White Feather / Gold Star

[QM2]

http://queenmargot.com/white_feather2.jpg

 

Here is a Chinese-made fountain pen from the Soviet Union, made sometime in the 1960's. The brand

is "White Feather/Gold Star" and it looks like a Hero copy. Has anybody seen these pens before?

 

http://queenmargot.com/white_feather3.jpg

 

The overall shape resembles Parker 51/61-type models, but the clip does not imitate Parker's arrow

design. The barrel is plastic and the colour is similar to Parker 61 Carribean Green. The cap is

stainless steel. The cap snaps on.

 

http://queenmargot.com/white_feather5.jpg

 

There is a green jewel at the bottom of the barrel and a black jewel at the top of the cap. The hooded

nib peaks out further than the Parker 51 or 61. The nib is gold-coloured, but I am guessing is not gold,

otherwise the packaging would advertise this.

 

http://queenmargot.com/white_feather6.jpg

 

The threads are a transparent white plastic. The filling system is aerometric/ squeeze-sack. The sack is

transparent and perfectly pliable -- looks to be in working condition. The pen has never been inked and

has preserved excellently.

 

http://queenmargot.com/white_feather7.jpg

 

Here is a closeup of the filling mechanism, where you can see the "Gold Star" logo and Chinese writing.

 

For those interested in Soviet fountain pens, most were produced in China or with Chinese parts and

looked similar to this one. I have never seen this particular brand before, so I thought this would be

interesting to show!

 

QM2

 

http://queenmargot.com/white_feather1.jpg

Edited October 4, 2008 by QM2

[shadowsforbars]

I have seen Gold Star pens come up for sale on ebay occassionally. I got the impression that they were a sub brand of a larger Chinese manufacturer so it could have been made by Hero; it certainly looks the part.

[QM2]

I have seen Gold Star pens come up for sale on ebay occassionally. I got the impression that they were a sub brand of a larger Chinese manufacturer so it could have been made by Hero; it certainly looks the part.

 

It looks like "White Feather" was a sub-brand of Gold Star. The packaging and the pen itself say "White Feather"; and only inside the logo on the metal part of the filling system does it say "Gold Star" -- in tiny letters inside the star logo.

Edited October 4, 2008 by QM2

[mstone]

http://queenmargot.com/white_feather2.jpg

 

Here is a Chinese-made fountain pen from the Soviet Union, made sometime in the 1960's. The brand

is "White Feather/Gold Star" and it looks like a Hero copy. Has anybody seen these pens before?

Should I ask why a Soviet pen made in China comes in a box written in English?

[QM2]

Should I ask why a Soviet pen made in China comes in a box written in English?

 

Good question and I don't have a definite answer. From what I understand, nearly all pens that were available in the former USSR except for the Suyuz brand were produced by Chinese manufacturers. It is possible that China also supplied them to other formerly Soviet Bloc countries, such as Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Romania and North Korea. Since these all speak different languages and use different alphabets, it may have been easier to just label the packaging in English rather than make different versions of the packaging. There are many other Soviet goods from the 1960s-80s, such as towels and cutlery, that have Chinese and English identification marks but not Cyrillic, for the same reason.

[shadowsforbars]

edited to remove inaccurate information.

Edited October 5, 2008 by shadowsforbars

[Johnny Appleseed]

Gold Star was the Shanghai Gold Star Pen Company. They were an old Shanghai pen company, I believe they may have been around as long as Hero. Their current incarnation is 1/2 of the joint venture that makes the Duke Fountain Pens (the other half being a German firm).

 

I don't know much more about them but I picked up this one in Hong Kong last year:Shanghai Gold Star Pen, Hong Kong find.

 

John

 

[Getsurin]

Well, I just did a little research and this is what I found:

 

Gold Star is an old established Chinese pen brand. It was founded in 1932 （Shanghai) by a Korean but the factory moved to Beijing in 1952. It has also been said that " in the North there is Gold Star and in the South, it is Hero."

 

A friend will be bringing me a Gold Star Snake Skin Pen (1980s) soon. Will update once I get my hands on it.