Art Deco Pens

[fledermaus89]

not a pen, but I think the Diamine 80ml bottles are in line with the art deco theme.

[loudkenny]

I love Art Deco too, and if I had my way (and could afford it) my house would be full of it.

 

That being said, I think Parker Vacs and Sheaffer Balances are most definitely deco, and best of all don't look dated or overdone. I second the Skyline, but I think its design looks a bit dated and gaudy. I have a Waterman Commando from 1940?, which is very clean and modern looking to me even today.

 

51's are great and I have a lot of them, but even though they were designed before WWII they are not deco. Fifties Modern maybe.

 

 

A fun way to watch Art Deco morph into Modernism is to watch the Thin Man movies. From the first one in 1934 to the last one in 1947, the styles change a lot. That's leaving aside the rather depressing and very dated aspects of the movies.

 

True... but the 1930's movies basically reflected the 'look and feel' of the country in general at the time they were made. That being said, I'd rather watch a good Bogie movie myself.

 

ken

[ArchiMark]

I'd suggest these if you want to go Deco.....

 

http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr100/ArchiMark/P1020408.jpg

http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr100/ArchiMark/Parker%20Centennials/P1030232.jpg

http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr100/ArchiMark/P1020376.jpg

[LindaM]

True... but the 1930's movies basically reflected the 'look and feel' of the country in general at the time they were made. That being said, I'd rather watch a good Bogie movie myself.

 

I don't understand what you mean. Art Deco was current in the 30's, plus many of the movies then were deliberate escapism from the Depression so they were quite glamorous. Busby Berkeley, Astaire and Rogers, all those sorts of movies. Nick and Nora, the stars of the Thin Man series, were very rich, so they did not reflect the poverty of the time. They instead were quite stylish, relative to what was fashionable then.

[ANM]

I still think the 51 was more in the feel of The Bauhaus than Art Deco. The Coronet is about as high style Art Deco as you can get. Skyline is derived from a style that grew out of Art Deco and because of that, could still be considered in that overall genre.

Edited June 16, 2014 by ANM

[Vikhalla]

Franklin-Christoph's model 29

 

http://www.franklin-christoph.com/uploads/1/0/4/5/10453260/2491893_orig.jpg?391

[loudkenny]

 

loudkenny, on 15 Jun 2014 - 23:14, said:

True... but the 1930's movies basically reflected the 'look and feel' of the country in general at the time they were made. That being said, I'd rather watch a good Bogie movie myself.

 

I don't understand what you mean. Art Deco was current in the 30's, plus many of the movies then were deliberate escapism from the Depression so they were quite glamorous. Busby Berkeley, Astaire and Rogers, all those sorts of movies. Nick and Nora, the stars of the Thin Man series, were very rich, so they did not reflect the poverty of the time. They instead were quite stylish, relative to what was fashionable then.

 

Sorry about that...I was sleepy. I meant to say that the movies reflected what people wanted their lives to be like, so all in all the word 'escapism' works for me. As people's lives improved, they were able to afford the things they saw in the movies and they bought... sort of a selffulfilling prophesy.

 

Myrna Loy was cute, but I'd still rather watch The Maltese Falcon.

 

To me, this is deco... clean and classic and not gaudy

 

 

The 1940? Waterman Lucite Commando (photo from Binder's site). Yes, I have one, but it doesn't leave the house

 

ken

Edited June 17, 2014 by loudkenny

[daredevil22r]

http://www.nibs.com/MartiniArtDeco.htm

 

This one has a great Art Deco theme

[IWantThat]

I'd suggest these if you want to go Deco.....

 

 

Oh, ArchiMark, you're killing me with those gorgeous pens! They are one of my grail pens. I would sell my soul for one... Except, I probably already sold my soul for my current pen collection

Edited June 18, 2014 by IWantThat

[trdsf]

When it comes to Parker 51, I'd say it is closer to Bauhaus than Art Deco.

 

I'm not sure that I agree the Parker 51 is Bauhaus -- it seems more Modernist to me. It would look more appropriate on the desk in, say, a Lautner house than a Gropius. I'd suggest a Rotring Tintenkuli as a Bauhaus-style pen. But I digress.

 

The Esterbrook J series, those seem to me to be definitively Deco.

[proton007]

Sheaffer Balance? A perfect example of the 'Streamline Moderne' subset. I think the Eversharp Skyline also comes under this category.

 

Wahl Eversharp Doric and Gold Seal.

 

Parker Vacumatic, and the Vacumatic-Duofold.

 

Omas' offerings, most of them. Even their brand logo.

 

 

 

 

The topic reminded me... I really liked the art and styling in 'The Great Gatsby'. I know Conway Stewart released a LE pen in that style, but it's too ostentatious IMO. A simpler style in black + silver/gold finishing would be wonderful.

Edited June 18, 2014 by proton007

[Bo Bo Olson]

I think of the P-51 and Esterbrook as more Bauhaus than Art Deco. Not enough fancy to be Art Deco.

 

One can some times say, Art Deco is fancied up Bauhaus. I have some double and single German inkwell sets, I can not decide between them.

Wahl-Eversharp is very Art Deco to me.

