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Thread: Vintage Italian Pen series

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    Senior Member AltecGreen's Avatar
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    Default Vintage Italian Pen series

    DanDeM said I should show off my vintage Italian pens. So I'm starting this series of posts where I will go through my collection and talk about some of my pens.




    So we kick things off with the pen that started me on the path of vintage Italian pens and vintage pens in general. I had fallen in love with the beauty of celluloid and had already acquired a number of modern Italian pens. One day I was browsing eBay and saw a pen for sale with a BIN. It was a vintage NOS Columbus 92 in a beautiful blue arco celluloid. I had not heard of Columbus and did some research. Columbus was one of the big 4-5 Italian companies and started around 1919. The company was known for high quality and beautiful celluloid. They were a big force until the early 1950's when they made the decision to go low end to survive. The company is still around but focuses on lower end pens.

    The pen itself was flawless. The celluloid was incredible and blew away any of the modern celluloid pens. The pen came with a true vintage flexible nib. I never turned back. I slowly phased out my interest in modern pens (except Nakaya) and switched to vintage pens.


    So here is the Columbus 92. The pen is from the late 1940's/early 1950's (before 1952) and is a piston filler. The pen itself is a vintage medium sized pen thus somewhat slim by modern standards.



    Highlighting the arco pattern. This pen is a pain to photograph. The celluloid is a deep rich blue with the veins of iridescent light blue.


    more of the pattern



    The true color is closer to this



    Here is the nib

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    Senior Member fountainpenkid's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    That is a very subtle beauty, but I quite like it!
    Will
    If my p.m box is full, feel free to email me at dabantur@gmail.com.

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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    I'm sure the pen is gorgeous is person as it looks pretty spectacular already. Will enjoy reading more about Italian vintage pens and your collection.

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    Senior Member Tracy Lee's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    Really interesting!! Looking forward to more!

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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    That's pretty cool. I know nothing about Italian pens. I would like to learn more about your collection.
    ... Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working [Pablo Picasso] ...

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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    This thread is a fantastic idea! I look forward to seeing more. The celluloid on that Columbus is stunning.

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    Senior Member Laura N's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    Lovely. Thank you!

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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    Hi AltecGreen,

    Thanks for sharing. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing all of the artful patterning of celluloid used by the Italian manufacturers over the years. Other than Omas, do you know if any other manufacturers are using arco patterned celluloid?

    I love celluloid, and the Italians probably do it better than anyone else.

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    Member DanDeM's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    I haven't seen AG's collection, but a few years ago I saw what he had amassed in just a few hours at the LA Show.
    This thread is going to take a while, and I'll enjoy every day of it.


    Memo to self: Don't loose focus. DON'T LOOSE FOCUS!
    Last edited by DanDeM; April 27th, 2013 at 04:18 PM.

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    Senior Member AltecGreen's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    Quote Originally Posted by dsolmei View Post
    Hi AltecGreen,

    Thanks for sharing. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing all of the artful patterning of celluloid used by the Italian manufacturers over the years. Other than Omas, do you know if any other manufacturers are using arco patterned celluloid?

    I love celluloid, and the Italians probably do it better than anyone else.
    I'll get to that soon but a number of Italian and several German manufacturers used Arco type celluloids. Of the type used by Omas, MontBlanc comes to mind. I don't think MB used the bronze arco pattern but they used the platinum arco on many of their pens as well as a red arco pattern.

    When I get back tonight, I'll put up a new pen, one in platinum celluloid.

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    Senior Member AltecGreen's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    This pen is the Omas 361. It was introduced circa 1948 and was Omas' answer to the Parker 51. Omas took a different route than Aurora and their 88 pen. The key feature is a simple but effective hood that rotates allowing a firm and fully hooded nib in one position and full flex in the other. This pen in various forms was made into the 1960's. The pen comes in both the bronze arco and platinum arco. It also comes in black and burgundy resin. The body of my pen is in the classic faceted body with post-war trim of a single cap band and a non-roller clip. This pen also comes also with a round body and later ogival bodies. This pen comes in the classic platinum celluloid Omas has used since the early 1930's. Montblanc are also famous for using this material.











    fully hooded and stiff position




    Flex position




    Here's how it works

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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    I really like the look of that material!
    Fountain Pen Sith Lord | Daakusaido | Everything in one spot

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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    AG:

    LA 2012. 10 pens in a pen case. Massive Italian job. Just sayin...

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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    Omas 361 - Wow. Something I never knew. Thanks.
    ... Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working [Pablo Picasso] ...

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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    Memo to self: Don't loose focus. DON'T LOOSE FOCUS!

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    Senior Member fountainpenkid's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    Those look really cool. I hope to see one some day.
    Will
    If my p.m box is full, feel free to email me at dabantur@gmail.com.

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    Senior Member AltecGreen's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    For today, I have a pair of pens made by Tibaldi. This would be the first Tibaldi. The original Tibaldi went out of business in 60's. They were revived in the nineties and sold pens that honored the original Tibaldi pens. That went under and was revived by the group that owns Montegrappa.

    The two pens are Tibaldi Trasparente in medium size. One cannot overlook the influence of Parker on the Italian pen industry. The Parker Vacumatic created a craze for pens with transparent bodies and non-sac filling systems. Almost all major Italian companies made pens that had transparent barrels. The Omas Lucens and Extra Lucens and the Aurora Optima come to mind. These pens came out in the mid-late 30's and are some of my favorite vintage Italian pens albeit they also come with a high price tag.















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    Senior Member peterpen53's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    This is truly from the golden age of fountain pens. I really like the second one with the red flakes in the barrel.
    Thank you for taking the time to show us all these beautiful vintage pens. But when you have finished with the Italians, will you be doing a similar series on your Japanese pens (please?)?

    Cheers,
    Peter


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    If I mention a supplier, I am ONLY affiliated if I EXPLICITLY say so.

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    Senior Member AltecGreen's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    Quote Originally Posted by peterpen53 View Post
    This is truly from the golden age of fountain pens. I really like the second one with the red flakes in the barrel.
    Thank you for taking the time to show us all these beautiful vintage pens. But when you have finished with the Italians, will you be doing a similar series on your Japanese pens (please?)?

    Cheers,
    Peter

    Yes. I'll do the Japanese after the Italians. It might take a while since I do own quite a few vintage Italian pens.

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    Senior Member peterpen53's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vintage Italian Pen series

    Quote Originally Posted by AltecGreen View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by peterpen53 View Post
    This is truly from the golden age of fountain pens. I really like the second one with the red flakes in the barrel.
    Thank you for taking the time to show us all these beautiful vintage pens. But when you have finished with the Italians, will you be doing a similar series on your Japanese pens (please?)?

    Cheers,
    Peter

    Yes. I'll do the Japanese after the Italians. It might take a while since I do own quite a few vintage Italian pens.
    That's what I was afraid of . However, since I like looking at those vintage Italians very much, I will quietly sit back and enjoy what's coming.


    May Your Force Be With You

    If I mention a supplier, I am ONLY affiliated if I EXPLICITLY say so.

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