No, *this* is the weirdest pen on ebay - EVER

[meanwhile]

As my is habit when I have to wait around for work phone calls late at night or on a weekend, I've been reading webcomics and searching ebay. (Ok - I also do these things during some of the more boring calls I have to take - it's actually better than shouting "We settled what we have do in the first 5 minutes, so shut up!" so I don't feel at ALL guilty.)

 

Anyway my latest and weirdest find, completely eclipsing the Death Star of Stub, is...

 

DAS

STUKA FUHRER PEN!

 

http://i17.ebayimg.com/02/i/07/93/77/65_12.JPG

 

"An extremely unusual German piston-filler fountain pen sporting an elaborate solid silver clip comprising a Swastika emblem surmounted by an eagle, wings outstretched...

 

My understanding is that these pens were awarded to Luftwaffe pilots in recognition of ‘good service’, accompanied by a signed letter of commendation from you-know-who. The filling mechanism is extraordinary. Basically you dip the pen into ink, pull out the plunger, and write. Returning the plunger to closed position simply ejects the ink. For the life of me I could not figure out why anyone would come up with such a daft design. German ingenuity it is not, thought I. Well... that was my initial response. A collector of WWII German militaria has explained all to me. First, these pens carried far more symbolic significance than utility. That clip is a statement. You wore that pen, rather than used it. Second, the last thing a dive-bomber pilot needed, when in a maximum G-force turn, was a pen emptying itself (with some force) inside flying jacket (Oh mein Gott... wet, wet, wet... I’ve been shot!). You could only carry this pen in a breast pocket in closed (empty) state. I have that as anecdote only... but it makes complete sense to me."

 

It is quite an attractive and interesting writing instrument. All the same I won't be bidding: the closest thing to Nazi regalia I'm willing to own is a tape of The Producers.

 

I notice the current bidder has his feedback set to private - although it's a creditable 54 items, all positive... I can't specualting that there are, jah, 5O letters by Der Fuhrer, ein Iron Cross, an SS dagger, and a signed photo of Eva Braun hidden there...

 

Anyway -

 

Germany was having trouble

What a sad, sad story

Needed a new leader to restore

Its former glory

Where, oh, where was he?

Where could that man be?

We looked around and then we found

The man for you and me

And now it's...

Springtime for Hitler and Germany

Deutschland is happy and gay!

We're marching to a faster pace

Look out, here comes the master race!

[Richard]

it's immediately apparent that the seller does not know pens. The description of the filling system shouts "Vacuum-Fil!" Okay, so Sheaffer didn't make pens in Germany during the war, who else...? Wahl-Eversharp? Nooooo... Onoto (De la Rue)? Nope -- but hey, it's likely that there were enough prewar Onoto pens floating around in Germany that a German pen company might see the utility of the design. Who knows?

[KCat]

it's immediately apparent that the seller does not know pens. ?

is your assessment based on seeing the entire description on e-bay? While he/she may not know filling systems in great detail, it seems a stretch to say he/she doesn't know anything about pens.

 

I know a good bit about pens - but nothing even close to your level of knowledge. Still, if someone knows what nib is and how to exchange the original for a decent functional nib as this seller apparently did, then I have to give them some credit for knowing something about pens. More than a lot of e-bayers that put pens out there with descriptions like "the metal pointy bit on the end".

[sbagley]

As my is habit when I have to wait around for work phone calls late at night or on a weekend, I've been reading webcomics and searching ebay. (Ok - I also do these things during some of the more boring calls I have to take - it's actually better than shouting "We settled what we have do in the first 5 minutes, so shut up!" so I don't feel at ALL guilty.)

 

Anyway my latest and weirdest find, completely eclipsing the Death Star of Stub, is...

 

DAS

STUKA FUHRER PEN!

 

http://i17.ebayimg.com/02/i/07/93/77/65_12.JPG

 

"An extremely unusual German piston-filler fountain pen sporting an elaborate solid silver clip comprising a Swastika emblem surmounted by an eagle, wings outstretched...

 

My understanding is that these pens were awarded to Luftwaffe pilots in recognition of ‘good service’, accompanied by a signed letter of commendation from you-know-who. The filling mechanism is extraordinary. Basically you dip the pen into ink, pull out the plunger, and write. Returning the plunger to closed position simply ejects the ink. For the life of me I could not figure out why anyone would come up with such a daft design. German ingenuity it is not, thought I. Well... that was my initial response. A collector of WWII German militaria has explained all to me. First, these pens carried far more symbolic significance than utility. That clip is a statement. You wore that pen, rather than used it. Second, the last thing a dive-bomber pilot needed, when in a maximum G-force turn, was a pen emptying itself (with some force) inside flying jacket (Oh mein Gott... wet, wet, wet... I’ve been shot!). You could only carry this pen in a breast pocket in closed (empty) state. I have that as anecdote only... but it makes complete sense to me."

 

It is quite an attractive and interesting writing instrument. All the same I won't be bidding: the closest thing to Nazi regalia I'm willing to own is a tape of The Producers.

 

I notice the current bidder has his feedback set to private - although it's a creditable 54 items, all positive... I can't specualting that there are, jah, 5O letters by Der Fuhrer, ein Iron Cross, an SS dagger, and a signed photo of Eva Braun hidden there...

 

Anyway -

 

Germany was having trouble

What a sad, sad story

Needed a new leader to restore

Its former glory

Where, oh, where was he?

Where could that man be?

We looked around and then we found

The man for you and me

And now it's...

Springtime for Hitler and Germany

Deutschland is happy and gay!

