Pens from Poland?

[Brian Anderson]

I've been fortunate enough to grace the company of a woman from Poland and am wondering what pens, if any, were ever manufactured in Poland as well as what pens can be found there. I understand Hero/Chinese pens may be part of the mix, as well as MB and Pelikan (just a guess). I may be going there sometime soon and would most certainly want to try and acquire a Polish made pen if at all possible.

 

Dziekuje-

Brian (No, I don't know much Polish!)

[EventHorizon]

The closest I have seen or heard of was a vintage brand from Russia here on the FPN called Soyuz (I think). I have not done a search yet but it came up twice that I know of.

[finansista]

There has been a really good FP manufacturer called Kawuska, founded in the end of XIXth century. Their pens were in the style of 1920s pens, resembling Duofolds. Kawuska pens rarely show up on Internet auctions. I've only seen two of these so far and both were sold for over $400 (if I remember correctly), despite their not-so-good condition. So, quite a sought-after brand.

I've recently acquired another Polish fountain pen - a nice boxed Syrena ("Mermaid") from late 70s. It's an ivory plunger filler with hooded nib, produced near Warsaw. I'm thinking of bringing it to the London Pen Show in hope of trading it for one of the Parkers I'm after.

I can post some pictures tomorrow if you want to see these. But now I must get back to work...

 

edited to add:

 

And YES, 90% of what you'll find on our flea-markets will be Hero's and the rest would be some overpriced Pelikans and Parkers

Edited September 18, 2008 by finansista

[Brian Anderson]

Thanks for the information, I am glad to hear there were some reasonable quality pens made there, now finding them will be the challenge! Is Kawuska a family name or does it have a different meaning? I think I'm up to fifteen words now (my girlfriend is trying to teach me one word per day, although the letters and sounds are proving to be a challenge to me, particularly the "double" letters, and other special characters).

 

I do know "nib". She's making sure I am well versed in pen lingo because she knows I will be on the hunt when the time comes. Stalowka!

 

Best-

Brian

Edited September 19, 2008 by Brian Anderson

[finansista]

Is Kawuska a family name or does it have a different meaning?

Well, close It's "K. Wasilewski i S-ka" - name of the company with owner's name (Konrad - "K" alone is pronounced [ka] in Polish), surname (Wasilewski - "W" alone is pronounced [wu]) and abridged word "Spółka" (S-ka) meaning "Partnership".

Here's their logo:

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/4683/logokawyo8.jpg

 

Good luck finding one!

 

 

Edited September 20, 2008 by finansista

[rednet]

I am wondering if there is any reliable pen shop doing vintage pens in Krakow? My brother has been living there for seven years and I would like to ask him to get some for me. Cheers.

[finansista]

I am wondering if there is any reliable pen shop doing vintage pens in Krakow? My brother has been living there for seven years and I would like to ask him to get some for me. Cheers.

 

That's my city No, there aren't any reliable vintage pen shops around. I only know of one antiques shop owned by quite known Polish pen collector, but they usually have 5-10 vintage pens in stock as the shop does not specialize in pens, but sells all kinds of antiques. You can have your brother check the place: "Art Deco", pl. Dominikanski 4, 1st floor. I know there are also some serious vintage pen collectors in Krakow, but have no contact to any of them - as you probably know anonymity is a good thing when you collect something valuable.

Edited September 20, 2008 by finansista

[rednet]

That's my city No, there aren't any reliable vintage pen shops around. I only know of one antiques shop owned by quite known Polish pen collector, but they usually have 5-10 vintage pens in stock as the shop does not specialize in pens, but sells all kinds of antiques. You can have your brother check the place: "Art Deco", pl. Dominikanski 4, 1st floor. I know there are also some serious vintage pen collectors in Krakow, but have no contact to any of them - as you probably know anonymity is a good thing when you collect something valuable.

 

Many thanks. It's a lovely city and I think my brother wants to stay there for good despite that my parents really want us return home and be close to them. Before my brother got there, not many people in my country knew the city and people called it Kra ko. It was my brother writing articles introducing the city to people back home and tell them the right pronunciation Kra KowV. I like the city very much as well.

 

[Possum Hill]

Thanks for the information, I am glad to hear there were some reasonable quality pens made there, now finding them will be the challenge! Is Kawuska a family name or does it have a different meaning? I think I'm up to fifteen words now (my girlfriend is trying to teach me one word per day, although the letters and sounds are proving to be a challenge to me, particularly the "double" letters, and other special characters).

 

I do know "nib". She's making sure I am well versed in pen lingo because she knows I will be on the hunt when the time comes. Stalowka!

 

Best-

Brian

The "Hooked on Phonics" people have a special program for people trying to learn Polish, called "Hooked on Consonants".

[Glenn-SC]

The "Hooked on Phonics" people have a special program for people trying to learn Polish, called "Hooked on Consonants".

Are we going to start with Ethnic Jokes now?

You had better be careful.

