Vintage Nib Id Requested

December 25, 2019

I have nibs in two of my late '40s, early '50s pens of Dutch origin. There's an intriguing symbol on it. Does anyone have info on who made this nibs or any history behind them?

Thanks!

Edited December 25, 2019 by TheDutchGuy

December 25, 2019

Degussa, I think.

December 25, 2019

Thanks! Very informative.

December 25, 2019

Degussa was a large conglomerate in pre-war Germany that had many other activities besides producing fountain pen nibs. Among these other activities it had a 42,5 per cent ownership of Degesch, the company that manufactured and supplied the Zyklon B nerve gas used by the nazis in gas chambers during the Holocaust.

December 25, 2019

Degussa, 14 K/585 gold nib....

Degussa is and was the major gold and silver making company in Germany.

1932 Osmia again in finacial trouble...they had sold out to Parker in 1928/9 and when the market crashed* Parker sold it back to the Boehler brothers, having given them a technology transfer. Lamy was the General manager of Parker/Osmia, and went off to form his own pen companies.

Well the Parker Duofold was marketed much too high, it didn't hold enough ink, and there were already a well established Duofold clone market in Germany.

1932 Osmia had to sell it's nib factory to Degussa, for debt to Degussa who supplied it's gold for nibs.

Osmia had some of the worlds greatest tipping from a Osmium compound they bought the patent from a Heidelberg Professor in @ 1922 when Osmia started. So named their pen company Osmia after the wonder tipping.

Osmia was one of the big/better pen companies, like Soenecken, MB & Kaweco, but unlike MB and Soennecken (later Pelikan and Geha) didn't have an office supply company to keep Osmia solvent.

They did have a great steel nib....that Degussa took over and their gold nib was grand also.

I feel no difference between them.

1922 Rupp started making nibs. 1938 Bock. Degussa made nibs to 1990 according to Thomas; for Mutschler. In Degussa's prime, when Sonnecken started having problems, Degussa made nibs for them.

Geha's nibs be they gold or steel, are a tad bit more springy in semi-flex.

Degussa continued to make the great Osmia nib for Osmia, and a couple others as mentioned. They made nibs....often like today with Bock....with what ever company wanted to pay for their imprint. They also made nibs under their own mark which you have.

When I was a dumb noobie....I believed the BS that only in house nibs are worth having.

I have steel superflex Degussa nibs. I have a regular flex and a semi-flex nib by Degussa; besides my 8-9 Osmia/Osmia-Faber-Castel pens, which are semi-flex with a small diamond (oft with a nib size number in it).....with a big diamond...for mine, with out a number in it and marked Supra. Those are maxi-semi-flex........Osmia is the only company where you can tell if the nib is semi-flex or maxi.

In Degussa made the gold nibs for Osmia/O-F-C, I believe they had a supply of semi-flex gold alloy and maxi-semi-flex alloy on a roll of gold ribbon as it could be grabbed....which is why I think, the @ 1 to 5 maxi to semi-flex nibs are on other companies pens.

No other company marked it's maxi nibs than Osmia.......I have maxi nibs in Geha, Pelikan, MB ....but think my Soennecken nib is from back when Soennecken made it's own nibs.

So there I am ...a typical dumb noobie, with a couple salvaged 'no name nibs'....a Degussa and a Bock nib in hand, and really, almost tossed them....in I believed a lie....that only In House Nibs were any good.

You have a find nib...........some day with a bit more experience you will find out if it's semi-flex or regular flex.

Being flat on the bottom....stubbish was normal for many of the German semi-flex 30-50-60's nibs. If it's flat...great, no one screwed up the nib by removing the American Bump Under. If so could well be semi-flex.

If with an American Bump Under.....like the Artus nib could be a nice springy regular flex nib.

I believe Artus made by Lamy could have used a Degussa steel or gold ribbon, in Lamy nibs were always nails outside the Artus.

You have a very good nib there.........

Edited December 25, 2019 by Bo Bo Olson

December 26, 2019

Thanks, BoBo! That’s great information, appreciate it very much!

Degussa, 14 K/585 gold nib.... You will find out if it's semi-flex or regular flex. You have a very good nib there.........

The nib is semi-flex and yes, it is a gem. It’s in the green-black striped pen in the middle of this photo, which is a ca. 1950 Torca. Torca was a short-lived Dutch brand, one of many where a distributor bought parts from various sources and assembled pens locally from those parts.

The nib writes a nice, crisp, thin line and responds very well to hand pressure. It’s soft, smooth, responsive and wet. A totally awesome nib and I would be hard-pressed to name another nib in my humble collection that would be as good or better (possible contestants would be a little ca. 1948 Boston pen or my recently acquired 1947 Parker Vacumatic Jr with flex nib). So yes, BoBo, you’re right: this is a great nib.

The photo below was taken with artificial light, as it is still dark here and I won’t be able to make a proper photo today.

Edited December 26, 2019 by TheDutchGuy

December 27, 2019

Very pretty pen.

Osmia also made pens for the Dutch Akkerman department stores.

In Degussa like Osmia before or even MB (for Pelikan) and others, made nibs for many companies.

At one time there were some 120 German 'manufacturers', many were like your Torca pen who bought parts from the big boys, and made pens for their local stationary shops and those newfangled Department Stores.

I rave about the Osmia small diamond semi-flex and the big diamond and or Supra maxi-semi-flex nibs. I'm always happy to talk about Degussa, Rupp (saddly I only have one of his nibs) and even Bock........which is disliked by Knox nib users... ................there are 4-5 different levels of Bock nibs.........(No one in the world knows exactly what Visconti does to a Bock nib....no one in their right mind would do such.)

There are many great companies that use more expensive? Bock nibs that have a good reputation for their nibs.

In my signature are links on Bock nibs. The factory is some 10-15 miles away from Heidelberg.

Some folks like the more nailish JoWo nibs.

But before some give a dog a bad name, they should know what sort of nib they like, nail or not, before they put down 'too soft' semi-nails.

I prefer regular flex to semi-nail.......but nib preference is each's own...some folks are heavier handed, so need stiffer nibs.

I'm not near as light handed as I should be, still slightly ham fisted....My Osmia BCHR mdl 76 (Degussa made nib) steel EF Supra....maxi-semi-flex nib I have been using lately.......with slightly heavy hands it writes to a real nice F.

I also try to tell the 'noobie's' that the Myth In House Nibs are best is not true...........

I as 'noobie' believed the myths I was told. ....and almost trash canned a 'strangely marked' as you show (Degussa) and what ever the hell this mountain goat nib I knew nothing about...the Bock nib was found out to be semi-flex later when I learned what semi-flex was. The Degussa was regular flex like the Artus nibs I think were also made by Degussa.