Penkala - http://www.penkala.net/Penkala/penkala.html

[3] Book about Penkala (I want one!) - http://www.penkala.net/home.html

[4] Biography of Eduard Penkala from the company (in Croatian) - http://www.toz-penkala.hr/slavoljub-penkala

[5] Modern TOZ Penkala website - http://www.toz-penkala.hr/

[6] Penkala listed among other Croatian inventors - http://www.croatianhistory.net/etf/et22a2.html

[7] About the company as well as Moster and Penkala - https://www.revolvy.com/page/TOZ-Penkala

[8] 2016 article about the revival of the company - https://www.jutarnji.hr/biznis/tvrtke/legendarna-zagrebacka-tvornica-ponovno-pokrenula-proizvodnju-ukljucili-stare-strojeve-i-vratili-radnike/5398847/

[9] MyUberPens listing - https://www.myuberpens.com/rare-1930s-moster-penkala-berlin-sw68-no-930-germany-with-wet-fully-flexible-ef-14k-nib-push-button-filling-fountain-pen.html

[10] More on Edmund Moster - https://www.revolvy.com/page/Edmund-Moster

[11] Edmund Moster death - https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?itemId=5865656&language=en

[12] Moster’s Inventions - http://patent.ipexl.com/assignee/Edmund_Moster_1.html

[13] Zagreb’s Pencil Factory Closes Its Doors - https://www.total-croatia-news.com/business/581-zagreb-pencil-factory-toz-penkala-closes-its-doors

 

[14] TOZ Timeline - https://seenews.com/companies/company_profile/toz-penkala-tvornica-olovaka-zagreb-dd-in-bankruptcy-proceedings-1284

Sounds good but you have to take some of the sources with a pinch of salt. Croatians are so proud of Penkala that I have seen attributed to him all sorts of inventions, including mechanical pencil, hot water bottle and .... wait for it..... fountain pen

Inked: Sailor King Pro Gear, Sailor Nagasawa Proske, Sailor 1911 Standard, Parker Sonnet Chiselled Carbon, Parker 51, Pilot Custom Heritage 92, Platinum Preppy

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Sounds good but you have to take some of the sources with a pinch of salt. Croatians are so proud of Penkala that I have seen attributed to him all sorts of inventions, including mechanical pencil, hot water bottle and .... wait for it..... fountain pen

 

I agree on that. What I actually shared in the video was much more limited. But I felt it worthwhile to put the information out there, especially the modern information on the company.

Proud resident of the least visited state in the nation!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Moster backed Slavoljub Penkala up to help him make a factory. TOZ (Tvornica olovaka Zagreb - Zagreb Pen Factory) took the name and was making FP with penkalas name.

Ive as well seen original penkala nibs made in england. Probably ordered from england and used to implement in zagreb.

Once i had a chance to meet who has original penmasters table from Penkalas factory. Still kept in Velika Gorica near Zagreb in private collection.

Edited by miro6666
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  • 11 months later...

Hi!

 

I have just joined FPN and find it very interesting!

Your info are also very interesting.

I have an old dip pen from Moster Penkala Company, just learned about that today, after joining FPN. It belonged to my grandfather who was a judge and was born in 1900.

 

Warm regards,

Bojca

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have two Penkala pens. I had three but one disappeared from my bag, which fortunately was a duplicate. My wife used them in school in former Yugoslavia in the 1970s. One has a push/pull converter with a nib that is engraved DUROFLEX. The other has a piston filler, and ink window, and a Bock nib. The Duroflex is an interesting nib in that it is ground to be narrow on the down stroke and very broad on the horizontal stroke. I sure wish I knew where I lost that third pen because it had the better nib.

Baptiste knew how to make a short job long

For love of it. And yet not waste time either.

Robert Frost

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Interesting. The Duroflex you describe, narrow on the downstroke, broad on the horizontal, is what's called an architect grind. Basically the opposite of a stub or italic grind. These grinds are for writing the architectural script, plus are often used for some non-Latin alphabets, especially Hebrew or Arabic.

 

A video explaining them.

