Experiences With The Crystallization of Omas Celluloids

[Seney724]

This thread is begun to serve as the home for a tangential topic which was raised in another current thread.

What has been your experience with the occurrence of crystallization in any of your Omas celluloid pens?

This sad and tragic demise of a cherished fountain pen has been the source of great sadness for many collectors; many of whom made their purchase without the knowledge that this could occur.

Can we report our experiences collectively as opposed to have them appear anecdotally from time to time?  There are many experts here as well as collectors who have had the experience.  Getting their opinions and stories all in one place might serve as a good source of information for others over time.

 

For my part, I have long admired and avoided both the Wild and the Arlecchino celluloids due to their notorious tendencies to crystallize even when kept in the most ideal conditions. 

 

 

As for the Wild, there have been several production runs which have employed it.  In this thread, @fpupulin nicely details these different productions over time:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/362949-wild/?tab=comments#comment-4477028

To summarize from @fpupulin:

• Beginning in 1993 Omas produced, under their own name, the following pens in Wild celluloid - Galileo, in addition to the "standard" Galileo, a Galileo-type pen termed the Pope Urban V and another Galileo named "The Year of the Light."  Two versions of the 360, a Paragon, Grand Paragon and Milord.
• Omas produced special edition pens in Wild celluloid for Bulgari, Novelli and. perhaps, others.
• Independent of Omas, Morastylos and Tom Westerich (penboard.de) also used Wild celluloid rods to make their own pens.
• More recently Armando Simoni Club and Leonardo have produced pens using the remaining Wild rods.

 

The number of productions utilizing the Arlecchino celluloid seem to be far fewer:  

• A limited edition (750 pieces) "round" pen produced for the Company's 75th Anniversary in 2000
• A much smaller Paragon limited edition (? 250-300 pieces) produced for the members of the Armando Simoni Club (Club Internazionale della Stilografica "Armando Simoni") in the early 90's.  This Armando Simoni Club was an exclusive "members only" club of Omas and is not to be confused with the much later and completely different Armando Simoni Club (aka ASC) launched by the gentleman who purchased the remaining Omas rod stock after the closure of the Omas Factory. 
• After its inception, ASC utilized some of the remaining stock of Arlecchino rods to produce some pens.   
• Omas produced a special edition pen for Novelli in 2007 utilizing the Arlecchino celluloid.  It was called the "Armonia Eterna."  I am unaware of any other special edition pens Omas made for others utilizing this celluloid but it is very likely there were others.  Perhaps someone can add to this list.

 

Questions:

• What other Omas celluloids have been known to crystallize?
• Within these two celluloid lines, are there some editions which have been more prone to crystallization than others?  For example, in the thread referenced above @como mentions that his understanding is that within the productions which utilize the Wild celluloid it is only the Galileo pens which have had this problem.  As for the Arlecchino celluloid, there are those who believe that the incidence is far more common in the 75th Anniversary pens than in the earlier very limited production run of Paragons for the Club Internazionale della Stilografica "Armando Simoni" members.
• What predisposes a celluloid pen to crystallize?  Some known causes are the use of celluloid rods which were not fully cured, storage in warm, humid, sunlight conditions, the use of certain types of metal "furniture" on the pens and perhaps others.  Also, lots of reports where none of these seemed to be the cause!

 

To FPN Members:

What has been your experience?  Tell us your crystallization story! Please detail the specific celluloid type, specific edition of the pen and your theory as to what was the likely precipitation event, if any.

[Michael R.]

• two Wild 360 pens seem stable since years
• two Arlecchino pens (Arlecchino Edition & Paragon style club pen) "gave up" almost three years ago
• I've seen many royal blue celluloid pens turns purple and metal trim shows green corrosion
• saffron blue pen starts to turn pink in formerly blue area; I've seen other saffron blue pens with severe damage
• Extra Lucens blue & Extra Lucens black (both from 2000) start to smell suspicious and blue pen shows purple areas

Aside those I do not fully trust my two E.E.Ercolessi pens.

I've seen a Visconti Voyager in lapis blue with severe damage.

Also the KaWeCo Combimatic LE made from lapis blue celluloid shows beginning degradation and giveaway smell.