[Maja]

The "Hooked on Phonics" people have a special program for people trying to learn Polish, called "Hooked on Consonants".

Are we going to start with Ethnic Jokes now?

You had better be careful.

How the heck does saying that someone's language uses a lot of consonants constitute an ethnic joke?

 

Anyway, back to pens

This has been an interesting thread for me to read as I was born in the former Yugoslavia (now Serbia) and was given some pens by my aunt, one of which was an Hero aerometric filler that resembles a Parker 61 in some ways. I also noticed that quite a few pens from the former USSR have hooded nibs and it's interesting to read that the Syrena from Poland also has a hooded nib. Thanks for the info, finansista!

Edited September 20, 2008 by Maja

[EventHorizon]

I do know "nib". She's making sure I am well versed in pen lingo because she knows I will be on the hunt when the time comes. Stalowka!

 

Best-

Brian

 

Sounds like someone to keep hanging out with

Good luck on the pen hunt.

 

[finansista]

I forgot I promised to show you some photos of Syrena, so here they are.

Not a quality pen, but nevertheless it's nice to have something produced locally.

 

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/9866/syrena1eu7.jpg

 

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/7564/syrena2is7.jpg

 

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/3816/syrena3yc0.jpg

[Maja]

Oooh, thank you so much for the photos of the Syrena, finansista!

Though it may be a modestly-priced pen, the pen (and its packaging) has charm...

 

There is an Italian brand of hooded-nib pen called "Hammer" with a logo of two crossed hammers on its barrel that resembles the Syrena, esp. the cap and the section end design. The resemblance is quite remarkable. I have a photo of it in a group shot that a fellow FPNer used for an old Pentrace sale, so I will PM him to see if he doesn't mind me posting the photo here.

[Maja]

Ok, here is that Italian-made "Hammer" brand fountain pen (dead centre in these photos--ie. 6th pen from the left, or 6th pen from the right ), courtesy of FPNer cakibler's Pentrace post from April 2007:

 

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii306/MF518/Italian_Hammer_pen_Open_groupshot.jpg

and

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii306/MF518/Italian_Hammer_pen_Closed_groupshot.jpg

(posted with Carl's kind permission)

 

I think there is a strong resemblance to the Syrena pen that finanista posted above....The Hammer pen's clip has two inverted "V"'s, whereas the Syrena has two "V"'s facing each other...and the sections certainly seems similar....

[tknechtel]

Just that box alone is worth it!

[kenneth]

There has been a really good FP manufacturer called Kawuska, founded in the end of XIXth century. Their pens were in the style of 1920s pens, resembling Duofolds. Kawuska pens rarely show up on Internet auctions. I've only seen two of these so far and both were sold for over $400 (if I remember correctly), despite their not-so-good condition. So, quite a sought-after brand.

I've recently acquired another Polish fountain pen - a nice boxed Syrena ("Mermaid") from late 70s. It's an ivory plunger filler with hooded nib, produced near Warsaw. I'm thinking of bringing it to the London Pen Show in hope of trading it for one of the Parkers I'm after.

I can post some pictures tomorrow if you want to see these. But now I must get back to work...

 

edited to add:

 

And YES, 90% of what you'll find on our flea-markets will be Hero's and the rest would be some overpriced Pelikans and Parkers

[/quote

 

 

Was very interested to read your reply to question on Kawusca pens as i have one.Pre War from what i have been able to find out do you know of anyone i may contact to find out more regards Kenneth

[pb2]

This is uncanny Brian ~ Just today my 14 year old daughter asked me if there were any pens made in Poland... we were making up a toungue twister about "polishing posh polish pens"...

 

I've been fortunate enough to grace the company of a woman from Poland and am wondering what pens, if any, were ever manufactured in Poland as well as what pens can be found there. I understand Hero/Chinese pens may be part of the mix, as well as MB and Pelikan (just a guess). I may be going there sometime soon and would most certainly want to try and acquire a Polish made pen if at all possible.

 

Dziekuje-

Brian (No, I don't know much Polish!)

[RyanWakefield]

I love Poland.

[Brutto]

Imitations of Parker 51 (or of Chinese Heroes) were made in Poland in the 70s and 80s, and now we have at least one large manufacturer of cheap fountain pens, made in enormous quantities and available in most stationery stores and supermarkets. The name is “Zenith Omega” and the price equals $5 or so. They don’t look much, with the body and cap made of plastic, and low-quality plastic too, and with the feed very often misaligned (so when you buy one, make sure you may choose one you like), but then they are dependable and write a nice wet though fine line. I have been using them for a dozen years. At least they don’t dry out. The nibs look like IPG, but at least they have the company name engraved on them. For ten times more, you may buy a “Granit Sonata,” apparently also with an IPG nib, though the rest is made of celluloid. I haven’t seen one in real life yet, only pictures. I also have a Polish Parker 51 wannabe, at least 25 years old (they stopped making them as soon as Communism ended here), cartridge-fed, and it's a good writer, too.