eastern euro pens

[714louie]

hello all,

i'm leaving thursday for my first trip ever to eastern europe, serbia, croatia and hungary. what should i expect or be on the lookout for in fp's?

 

 

thanks,

louie

[Samovar]

Have a good time in Croatia, amazing country!

 

There is Penkala in Croatia.

http://www.penkala.net/home.html

I have never seen there pens, I was too busy eating and drinking! Keep your eyes open, you never know what you might find.

[rx170]

hello all,

i'm leaving thursday for my first trip ever to eastern europe, serbia, croatia and hungary. what should i expect or be on the lookout for in fp's?

 

 

thanks,

louie

 

During my school days I was using a cheap TOZ (Tovarna olovka Zagreb - Writing instrument factory Zagreb) Rexpen fountain pen (blue). It was standard cartridge fountain pen, back then in former Yugoslavia comparable to what is today Lamy Safary. Too bad production of Rexpen as they were was discontinued.

 

 

 

 

 

[rhosygell]

Czechoslovakia produced a number of high quality pens pre war such as Barclay, Ripet, Sagitta to name a few and the post war Centropen was a pretty reasonable bet too. You might find some of these lurking in antique shops etc

 

 

 

edited for typos!

Edited April 27, 2010 by rhosygell

[Bo Bo Olson]

My wife called and I was here.

I got to the (German) TV just in time for them to come out of the Pen shop in Croatia; more than likely the capitol.

My wife said lets go there. I said ok...took me a millisecond to start my answer.

 

I'm sure she was interested in what ever city she'd been watching.

 

Can Barclay, Ripet, Sagitta be translated into Chech which is or was a different alphabet ....I might take a look from German Ebay. I need the word for fountain pen.

Any idea what is top of the line for them?

Edited April 27, 2010 by Bo Bo Olson

[Inkronicity]

 

Can Barclay, Ripet, Sagitta be translated into Chech which is or was a different alphabet ....I might take a look from German Ebay. I need the word for fountain pen.

Any idea what is top of the line for them?

 

Don't worry about the alphabet--it's the Latin/Roman! It's Serbo-Croatian that used Cyrillic, but the Croatian variant most often used/uses Latin also.

[rx170]

Can Barclay, Ripet, Sagitta be translated into Chech which is or was a different alphabet ....I might take a look from German Ebay. I need the word for fountain pen.

Any idea what is top of the line for them?

 

Don't worry about the alphabet--it's the Latin/Roman! It's Serbo-Croatian that used Cyrillic, but the Croatian variant most often used/uses Latin also.

 

 

The Croatian use strictly Latin (except the Serb minority).

 

 

[MIHCK]

I lived in Warsaw 1988-1992, in Minsk 1995-1998, and in Prague 2000-2004, and traveled in the region extensively as well during that period. I hit used book stores, antique shops or flea markets more weekends than not, and unfortunately came upon very few old fountain pens (indeed, to make matters worse, when we were burgled in 1990, the thieves, who were selective -- they didn't take any of our electronics except a small Sony shortwave radio -- made off with all but one of the fountain pens I'd left in the house, and that was because they hadn't noticed it). On the plus side, the department stores of the period had surprisingly good selections of imported contemporary pens from Western Europe; I acquired many of my Pelikans then (the exchange rate worked in my favor). I wish you better success than I had; I'm convinced that this is very much a matter of lucking into being in the right place at the right time. There are terrific finds to had in that part of the world, but in my personal experience fountain pens were rarely among them, alas. All the same, have a terrific trip to a fascinating part of Europe!

[714louie]

Have a good time in Croatia, amazing country!

 

There is Penkala in Croatia.

http://www.penkala.net/home.html

I have never seen there pens, I was too busy eating and drinking! Keep your eyes open, you never know what you might find.

samovar,

thanks for the lead. i will report my findings

 

cheers! ciao!....oh nevermind. thanks--louie

[714louie]

thanks to all my brothers and sisters of the pluma,

i'll check back tmrw for any last minute thoughts as i leave early thursday morning. i'll be up late tmrw pst, watching my undergarments do cartwheels in the dryer before they make it into the suitcase. i promise to report back about pen-ness in this mysterious part of the world.

 

louie

[Hermina Haller]

After my amazing discovery today, I searched FPN for topics regarding Penkala and Rexpen fountain pens, and since this is the most up-to-date one, I've decided to share the moment that definitely made my day with you here.

