Tropen Fountain Pen

[hudson]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone can give me information on this Tropen Fountain Pen I found in my garage.It has these numbers and words ...NO.C1000-1-1001 +C1200-1201-1202 with covered nib (6) 14K,Made in Germany.It also has a 585 & an M on the case.Thanks for your help and if I'm putting this in the wrong forum I'm sorry.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Covered nib, Tropen came late to covered nibs....Half covered C 1200 Chrome cap C 1201, gold plated cap C 1202and

fully hidden nibs.

C 1000, chrome cap, C 1001, Gold plated C 1002

 

14 K= 585 gold....M= medium point.

 

it was a very good built cheap pen. A very solid second class pen like an Esterbrook.

 

Can get matching ball point and mechanical pencils.

 

 

Tropen was a German pen company that could not really get into the German market(The export master though)....In that I see too few being sold on Ebay.

 

Every once in a while I'd check German and English Ebay for them...and come up empty.

 

 

Founded 1925. Made out of Duro-plastic.

Spritzgus - pressed plastic...real up to date in the 1944...like Parker 51.

The Artus company had machines like that, which is why Lamy bought them up after the war...Celluloid was dead because of that technique to make cheaper pens.

 

Pioneers of feeds out of plastic (Tropen factory developed) instead of hard rubber.

 

1945-65, it Exported pens. 1945 It exported to England. Some English supply officer ordered 50,000

 

 

1945-48 The Scholar...school pen was made, 150,000 a year. It looks much like the later 500.

200 comes in Ivory, red, gray, matt-black.

That appears to be the color spectrum, the 500 also came in a shiner black.

There was a 600, and 800 also.

Early models were corked, by the '50's like most of the rest 'corked' with lupolen plastic.

 

Late '40s gold nibs from Degussa...(Degussa was a known nib maker like Bock...in the '30's it had bought up Osmia's machines which had made the superb Osmia Surpa nibs when Osmia got in financial trouble....

**I have some semi-flex and a full flex Dugussa nib....and to think as a Noobie...they were not worth nothing, neither did I think them with a little goat were worth anything.....ignorance is curable.... :embarrassed_smile: Thankfully, I didn't throw anything out.)

 

Well to make gold nibs...in a right after the war time...Tropen bought up the gold city and town gold placket and chains of the Mayors and department heads. Cities and towns needed occupation money more than a gold chain around some mayor's neck.

 

 

By 1954 Tropen was one of the largest pen producers in West Germany.

 

 

In the '50's there were more than 120 fountain pen producers in Germany.Many (mom and Pop small pen companies) bought parts from big producers, which is why it is hard to ID so many German 'no name' pens.

 

In the '50s' Tropen made 40-50 different models.

 

Tropen made 600-700,000 pens a year, most for Export.

Cadillac for Egypt, Platinum for Japan, Aphrodite for Cyprus.

Most also had a number...400-Mein Stolz, 500- Scholar, 200-Splendid, 800 Ambassador. There was also a 600 model.

 

A very good price to quality(A very well made cheaper pen)....almost all had screw out nibs...

The Scholar could be made into a desk pen....at home.

Ok tired of copying out of Lambrou's book.....

 

They sure made a hell of a lot of good pens....and I don't got one. They are seldom on German Ebay and I don't want one in 'German' Black...or I don't often look enough. I spend quite a few months looking every month or 6 weeks or so.

 

I did and do want some...some day.

 

Like MB they did make ball points, and mechanical pencils, but they did not have a great secure German back bone of fountain pen buyers...1960's they sank under 500,000 a year, and by 1965...175,000

including exports of course.

 

After 1980 piston pens made a come back, Tropen made 500,000.

Still alive in 1989 at the start of this version of the book...

 

'Fountain pens' for Tropen, like for Geha* and Soennecken* were not the main business; of this company, which was making plastic forming machines.

* Office supplies, and still making them.

 

Some day it died and no one noticed....and I don't have one.

 

I've even looked in Ebay Spain for them.

There are millions of them in places I don't speak the language...even enough to cheat sheet it.

Edited February 2, 2011 by Bo Bo Olson

[hudson]

WOW,

Thanks for your response and your time!

[Funjat]

Hi everybody

 

I just joined this wonderful forum, and would like to confirm that I have about 13 Tropen pens Gold and scholar series. As well for those who are looking for a nip, I got 2-3 spare, I can simply send it to those who are desparate for one, of course free.

[Erasmus]

Hi everybody

 

I just joined this wonderful forum, and would like to confirm that I have about 13 Tropen pens Gold and scholar series. As well for those who are looking for a nip, I got 2-3 spare, I can simply send it to those who are desparate for one, of course free.

 

 

I just got a Tropen a few weeks ago. I think it's the Scholar, but I'm not sure. Welcome to the Forum!

