It's a pen! (but which one?)

[Bikerchick]

I bought some books from a Belgian secondhand website and noticed that the same reseller had this little pen listed, for a paltry 3€.  It looked interesting, so I couldn't resist.  It arrived this morning and I must say, I've never seen anything like this.  I tried my best through Google but have been unable to identify it so I'm turning to you, my FPN family, hoping you can shed some light on this peculiar little pen. 

 

The pen arrived a bit filthy and filled with some left-over crusty blue ink. I have simply filled it with cleaning solution for now  and will give a thorough cleaning later.

 

The pen itself seems to be made of injection mold plastic and appears to be pretty badly scratched in places, including the section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is absolutely no writing on this pen whatsoever, not on the nib, on the barrel, cap, or weird piston filler. 

 

 

There is a fairly large gap between the section and the ink window, which I'm hoping to fix later too. 

 

 

 

 

I was unable to identify a brand that used these two stars on the clip:

 

 

This is the (for me) unusual filling system: the rod simple is pushed or pulled to work the piston inside:

 

 

 

This is what the end of the little rod looks like:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have any of you seen this pen before, or one that resembles it? Thanks! 

 

 

 

 

 

[mhguda]

Hi, interesting adventure there.

Your pen reminds me of a lot of Italian school pens I bought from one of our fellow FPNers, some years ago now. I think i got a bag of parts for a few dollars - no pen was assembled, but there were a lot of parts, and they look like yours, or very similar.

Some had a marking on the cap, near the end of the cap: I.P.C. made in Italy.

Very slender pens, with hooded nibs, none in very clean condition, but there were enough parts to assemble about a dozen of them, and they all had the little piston like yours. Some of them I gave away, but I've kept most - they are nice writers, but not very nice-looking, so not good gift material. But nice pens, writing-wise. Most of the nibs are Fine.

And in fact, I once found a pen, very similar to them but a little bigger, with the same filling system, in the parking lot next to my then-office. Nobody claimed it, and as a matter of fact I still have it. Also a pretty nice writer, although at the moment, in need of a little TLC.

[Marioferu]

I am with mhguda, Comparing the filling system I think it seems Italian. There are photos in worthpoint dot com if you looking for “VINTAGE UNIVERSAL FOUNTAIN PEN MADE IN ITALY BY CAVALIERE” 

 

www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-universal-fountain-pen-made-271143851

[fabri00]

Several elements like filling system and the pattern of the cap are similar to the cheap and anonymous production in Settimo Torinese in Italy in the 50's and 60's.

Mostly school and low cost office pens.

[Scrawler]

I have an almost identical pen here, but with a gold plate coloured cap. Mine is an unused example. It was made in 1960s and sold for half a crown by a cricket club to their supporters as a fund raiser. The filler method was used in cheap pens of the 1930s and was not designed to be repairable. These are throwaway items like Bic pens and so good examples become hard to find for historical purposes as most would have just ended up in the bin.

Edited October 7, 2021 by Scrawler
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[Bikerchick]

Thanks for all the good tips! I'll be looking more closely at the history of Italian pens and see what I can find.

 

I was able to clean out the pen quite well. There's a tiny bit of discoloration around the piston, but nothing dramatic. I inked the pen and while it doesn't exactly knock my socks off, it's quite the enjoyable little writer. Definitely worth what I paid for it!