Universal Pen From Italy

[tryphon]

A fine pen from an Italian minor Brand (that is still in business today!) from the 1940s.

 

http://s26.postimg.org/gboovakt5/Universal_chiusa.jpg

[tryphon]

Same pen, uncapped:

 

http://s26.postimg.org/mdwbls995/Universal_aperta.jpg

[RMN]

Nice. Recent find?

 

D.ick

[tryphon]

No, I have had it for at least ten years! Recent picture, though!

[Keyless Works]

Very nice pen! Is it a good writer?

[OakIris]

I hadn't heard of the company before so did a quick google search. Sounds as if they mostly made school pens, but I found various posts (on FPN) indicating that they are/were very nice writers. Your pen looks as if it must be one of their higher-end pens; it is quite lovely.

 

To think that they used to make pens like yours and have now 'devolved' into a company that makes pens like this one from their website:

 

 

http://www.carioca.it/up/ima/prodotti/2012/10/23/40145_1.jpg

Well, they are still school pens I suppose. I like your pen much better!

 

Holly

[tryphon]

They made school pens even when I went to school! They were low cost ($2.00 equivalent, in 1962), syringe fillers with hooded nibs. They actuallu wrote OK: pens have to work if they are to be used at school!

The pens I posted here dates back to the 1940s, when Universal made good, solid pens. Today's Universal is a fantastic company, with extremely modern facilities and they make some good pens. They make color marker pens (for kids) even for Crayola.

[tryphon]

Very nice pen! Is it a good writer?

I have not used it...... The nib and feed look good!

[zanio]

I had a couple of Radius Extra, almost identical to this Universal.

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

I used to have at least one Universal. It was purple and came with a folded nib. It was supposed to take international cartridges, but the connector broke off since the plastic was brittle from age. I think it came with an American nib.

 

Dillon

[Keyless Works]

Hi,

 

I used to have at least one Universal. It was purple and came with a folded nib. It was supposed to take international cartridges, but the connector broke off since the plastic was brittle from age. I think it came with an American nib.

 

Dillon

I was under the impression that there were two Universals, an Italian one and an American one. Are they the same company?

[Dillo]

I was under the impression that there were two Universals, an Italian one and an American one. Are they the same company?

 

Mine came from Italy, but I believe some American nibs were sold to them in the past and used in some of their range.

 

Dillon

[tryphon]

I was under the impression that there were two Universals, an Italian one and an American one. Are they the same company?

 

You are correct: there were two companies, one Italian and one American and they were not related.

[Dillo]

 

You are correct: there were two companies, one Italian and one American and they were not related.

 

Interesting! How can we tell the pens apart? I'm not very well acquainted with Universal.

 

Dillon

[Keyless Works]

It's funny, there is a Universal pen on eBay with a body that says "Made in Italy" and "U.S.A." on the nib. Maybe they used American nibs?

[tryphon]

It's funny, there is a Universal pen on eBay with a body that says "Made in Italy" and "U.S.A." on the nib. Maybe they used American nibs?

Some inexpensive American nibs were used by Italian pen manufacturers: they were branded Wingflow, were very cheap and not very good and were sold by a distributor based in Switzerland. They were used in the early 1950s. What you have is probably an Italian nib marked USA, wher USA stood for Unione Settimese Artigiani (Meaning Union of craftsmen from Settimo)> Settimo is a town near Turin where, in the period between the 1920s and the 1960s hundreds of pen makers could be found! It was considered Europe's capital of pen making. 90% of the Settimo pens were rather mediocre, but a few manufacturers did make very nice pens!

[Dillo]

Hmm...if I recall correctly, the Universal pen I had did have a Wingflow nib. Did Universal use such nibs?

 

Dillon

[tryphon]

Hmm...if I recall correctly, the Universal pen I had did have a Wingflow nib. Did Universal use such nibs?

 

Dillon

Yes, they did. I will try and photograph some of the old Universal pens I have.