[Bo Bo Olson]

Funjat

 

 

You got good pens.

 

Just joking. The pen that got me started was a good one too, an Osmia-Faber-Castel 540 Supra nib.

 

Put up some pictures.

[Biber]

Hi everybody

 

I just joined this wonderful forum, and would like to confirm that I have about 13 Tropen pens Gold and scholar series. As well for those who are looking for a nip, I got 2-3 spare, I can simply send it to those who are desparate for one, of course free.

 

Welcome aboard FPN. This is the greatest place on the web to hang out and learn, and the people are fantastic too! Would love to see your tropen pens.

 

B

[kalali]

"... I got 2-3 spare, I can simply send it to those who are desparate for one, of course free"

 

Hi Funjat,

 

I'm actually in need of a nib. I have three Tropens, one NOS I bought a few weeks ago and two I've had since middle school from the old country. Both need nibs but I'll be totally satisfied with one nib which I can switch between the two old units. Not sure about the model but all three have identical open nibs. Probably a Scholar.

I'll send you a PM. You made my day!

Edited October 18, 2011 by kalali

[deansellers]

There seems to quite a few popping up on fleabay these days. I won a NOS Scholar in a nice burgundy. Funny thing is - it came with a gold plated nib that has Senator stamped upon it. Not sure what that means. Tropen = Senator? Tropen bought nibs from Senator? Someone swapped nibs?

[Jerome Tarshis]

IIRC Senator bought or absorbed Tropen. Nobody swapped nibs. There would have been a transition period when one pen would bear more than one company name.

 

My memory is foggy here, but I believe there was an early version of the Parker 45 that has an Eversharp E on it, because Parker sucked up Eversharp when Eversharp was failing, and what became the Parker 45 was part of what Parker acquired. One could undoubtedly multiply examples of manufactured objects that carry an earlier company name together with a later company name. Enjoy the pen. Neither Tropen nor Senator can be described as a great luxury pen-maker, but the product was well made for its own price level.

Edited November 21, 2011 by Jerome Tarshis

[evansw]

Hi

 

I have got a black Tropen Scholar, green ink window with a gold color nib that says " IRIDIUM CHROMA" on it. It is in good condition and the piston is working.

 

Any ideas on age and value ?

[write to me often]

I have a Tropen and I got it NOS, never inked. But it has a Senator nib on it. After that, I saw a lot of Tropen pens with Senator nibs. Does anyone know the relation between Tropen and Senator?

 

Thanks

[mitto]

I have this Tropen . Dont know what model exactly it is. It is not CHROMA on the nib. It is NICHROMA. Clearly readable on my nib.

Edited December 16, 2014 by mitto

[mitto]

Sorry , the pen was inked when i took the pictures . So the green ink window did not show clearly. if anyone could tell what Tropen model it was and what was its production date / period?

Edited December 16, 2014 by mitto

[mitto]

Hi

 

I have got a black Tropen Scholar, green ink window with a gold color nib that says " IRIDIUM CHROMA" on it. It is in good condition and the piston is working.

 

Any ideas on age and value ?

Would you share a picture of your Tropen. Mine is here. Also read what the nib really says on my pen.

[GHigley]

I recently bought two early Visconti's that are obviously Tropen-made pens. I expect they could be among the last pens Tropen produced. The celluloid Visconti "Replica" was their second pen - released in 1989 (first was the "Classic" in 1988). One of my pens has an unbranded 14K nib and the other a Tropen Nichroma steel. The body of these pens appear to be exactly that of the Tropen Scholar. What distinguishes them as Visconti's are the materials and cap design.

 

Does anyone have more info on the Tropen/Visconti connection?

[GHigley]

Today I received a (said to be late 1950's) NOS Tropen with the desk pen blind cap extension from an eBay seller in Germany. The 1989 Visconti Replica pens are definitely sourced from the Tropen Scholar as the barrels are identical other than the addition of a gold ring at the blind cap (and possibly a brass piston assembly as there is weight other than what the gold ring would add). Visconti used celluloid on one pens cap and on the cap and barrel of the other, but otherwise they are identical to the Tropen Scholar.

 

 

[GHigley]

Turns out the nib unit is defective. The pen will draw up ink, but once the ink in the nib and feed are gone it's dry as a bone. Even priming doesn't work. Dang!

[wastelanded]

Try flossing the slit of the nib: there may be a tiny piece of something in there.

 

Is it a screw-in nib/feed assembly?

[GHigley]

Excellent advice, wastelanded. It is a screw-in nib unit. I should have flossed the nib slit, but tired of fiddling with it and notified the eBay seller, who immediately shipped a new pen and more than paid for the return shipping. http://myworld.ebay.com/yesteryears-fountain-pens-2012/ Their prices aren't particularly low, but the customer service is outstanding.