We're marching to a faster pace

Look out, here comes the master race!

[sbagley]

I found this one in a flee market in Sofia Bulgaria in 2001. Sounds like the same pen.

[bassopotamus]

I found this one in a flee market in Sofia Bulgaria in 2001. Sounds like the same pen.

 

Why would the Nazis write Germany rather than Deutschland on their pens?

[Martius]

Why would the Nazis write Germany rather than Deutschland on their pens?

 

Foreign edition?

[Tweel]

Why would the Nazis write Germany rather than Deutschland on their pens?

I'd say that it was meant to be handed out as a souvenir pen, but then it should say "Niemcy 1939".

 

If the pen is from the right era, then it should be celluloid -- the candle-flame test would settle that.

 

-- Brian

[DAYoung]

It looks fake to me. First, the eagle is all wrong - looks more like a minah than the Reich's characteristic bird of prey. Second, 'Germany'? A nationalistic empire using the English word for their beloved fatherland? Even if it's a gift, sympathetic Britons wouldn't be put off by 'Deutschland'. ("I say, Unity, this pen is in German. Do tell Adie to have a whisper in Mont Blanc's ear.")

 

But I'm as much an expert on this as I am on butterfly mating.

 

So take these speculations with a pinch of the proverbial.

Edited October 24, 2010 by DAYoung

[mori45]

It looks fake to me. First, the eagle is all wrong - looks more like a minah than the Reich's characteristic bird of prey. Second, 'Germany'? A nationalistic empire using the English word for their beloved fatherland? Even if it's a gift, sympathetic Britons wouldn't be put off by 'Deutschland'. ("I say, Unity, this pen is in German. Do tell Adie to have a whisper in Mont Blanc's ear.")

 

But I'm as much an expert on this as I am on butterfly mating.

 

So take these speculations with a pinch of the proverbial.

 

 

I'd have to agree. I was in Vietnam a couple of years ago and a friend asked me to pick up a lighter for him. As it turns out, every souvenir shop sold lighters "left" by American servicemen. There was even one guy who I caught sanding and hammering a way at a new Zippo who asked me rather sheepishly if I wanted an authentic Vietnam War relic. Where there's money to be made, replicas will follow.

[EMM]

Looks pretty cool ha ha

[aawhite]

I found in a respectable antique shop in Dresden a restored Montblanc from the late 1930's to early 1940's and marked as "Deutschland". There was no swastika. The store owner was asking for 600 euros. I am not an expert in pen appraisal and I was not sure, so I gave it a miss.

[glindauer]

It looks fake to me. First, the eagle is all wrong - looks more like a minah than the Reich's characteristic bird of prey. Second, 'Germany'? A nationalistic empire using the English word for their beloved fatherland? Even if it's a gift, sympathetic Britons wouldn't be put off by 'Deutschland'. ("I say, Unity, this pen is in German. Do tell Adie to have a whisper in Mont Blanc's ear.")

 

But I'm as much an expert on this as I am on butterfly mating.

 

So take these speculations with a pinch of the proverbial.

 

Looks like you were right-- the listing is no longer on ebay, and even if it had sold, usually listings stay up 30 days afterward.

[bassopotamus]

It looks fake to me. First, the eagle is all wrong - looks more like a minah than the Reich's characteristic bird of prey. Second, 'Germany'? A nationalistic empire using the English word for their beloved fatherland? Even if it's a gift, sympathetic Britons wouldn't be put off by 'Deutschland'. ("I say, Unity, this pen is in German. Do tell Adie to have a whisper in Mont Blanc's ear.")

 

But I'm as much an expert on this as I am on butterfly mating.

 

So take these speculations with a pinch of the proverbial.

 

Looks like you were right-- the listing is no longer on ebay, and even if it had sold, usually listings stay up 30 days afterward.

 

Doesn't Ebay have an issue with Nazi Memorabilia? Could be that rather than authenticity that is the issue...

[AR8Jason]

EBay rarely kicks items as fakes unless the company that is "knocked off" files a VERO complaint. That would have to have come from Mont Blanc which is entirely possible, as the clip looks to crude to be from Mont Blanc. EBay have sold Nazi items in the past, but they are touchy about the swastika and the right complaint and it would be pulled. There are a list of counties that you can not mail to with Nazi items, including Germany.

 

I too have questions about the use of "Germany" as the mark for a pen that almost certainly not have been worn in an European English Speaking country in 1939. But, there were some in the U.S. that would have worn it with pride in 1939. Most of them got real quite or lived in a camp "for their safety" after the war started for the US.

[beak]

Not a chance that the clip is genuine, IMO.

One look at the poor quality of that eagle is enough.

Not saying such things didn't exist - don't know - but if they did, this ain't one of them.

Edited February 27, 2011 by beak

[RedSox04]

This is cool,

 

anyone know if it is real or not? I'd love to hear anything definite, as I'm sure we all would.

[princess palace]

It is really cool! I find the nazi thing on the clip scary...

[beak]

This is cool,

 

anyone know if it is real or not? I'd love to hear anything definite, as I'm sure we all would.

My experience, FWIW, is that 'definite' is rarely possible; all such matters of antique attribution and verification eventually boil down to opinion. It's a matter of whose opinion you are going to go with, based on how much you respect the opinion holder and how they support their opinion with evidence. Speaking of which - here's a genuine eagle of similar size to that on the pen - have a look at the difference in quality...

[RedSox04]

Yeah that was my concern. Especially if it was for pilots, they would not (IMHO of WW2 history) give that out to ace pilots.

Especially considering the other gear those guys had...