Was I Wrong About this Centropen?

[Waski_the_Squirrel]

Back in 2016, I was thrilled to review a Centropen 100820. But, I just recently found out that I may have not identified it correctly and it may have been misidentified by the retailer as well.

My original thread (https://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread.php/18248-Centropen-100820) on this pen was effusive, and the pen deserved it. It's amazing: gorgeous and a nib like no pen I've ever used. It was described as feeling like a paint brush, and it really does. So, for reference, the original sales link is here:

https://www.myuberpens.com/1960-s-stunning-oversize-celluloid-deep-pearl-brown-centropen-super-flex-14k-nib-fountain-pen-pencil-set-in-red-leather-pouch.html

For reference, I'm adding a few of my original photos below. (I'm a better pen photographer now.)

http://squirrelscience.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Centropen-Branding.jpghttp://squirrelscience.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Writing.jpg
http://squirrelscience.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/The-Nib.jpghttp://squirrelscience.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/The-Pen-1.jpghttp://squirrelscience.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Filling-Knob.jpg


Anyway, I had a comment today that it may not be a Centropen. It may be made by a brand called ISCO. The poster suggested it was Yugoslavian. Some brief eBay research showed me two pens by ISCO which showed a lot of similarities. <br>

https://www.ebay.com/itm/282756724615
https://www.ebay.com/itm/272975827687


The hints in this direction include the ISCO on the nib, lack of any engraving on the barrel, and the logo on the case. Also, I can't find anything about the Centropen 100820 except for the MyUberPens listing and my own video or writings.

The hints toward Centropen include the original listing and the description of the pen there as an extremely rare flagship. Also, I own another Centropen: a 10014 with the exact same celluloid but with a steel nib and engraving.

So, have I been misidentifying the pen this whole time? Or, is it a really rare Centropen?

[KrazyIvan]

I had never heard of either brand until I saw it in your videos and you told me about it in our correspondence. Maybe the brands are related? The piston knob and ink window remind me of old Rotring pens. Sorry, I do not have anything really intelligent to add to the conversation. Maybe someone else will chime in.

[Waski_the_Squirrel]

I had never heard of either brand until I saw it in your videos and you told me about it in our correspondence. Maybe the brands are related? The piston knob and ink window remind me of old Rotring pens. Sorry, I do not have anything really intelligent to add to the conversation. Maybe someone else will chime in.

Yeah...these are pretty obscure brands here in the US. I'm hoping some of the international members here might know more.

A central European correspondent who is quite familiar with Centropen once suggested that my 100820 might be a special pen made for a few people very high up in government or for export.

[KrazyIvan]

I had never heard of either brand until I saw it in your videos and you told me about it in our correspondence. Maybe the brands are related? The piston knob and ink window remind me of old Rotring pens. Sorry, I do not have anything really intelligent to add to the conversation. Maybe someone else will chime in.

Yeah...these are pretty obscure brands here in the US. I'm hoping some of the international members here might know more.

A central European correspondent who is quite familiar with Centropen once suggested that my 100820 might be a special pen made for a few people very high up in government or for export.

I wonder if Lexaf would know?

EDIT: I sent Lexaf an email pointing him to this thread.

[Lexaf]

I had never heard of either brand until I saw it in your videos and you told me about it in our correspondence. Maybe the brands are related? The piston knob and ink window remind me of old Rotring pens. Sorry, I do not have anything really intelligent to add to the conversation. Maybe someone else will chime in.

Yeah...these are pretty obscure brands here in the US. I'm hoping some of the international members here might know more.

A central European correspondent who is quite familiar with Centropen once suggested that my 100820 might be a special pen made for a few people very high up in government or for export.

I wonder if Lexaf would know?

EDIT: I sent Lexaf an email pointing him to this thread.

I do not know much about Centropen. What I know is that it is a still existing Zschech (former Zschechoslovakian) firm. Their site is in Zschech language, but Google Translate makes it a bit understandable with automatic translation. And of course they have my favorite logo!

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=282bf4b459&view=fimg&th=161751e1e867966b&attid=0.1&disp=emb&realattid=ii_161751e1e867966b&attbid=ANGjdJ8oT--KC0zJl4bNK4Yjgi2i3JWYoWhhRrH3_Oxgg2KLcNhUysOfTSd84 i1M_yPnYH3NRUtaoLJBVTq1t5k6Y_fTF8C0_WKSGANgR4-DvcxvM3GP5c3enY_k8rA&sz=s0-l75&ats=1518088364495&rm=161751e1e867966b&zw
Here is a link to the Centropen website: http://www.centropen-shop.cz/

I think they do not make fountain pens any more these days, but they do sell writing stuff. In earlier times they had some nice pens in their collection, some of really high quality. A Dutch friend and FP collector has a nice sterling silver pen branded Centropen, that has a filling system that is a perfect clone of the famous Parker Vac system. I have one Centropen in my collection that I keep because the celluloid is nice. The filling system is a rather primitive syringe piston system (like the cheap 1960's Italian school pens). (I'll post some pictures later). I owned another Centro pen once that had a better piston filling system. Sold it, years ago.
Some times you can find Centropens for sale on e-Bay, mostly offered by East-European sellers.

Isco is totally unknown brand name to me.
Sorry if I disappoint you, basically this is not much more knowledge than Jason already posted.
But it is for sure an interesting collectors brand, succes with further research. If you possibly will find more info, please post about it, we all would love to know more about this old and almost forgotten brand.

[Lexaf]

My Centropen. It (once) came to me in a job lot of parts and repair pens. Most other pens in that lot were French so at first I thought this pen was of French manufacture too, hence the French replacement nib. Later I found out Centropen was of Czechoslovakian origine.

This pen has the type/model no. 10012 - 633 on the barrel.

Hope this helps for recognition / identification of other Centropens.

37948

37949

37950

37951