 

There is an interesting variant of Art Deco...that probably has a true name. I call it Italian air flight Art Deco. I've seen it in a fine bar in Malta from the late '30's, the waiting room for first class of LTU in Frankfurt and a couple of times in Italy.

I do have a couple of books on Art Deco, but that variant was not covered.

Could be some Italian pens in that direction, but I'm ignorant of Italian pens; much less the late '30's.

 

Odd to think, but the Italian Air Force in the early '30's was the best in the world, with some real pretty planes. That was just before Howard Hughes sold the Japanese Zero to Mitsubishi. The US Government didn't want the worlds best plane then...they wanted the Buffalo.

Edited June 18, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[arran]

The Omas pens are very much Art Deco (they even have an Art Deco line). Even the packaging of the ink bottles and cartridges are Art Deco. I really like the pens, they are on my must buy list but a little pricey for me a the moment.

 

 

 

Fully agree

For me omas is the most art deco like brand

[ANM]

 

I'm not sure that I agree the Parker 51 is Bauhaus -- it seems more Modernist to me. It would look more appropriate on the desk in, say, a Lautner house than a Gropius. I'd suggest a Rotring Tintenkuli as a Bauhaus-style pen. But I digress.

 

The Esterbrook J series, those seem to me to be definitively Deco.

 

I based my statement on Parker 51 being closer to Bauhaus because Lazlo Maholy-Nagy, who was an instructor at the Bauhaus before he fled Hitler's Germany and came eventually to the US, expressed admiration for the Parker '51' at the time he was doing some other design work for them.

[ArchiMark]

Oh, ArchiMark, you're killing me with those gorgeous pens! They are one of my grail pens. I would sell my soul for one... Except, I probably already sold my soul for my current pen collection

 

Sorry about that......

 

They are gorgeous pens though.....

[jar]

 

Odd to think, but the Italian Air Force in the early '30's was the best in the world, with some real pretty planes.

 

Couldn't have been too good if one Crimson Pig could out fly and out fight all of them.

 

Back towards the topic.

 

ST Dupont has quite a few Art Deco pens and even into their modern offerings. The Placed Laque series would certainly qualify.

[Bo Bo Olson]

The Italian biplanes were the best bi plane fighters ever built.

The Fiat CR.32, an early 1932 model was in China from 1932, but due to fueling problems more were not ordered. Was so great in the Spanish civil War the idiots in the Italian War department decided to make more bi wing fighters....wasting years.

Back when the Japanese were as good as the Polish AF. No joke. A flight of top flight Japanese see the star in the day time fighters with the later one-eyed fighter pilot who was number 2 or 3 in the 70+ ace list..(wicki not complete and it's been 55 years since I read the his autobiography book, So I don't have the name in head like Bong.) bounced a bi-plane, that showed him the best flying he ever seen in his life.

 

The flight of Zero's were overhead, and kept the bi-plane pinned close to the ground, and they took turns bouncing him. Took a very long time to make that kill. That was a Fiat CR. 32 the best bi-plane in China.

Other later models CR 50 did very well in other places considering they were slow and under armed vs British planes. A Hawker Hurricane was not always the winner, in North Africa and other places. They were very maneuverable.

 

Mono-wing

""In February 1943, a German test commission was sent in Italy to evaluate the new Italian fighters.^[16] The commission was led by Oberst Petersen and was formed by Luftwaffe officers and pilots and by technical personnel, among them the Flugbaumeister Malz. The Germans also brought with them several aircraft including a Fw 190 A-5 and a Bf 109 G-4 for direct comparison tests in simulated dogfights.

The tests began 20 February 1943 with the German commission very impressed by the Italian aircraft, the G.55 in particular. In general, all the Serie 5 fighters were very good at low altitudes, but the G.55 was also competitive with its German opponents in term of speed and climb rate at high altitudes still maintaining superior handling characteristics. The definitive evaluation by the German commission was "excellent" for the G.55, "excellent" for the Re.2005 but very complicated to produce and "average" for the C.205. Oberst Petersen defined the G.55 "the best fighter in the Axis" and immediately telegraphed his impressions to Goering. After listening the recommendations of Petersen, Milch and Galland, a meeting held by Goering on 22 February 1943 voted to produce the G.55 in Germany.""

But it took 15,000 hours to make one, not the 5000 to build a 109. The Germans couldn't get it down to 9,000 hours so abandoned the better Italian plane.

Can't really laugh at the Italian planes or navy.

Edited June 18, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[johnsi02]

ArchiMark, could you share the brand and model on those pens? I've seen a few pictures of similar before, but can't remember who made them. I do remember they were miles out of my reach, but oh so nice to look at.

JS

[mjhullett]

I know its not from the right period, but the ST Dupont Montparnasse has always struck me as a bit Art Deco.

 

 

Thanks to iveyman for the pic from an old post

 

[jar]

I know its not from the right period, but the ST Dupont Montparnasse has always struck me as a bit Art Deco.

 

post-83563-0-19849000-1345244296.jpg

 

Thanks to iveyman for the pic from an old post

 

http://www.fototime.com/8485CC03DC12255/large.jpg