What about Tibaldi Transparente, Tibaldi Iride (both from the 1990s) and the original Delta Pompei?


Blue and transparent celluloids from the 1990s seem to suffer a lot; also from other brands.

 

Signs of degrading celliloid:

• bright green corrosion on metal parts
• blue color turning purple or pink
• sticky, sweaty condensation on surface (also smelly like nitrous gases from the breakdown to nitrous acid; very low pH shows on those condensation)
• smells like nitrous acid or nitrous gases inside cap
• later the material shows shrinkage, cracks, crystallization and breaks like compressed powder

 

P1550431 by pensninks, auf Flickr

 

P1550427 by pensninks, auf Flickr

 

P1550429 by pensninks, auf Flickr

 

P1550430 by pensninks, auf Flickr

 

P1550435 by pensninks, auf Flickr

 

Cheers

 

Michael

 

 

 

 

 

[AoKiu]

Don't worry, ALL Mazzucchelli celluloid nitrate materials will sooner or later start to decay! Sooner if you live in the tropics (I'm 70 Km north of the equator). ALL Italian pen manufacturers who used Mazzucchelli celluloid nitrate are affected: OMAS, DELTA, VISCONTI, STIPULA, TIBALDI, MONTEGRAPPA etc. etc. Once the process started it cannot be stopped or reversed!

The green KAWECO is a limited edition from CAS (Collegium Ars Scribendi 1996). It was made with Visconti's Uffizi celluloid. The first Uffizi celluloid series is well known for decaying. The pictures show only a small selection of my rotten celluloid pens. I had a complete series of Visconti Wall Street LEs, Delta Pompeji, OMAS Saffron (old and new), Royal Blue, green and brown Arco, and many more. Thousands of dollars down the drain!!!

[Michael R.]

lots of expensive spare nibs 😒

I started keeping my (modern) celluloid pen separately and enjoying them as much as they last...

Michael

[Michael R.]

@AoKiu seems like your location is the worst case accelerated storage test: what is your experience with vintage celluloid pens?

 

However I stopped adding pens to my Omas celluloid collection.

[clear1]

Not Omas, but I have a Stipula pen that started degrading. I dipped it to the diluted shellac, inside and outside, and the result has been quite positive preventing further degradation.

 

Here's what I posted on Instagram.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CODJhW8DBVg/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPS88g4Dw0D/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTWKsELvCVN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

[Seney724]

What heartbreaking photos @AoKiu!

 

May I assume that this is the Mazzucchelli you mention?

https://www.mazzucchelli1849.it/pages/heritage

 

What is of great interest to me is the incredible stability of the true vintage Omas celluloids.....those from the '30's & 40's.  I do not recall seeing any reports of those pens crystallizing.

 

Mu understanding is that back then the manufacturing process of the celluloid rods was determined to be terribly toxic so the process was soon outlawed in cities like Bologna where some reports detail that the water supply became contaminated by the toxic waste from the Factory.  Is it a fair assumption that those vintage celluloids are "safe" and the problem with crystallization / deterioration began as the new manufacturing process for the celluloid rods was implemented?

[Nyoko]

9 hours ago, clear1 said:

Not Omas, but I have a Stipula pen that started degrading. I dipped it to the diluted shellac, inside and outside, and the result has been quite positive preventing further degradation.

 

Here's what I posted on Instagram.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CODJhW8DBVg/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPS88g4Dw0D/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTWKsELvCVN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

That sounds promising!  What did you dilute the shellac with, and what ratio did you use?  That would be very helpful to know.

 

I have a few pens with this problem:

 

Omas Paragon in Wild Celluloid from Chatterley Pens

Stipula Volterra

Omas Paragon in Saft Green Celluloid

[clear1]

3 hours ago, Nyoko said:

 

What did you dilute the shellac with, and what ratio did you use?  That would be very helpful to know.

 

 

I used the shellac for the wood finish. It is already diluted.  

 

When you dip the pen and see it, it can look a little bit foggy. Let it dry about a day. It will be clear again. I put the barrel to a chopstick and let it dry. Just one dip. If you dip it again before it's completely dried, it won't be good.

