ROWI Double Piston-Fill Fountain Pen

[donnweinberg]

Has anyone ever heard of or seen an example of the now-defunct German pen brand "ROWI"?  I just received from an Ebay seller a GP ROWI Double FP, which has an internal piston-filler mechanism and a "585" (14k) nib in what looks like a medium left oblique width/profile.  I paid $159 (before taxes and shipping) for it.  Here are some photos, some taken by me and some by the Ebay seller:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capped Length: 5.125"

Posted Length:  6.25"

Cap Length: 2.375"

Weight with ink inside:  23g

Weight without cap:  15g

Cap weight alone: 8g

 

This pen was NOS, but just to be safe I cleaned it out with water, let it dry out for 24 hours, and filled it today with Diamine Ancient Copper ink.  Here is a writing sample:

 

 

My initial impression is favorable.  It is pleasant to write with it; the nib is springy and provides some shading of lettering, with railroading at the extremes.

 

Has anyone heard of this brand before?  Does anyone know any history or have links to such history of this brand?  

[donnweinberg]

I just check on Ebay for other RoWi pen examples.  RoWi is short for Rodi & Wienenberger .  It seems these pens were made in the 1970s, and the company also makes watch bands, primarily of metal.  There are other fountain pens by RoWi, but the others for sale on Ebay are C/C fillers.  They all are nice-looking pens.

[donnweinberg]

It looks like RoWi made many other items but went insolvent about 10 years ago.  I went to its Wikipedia Deutsch site, but I don't read German, so I skimmed the wording and saw what looks like a reference to insolvency.

[donnweinberg]

It seems, according to posters on other threads, that the model name, DOUBLE (or doublé) means "gold-plated."

[Nethermark]

That is a very elegant pen. I have never heard of this brand, so I can't tell you much more about it that what you have found yourself.

 

The German Wikipedia site mentions that the company went insolvent the first time in 2010, but was taken over by a Vietnamese investor group. In 2018 the company went insolvent again, and was finally closed in 2019. And you are correct, that 'double' is not a model name, but means a type of plating, that is thicker than normal plating.

[donnweinberg]

1 hour ago, Nethermark said:

And you are correct, that 'double' is not a model name, but means a type of plating, that is thicker than normal plating.

 

I'm not sure about that claim, as I read it on another FPN thread from someone who wrote it as if there was certainty about it.  I'm not sure what "Double" would mean, from an English language perspective (which may be beside the point), other than twice the amount of something.  I have no knowledge what it means in the German language.  Perhaps it was not intended as a German word for this pen.

[Nethermark]

I'm not certain, there is a connection with the English double. It´s written doublé and means gold plated. On some sites, it is mentioned that doublé is more durable than electroplated, but  other sites say its the same as electroplated

[donnweinberg]

Since last writing, I have made it a point to obtain other ROWI pens available on Ebay and to find photos of others not currently available there.  I wanted to share what I have and what I found, to supplement what I wrote above.

 

First, all of the ROWI FPs that I have feature the same 14k/585 nib shape/type, with differences only in the width of the point, as one would expect.  I obtained another ROWI piston-filler that also has the word "DOUBLE" (again without any accent over the 'e') but has a different pattern on the body; I'll call it the "Dot:"

 

 

 

 

ROWI also produced cartridge/converter FPs, which I will show below.  I have not yet tested which type of C/C it takes, as all but one of the FPs included a converter.  I'm guessing that an International Standard C/C will work, but I'll get back to you on that after I check it out.

 

One of the C/C pens is marked as the "800" on the cap in the place where the "Double" was located on the piston-fill models (hereafter, "the usual place").  The 800 has a silver body with fine vertical lines along the barrel and cap.  It came as a set with a BP.  The BP takes a long, uniformly thin Schmidt refill that has dried out, and I need to figure out which currently offered refill it takes.  Here are some photos:

 

 

 

 

Another of the C/C FPs has what I call a "wave" pattern and the metal is silver; I had to polish off a moderate amount of tarnish when I received it, and my photos are post-polishing:

 

 

 

 

 

Yet another version (FP and BP set) has the inscription (in the usual place) "Gold + Silber", so I call it the "Gold & Silver" C/C model:

 

 

 

 

 

All-in-all, I now have 5 versions.  In checking the internet for other pattern images, I found some.  The one below has thicker vertical lines along the body of the pen and also is a piston filler.  Although the photo doesn't show the inscription, I'm making the educated guess that it also would have "DOUBLE" in the usual place.

 

 

Another photo shows a wholly different design, which to me indicates an older model.  This is the only photo I found of it, and I can't make out the inscription on the barrel in the usual place.  It also appears clearly to be a piston-filler:

 

 

The final ROWI FP I found imaged is this one, called an "Art Deco" on the side of the photo.  This model appears to be the oldest one, or perhaps is a reprise of a very old one based on its styling and completely different nib:

 

 

I invite you to share photos of other ROWI pen models that you may come across.  

 

I have been writing for a few weeks with the first one that introduced this thread, and I really like it.  It continues to write immediately and smoothly and is an aesthetic pleasure in its looks, its feel, and its writing enjoyment.

[fountainbel]

Beautiful pens, congratulations!

German Quality for sure !

[donnweinberg]

I just obtained from an eBay seller another ROWI fountain pen, this one said by the seller to be a ROWI-Staedtler model.  Here are photos, some from the seller’s eBay page and two from me today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have not yet filled it with ink, but I did flush it out with water and then a water-FP Flush combination.  There had been a tiny bit of blue ink that came out, either from test dipping or from modest past use. The 14k nib is nicely springy and feels like it will lay down decent line variation.  The piston is a little bit tight, but it works fine, fills fully with water, and readily releases the water when pushed out.  I don’t see many ROWI fountain pens, so I was pleased to add this one to my ROWI collection.

[Dib]

RoWi made some nice pens, indeed!
Double is rolles gold. Much more durable as electroplated.

[Dib]

[donnweinberg]

Thank you, Dib.  Now I see that my recent acquisition is the pen on the right in the advertisement — the ROWIAG Kolbenfüller.  I assume that “kolbenfüller” in Deutsch means “piston-filler” in English.  Is my assumption accurate?