 

The story goes as follows: annoyed by the mess and loads of old stuff we've been collecting in the odd corners of our apartment, today I've decided to do a bit of cleaning. As I started cleaning out an old wardrobe, I found (god knows why) an old pencil case that used to belong to my mother, and in it was a Rexpen fountain pen produced for the occasion of the 1987 Summer Universiade, also known as the XIV Summer Universiade that took place in Zagreb, Croatia. Not only is this a beautiful vintage fountain pen, still functioning perfectly and writing wonderfully thin (just as I like), but it was also produced the year that I was born. In addition to that, Rexpen fountain pens are, if I am not mistaken, no longer produced. TOZ Penkala had continued the production a while back, but no models are to be seen around the shops in Zagreb (if so, then pretty rare and expensive). So, in ways more than one, today has been one of the best days in my fountain pen collecting career.

 

Here's a picture of the nib and the cap, I'll try to make some more photos soon. Now I'm too busy enjoying the incredibly smooth flow of ink...

Edited August 16, 2010 by Hermina Haller

[Edgar Allan Bo]

Oaah, I remember that logo on the clip my sister had such a pen with that logo, and also the coloured stripes, I remember playing with it when I was little!

Edited August 16, 2010 by Edgar Allan Bo

[rx170]

Oaah, I remember that logo on the clip my sister had such a pen, I remember playing with it when I was little!

 

Hermina, I would be extremely grateful if you post more pictures of this pen. As I recall the standard version was blue or black.

 

 

 

 

 

[Edgar Allan Bo]

She also had some of these figurines (Zagi?) with that logo, I suppose that the pen was also a part of the promotional stuff, was that the LOGO for the games!?!

 

http://i33.tinypic.com/vdn5uv.jpg

[rx170]

I had a BP with that Logo.

[Hermina Haller]

I'm extremely glad this pen brought back memories to other people as well.

 

The letter "Y" was the official logo of the games (because the host was Yugoslavia, I suppose), and Zagi was the official mascot. The fountain pen came with a roller ball (no longer functional), so Edgar Allan Bo rightly supposed it to be a part of the promotional material for the games back then. There's still a lot of Univerzijada paraphernalia about if you dig in your folks' old stuff, but this was an absolute winner. Zagi is still well known around here even to very young children, it was created by Nedjeljko Dragić and made it to the collective memory.

 

As for the pen, it's black and 13.6 cm long. The nib bears no markings, but I'd say it corresponds to the Lamy EF nib, it writes even slightly thinner than that. Here are some of the new photos (my apologies for the bad quality, but my camera's macro is really no good, I've been waiting for a new camera for eons). The text has been written with this pen, a little psychoanalysis suits the return to the past.

 

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z201/herminahaller/Rexpen_1.jpg

 

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z201/herminahaller/Rexpen_2.jpg

 

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z201/herminahaller/Rexpen_3.jpg

 

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z201/herminahaller/Rexpen_4.jpg

 

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z201/herminahaller/Rexpen_5.jpg

Edited August 16, 2010 by Hermina Haller

[rx170]

Thnx.

 

That is in fact a newer version of Rexpen. I had (still have) a silver plated version in the set with a BP.

 

I was wondering if anyone had the older plastic version that we used in school (usually blue or black, later it came in red and other colors). It was usually sold individually or in the school sets containing also other school elements such as pencils, crayons, rulers and special tool for drawing circles.

 

I love to watch old notes, these seem to be German lessons...

Edited August 16, 2010 by rx170

[Hermina Haller]

I'm unfortunately not familiar with the older models, even this one is old in my terms, but I do know that they're pretty hard to find, and impossible to buy. The internet seems to be bearing little record of them. They must sitting in old cellars or in dark wardrobes, waiting to be discovered, as this one was. I may pop some questions at one shop I know still sells Rexpens (although newer models), and if I find anything out, I'll let you know. ;)It would be helpful if you could post a picture of your silver plated version.

 

The notes are for my graduation paper in German literature, a new FP stimulates my work drive.

[rx170]

I'm unfortunately not familiar with the older models, even this one is old in my terms, but I do know that they're pretty hard to find, and impossible to buy. The internet seems to be bearing little record of them. They must sitting in old cellars or in dark wardrobes, waiting to be discovered, as this one was. I may pop some questions at one shop I know still sells Rexpens (although newer models), and if I find anything out, I'll let you know. ;)It would be helpful if you could post a picture of your silver plated version.

 

The notes are for my graduation paper in German literature, a new FP stimulates my work drive.

 

 

It looks the same as yours except the color.

 

But, would you believe it: I found the older one . It is from the period 1985-1988, designated Rexpen 2026. However, before that I had a one just like that in blue color.

 

I flushed it and inked it with Pelikan 4001 cartridge.

 

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Ovea23OdViI/TGlNii9MJtI/AAAAAAAABa4/Sgju4o_h_1E/16082010214.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hermina Haller]

I know these pens! They were still around when I was a kid, I had at least one. I think they still can be found, but I'll check.