 

And don't forget to wrap the thread. You don't want to dip that part.

[AoKiu]

Here in the tropics it is much worse! Celluloid nitrate starts to sweat nitric acid as you can see in my pictures. It has to do with the high humidity and temperature here.

Vintage celluloid was more protected against decay because the old masters knew what kind of dyes they had to use in order to stabilize celluloid. That's why black color celluloid is the least prone to rot. But celluloid nitrate is an unstable chemical compound which is constantly disintegrating. Most vulnerable are transparent materials, hence movie films or e.g. OMAS Extra Lucens. 

Mazzucchelli later outsourced production to China. Nowadays they don't offer celluloid nitrate anymore, only the more stable celluloid acetate. But even this material can start to rot. My four Montegrappa Symphony fountain pens died, starting with the turquoise color.

[AoKiu]

14 hours ago, Michael R. said:

@AoKiu seems like your location is the worst case accelerated storage test: what is your experience with vintage celluloid pens?

 

However I stopped adding pens to my Omas celluloid collection.

I'm not the only collector here who is affected. I've seen so many rotten celluloid pens!

 

 

[Nyoko]

On 10/10/2021 at 2:31 PM, clear1 said:

I used the shellac for the wood finish. It is already diluted.  

 

When you dip the pen and see it, it can look a little bit foggy. Let it dry about a day. It will be clear again. I put the barrel to a chopstick and let it dry. Just one dip. If you dip it again before it's completely dried, it won't be good.

 

And don't forget to wrap the thread. You don't want to dip that part.

 

Thank you! I'll give it a try on one of my deteriorating pens.  It can't hurt and what have I got to lose? 😅

[sansenri]

I will not go through the complete whole (heartbreaking) story again...

but you can take a look here

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/356046-death-of-an-omas/?tab=comments#comment-4365081

my dead Omas was a Galileo

I was not savvy enough when I bought it (cheap) several years ago to fully recognize it was at serious risk as it was already warping.

While the sticky, misty surface is a clear sign of out-gassing taking place, one sign that has not been mentioned yet, and which is an earlier sign, is your ink changing colour.

The nitric acid released inside the pen probably interferes with the ink pH and your ink will change colour, my blue ink (Herbin blue nuit) turned purple. Actually my whole bottle has been affected since I dipped the pen in the bottle.

I realized something was wrong from this ink colour change.  Water alone turned yellowish.

I then kept using the pen to exploit it as much as possible but it broke in two some months later as I was trying to fill it.

I have stored the pen for a while, before it died definitively, by wrapping it in a cloth, the cloth turned grey where in contact with the pen, sindone style...

 

Michael has described the other signs very well, the green corrosion of the metal is another very clear sign.

I have also seen blue celluloid turning purple.

 

I have a number of other celluloid pens and I'm obviously somewhat concerned. I tend to use them more.

 

The one I know will be next is a Visconti Midnight blue. The pen still looks fine, but the effect on ink, and water turning yellow, has already started... unfortunately, a very pretty pen

 

fortunately though I did not pay a huge sum for this pen, the gold nib alone almost covers the loss, when it will happen...

 

[clear1]

5 hours ago, Nyoko said:

 

 It can't hurt and what have I got to lose? 😅

 

That's exactly what I thought.  Good luck! 

[como]

I hesitated to participate in this thread for a while, for several different reasons. First, let me say that it really pains me to see these wonderful celluloids crumbling away. This is no fun for anyone who experienced it. 

 

As I once mentioned in another thread, discussing celluloid crystallisation runs into a similar risk as discussing ski accidents. To these who saw it, heard it, and even experienced it in person, it can be horrific. And to these who are new to any sort of sports, they may start to get the idea that skiing is a dangerous sport that will make you lose an arm or leg, or even die. That's far from truth. I have a similar feeling about celluloid pens. 

 

I am biased. I love celluloid pens and Omas.