 

 

“When the historians of education do equal and exact justice to all who have contributed toward educational progress, they will devote several pages to those revolutionists who invented steel pens and blackboards.” V.T. Thayer, 1928

Check out my Steel Pen Blog

"No one is exempt from talking nonsense; the mistake is to do it solemnly."

-Montaigne

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This is what it looks like.

 

fpn_1580167907__duroflex_nib_top_view.jp

 

fpn_1580167951__duroflex_nib_side_view.j

 

fpn_1580169119__duroflex_nib_bottom_view

Edited by corgicoupe

Baptiste knew how to make a short job long

For love of it. And yet not waste time either.

Robert Frost

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Baptiste knew how to make a short job long

For love of it. And yet not waste time either.

Robert Frost

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  • 2 months later...

I have two Penkala pens. I had three but one disappeared from my bag, which fortunately was a duplicate. My wife used them in school in former Yugoslavia in the 1970s. One has a push/pull converter with a nib that is engraved DUROFLEX. The other has a piston filler, and ink window, and a Bock nib. The Duroflex is an interesting nib in that it is ground to be narrow on the down stroke and very broad on the horizontal stroke. I sure wish I knew where I lost that third pen because it had the better nib.

I wrote this back in January. This morning my wife came in from the garage holding up the third pen "that was lost". She found it next to my workbench where it was apparently hidden by something. I filled it and wrote a note with it. Writes really well.

Baptiste knew how to make a short job long

For love of it. And yet not waste time either.

Robert Frost

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  • 10 months later...
On 4/4/2020 at 8:50 PM, corgicoupe said:

I wrote this back in January. This morning my wife came in from the garage holding up the third pen "that was lost". She found it next to my workbench where it was apparently hidden by something. I filled it and wrote a note with it. Writes really well.


Sounds like I should hire your wife to help me find all the pens I've lost over the past few years. Well, decades. How much does she charge? :)

 

On 12/15/2018 at 4:42 AM, Waski_the_Squirrel said:

 

I agree on that. What I actually shared in the video was much more limited. But I felt it worthwhile to put the information out there, especially the modern information on the company.

I made an offer on a Penkala last night after watching your Youtube video and it was just accepted. Can't wait.
eBay listing

What is this money pit obsession hole I have fallen into? 

 

My other passion

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On 2/10/2021 at 10:06 AM, Bikerchick said:

 

I made an offer on a Penkala last night after watching your Youtube video and it was just accepted. Can't wait.
eBay listing


Congratulations! It looks like a good one, and I like the subtle design on the clip.

Proud resident of the least visited state in the nation!

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16 hours ago, Waski_the_Squirrel said:


Congratulations! It looks like a good one, and I like the subtle design on the clip.

Yeah, the clip does look a little banged up though, but that only adds to the character, right? ;)

 

I'll let you know how she writes when it gets here. 

What is this money pit obsession hole I have fallen into? 

 

My other passion

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/12/2021 at 2:59 AM, Waski_the_Squirrel said:


Congratulations! It looks like a good one, and I like the subtle design on the clip.

Well, the pen has arrived and after flushing it for good measure, I gave it a test run.

The clip does indeed look very vintage:

20210223_171516.jpg

 

 

And the nib, which is 14k gold-plated iridium, looks pretty good too:

20210223_172559.jpg

 

The seller listed the piston as "in working order", and that's no lie. It works perfectly. It was either serviced and/or very thoroughly cleaned or it was never used. If it wasn't for the clip, I'd say it looked new. 

As far as the writing is concerned, the nib is supposed to be a medium, but I'm going to call BS on that. It's definitely a fine (not that I'm complaining, I prefer them that way). It is really stiff though, no flex what-so-EVER. And depending on how I angle it and the paper I'm using, there's a bit of scratching going on. Not sure what is up with that. It's like the nib has a tiny little burr. Nothing a bit of polishing won't fix. 

All in all, I'm pretty pleased, especially at this price. ($30)

Edited by Bikerchick
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What is this money pit obsession hole I have fallen into? 

 

My other passion

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