Merlin 33 Pens

[OldGriz]

Does any one know anything about these pens.. .

This is all I know

A brand made in the early 1950s was the Merlin pens, destined mainly for export to Belgium and Netherlands. There were several models under the brand Merlin, such as the Osmi, Elegant, Merlina. It appears the principal one was the Merlin 33 as this model is known to exist in more than 40 different patterns and color variations.

 

The Merlin 33 is a relatively small pen for today's fashion, but a reasonable size in the 1950s. It measures 120mm. closed and 125mm posted. The pens use the button filling mechanism and they are fitted with a 14ct. solid gold nib. The nib is inscribed MERLIN 14k 585 and has the sign of Degusa, a respected nib specialist of that period.

Edited December 4, 2005 by OldGriz

[Maja]

I have a blue-marbled Merlin 33 and it's a great little button-filler. I don't know much more about the company than you do, Tom, except that the Merlin pens were made in the 1950s by a small family business in Germany for the Netherlands, according to Andreas Lambrou. I saved his post about Merlin pens when he posted a reply on Pentrace this summer.

[Matt]

I have a Merlin 33 and really like it. It writes wonderfully and has a nice soft feel to it, even for a fine nib. I am the one who asked about them on Pentrace and got the reply from Andreas Lambrou. His reply is below.

 

Matt

 

History of Merlin pens according to collector Andreas Lambrou.

 

Made in the 1950s by a small family business in Germany for the Netherlands. In the 1940s and early 1950s there were many small family enterprises in Germany making pens. The launch and success of the ball pen brought many of these companies to their feet.

 

In 1987 a long standing friend, who had a pen store in Amsterdam, called me to say he was contacted by the widow of the Dutch Merlin Distributor. She wanted to sell the Merlin pen stock and go on a world tour. There were 10,000 pens and she wanted to sell them all as one lot. They were too many for him and asked if I would take some at his cost of $1.50 each. The pens were button fillers, nibs and feeds were fitted into the sections, buttons and bars were not assembled.

 

Along with a friend Keith Brown, who was also a Flavour Technologist and pen collector, we put together $9,000, formed Classic Pens and went over to Holland to pick our first stock, 6,000 Merlins pens. The models were the Merlin 33 and a smaller pen the Merlin Merlina.

 

There were 56 different colors and designs with the 33, almost as many with the Merlina. I fitted sacs to a few hundred of them, and sold them to Pen Stores in England, our first customer was Harrods of Knightsbridge. The majority I sold unrepaired to dealers in London Antique Markets or traded for other vintage pens. Gradually with the profits we embarked to develop and launch the sterling silver CP Series, the CP1 Targa was launched in 1990.

 

We still have a complete collection of Merlin 33 colors and designs, back in England, maybe some day David Isaacson will shoot them.

 

There is a black and white photo of some of them in Fountain Pens Vintage and Modern, page 139.

 

Andreas.

[Maja]

Hi Matt,

 

I saved Andreas' answer and keep it in a computer file folder on obscure pen brands I own. I merely copied the first sentence of his Pentrace post in my post above

 

Thanks for posting the complete answer....and also for asking the question on Pentrace in the first place!

 

~Maja