 

So here is what I wanted to say:

 

1. Knowledge about Omas celluloid crystallisation (and celluloid crystallisation in general) is part of knowledge that we gradually accumulate as pen enthusiasts that help us better understand certain weaknesses in pen material, design, mechanism etc. I discovered over the years about Royal Blue turning purple, Arlecchino crumbling, Galileo trims and celluloid attacking each other, Ercolessi etc, and other vintage and modern (Delta Visconti etc) celluloid problems. What has been mentioned above, especial @Michael R.'s post, is pretty comprehensive already. I don't have much to add, except that we can also talk about vintage celluloids. Some had similar problems, especially some lighter colour transparent celluloid. Certain earlier vintage celluloids are also known for crystallisation, even not being particularly light coloured and transparent. But of course some survived in remarkable condition with hardly any discolouration. I can go on and discuss filling system weaknesses too, among different vintage and modern models, and many might freak out too and leave this hobby altogether. But the point here is to have some perspective and understand the proportion of this problem in the general scheme of things.

 

2. Not all celluloid problems are equally bad. For example, Arlecchino is known to crumble, the percentage is relatively high. How high exactly I don't know , but I have heard plenty. Galileo too, but maybe a bit less. It seems that these who live in a favourable environment to celluloid and those who use the pen on regular basis were met with the demise much less. Gas trapped in enclosed container, plus heat and humidity will almost guarantee such fate. In this thread, it was the first time for me to see an Omas Autumn (perhaps it was a Saft Green, I don't quite remember) that went bad. One member lives in such unfavourable environment for pens, not only his celluloid pens were rotten, his Montblanc silver pen too, and office furniture parts! This brings to the third point below.

 

3. Some environment seems really not suitable for celluloid pens and pens with sensitive materials. Heat, humidity, air with salt content (live by the sea), etc. It's not good environment for such pens. Even celluloid pens not known for crystallisation can fall apart too in such environment (and office furniture!). 

 

Celluloid pens are beautiful. They are the jewels of fountain pens. They are worthy of having, even with potential problems (life is also worth living even with all kinds of problems). But one should care to learn about the problems, have the willingness and patience to care for such pens, and assess one's living environment how risky it is to have such pens. If you buy such pens, hopefully you buy from trustworthy pen dealers or honest private sellers. 

 

On a last note, open your pen cases at least once a week to air (and admire) your pens. Wipe them down with microfibre cloth to get rid of oil, sweat, fingerprints. Unscrew the cap to have a look for moisture on the nib. Watch for any difference in appearance. Just basic pen caring practice. And use use use. In use they have less chance of trapped chemicals attacking each other, like a (bleep) fight!

 

Good luck and enjoy the celluloid pens.

[sansenri]

+1 como

the fact there is a risk, and the fact I have actually experienced the result of that risk, still it's not a sufficient reason to abandon celluloid pens

actually, since I do own some, a reason to enjoy them to the best of capabilities,

 

heirs will inherit other -resin/ebonite/metal - pens (and may not even know what to do with them...)

[como]

17 hours ago, como said:

...In use they have less chance of trapped chemicals attacking each other, like a (bleep) fight!

...

Haha, it’s the first time that I got bleeped out for writing “c o c k fight”. 😀 

[como]

16 hours ago, sansenri said:

...

heirs will inherit other -resin/ebonite/metal - pens (and may not even know what to do with them...)

@sansenri I already half-jokingly asked my kids. They said they would keep a few and sell the rest. A sensible answer, I think. They will take the Montblanc pens and a few Omas that they know I love. They will use the Montblanc pens and know where to service them if any problems. Oh my pen tools - will all be tossed into the bin. Good luck trying to figure them out😀! 

[IlikeInksandIcannotlie]

On 10/13/2021 at 4:53 AM, sansenri said:

water turning yellow

Might be NO2 gas that's been dissolved. I don't know much about celluloid disintegration, but does celluloid give out gases without any deterioration (like ebonite giving off sulphurous gases)?

[sansenri]

9 minutes ago, IlikeInksandIcannotlie said:

Might be NO2 gas that's been dissolved. I don't know much about celluloid disintegration, but does celluloid give out gases without any deterioration (like ebonite giving off sulphurous gases)?

that is what I think too...

"Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) is an acidic gas and readily reacts with water (H₂O) to produce an acidic solution of nitric acid (HNO₃) and nitrogen monoxide (NO)."

That is why I have sadly stopped using the Visconti pen...