Stiassi e Tantini
The Stiassi e Tantini company (which historically has gone through many name changes) is one of the oldest fountain pens manufacturers on the Italian market, but unlike the other major Italian brands its production has been deployed with a variety of different names, of which the best known are The Scotland and Tabo, used in two different time periods. The brand The Scotland is the older of the two, and dates back to 1920, the brand Tabo instead was adopted from the late '30s.
The company was active in Bologna and often is assumed that there are ties (in particular for the The Scotland brand production) with OMAS (but none is clearly documented). It is considered for the quality of its pens one of the most interesting historic Italian producers. The company produced high-quality fountain pens until all the 40s, but suffered heavily in the post-war from the effects the success of the ballpoint pen, and production ceased in the '50s.
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History
The company's origins are between the oldest ones in Italy and at the Chamber of Commerce of Bologna the company appears to have been founded as Stiassi e Tantini in 1919 (12/17/1919) by Giuseppe Tantini and Giorgio Stiassi having a corporate purpose as Commercio di articoli di cancelleria e carta da scrivere (stationery and paper commerce). It was based in "via Combusti 5" and "via Nazario Sauro 1", in Bologna.[1]
The Stiassi e Tantini activities remained predominantly in the field of the stationery commerce and the firm was until 1924 the only representative for Italy of Woodstok typewriters. The fountain pens production was presumably stared with the brand The Scotland, although some believe that this brand has been primarily used for marking pens produced by others (presumably OMAS and Montegrappa).
In 1948 Stiassi e Tantini was closed, but the Tantini family continued its activities for some time with P. Tantini & C Srl company. In Bologna a business under this name was opened, but the fountain pen production does not extend beyond the 50s. With the crisis resulting from the success of the disposable ballpoint pens the assets of the company was diversified in the business of ink, office supplies, and knickknacks, until the final failure occurred in 1972.
Chronology
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1919 | Stiassi e Tantini is founded in Bologna |
| 1920 | The Scotland Pen Italiana company name is registered by Stiassi e Tantini in Bologna |
| 1939 | Stiassi e Tantini closed, and was reopened as S.I.S.A. (Società Italiana Stilografiche e Affini) |
| 1940?[2] | S.I.S.A. becomes F.I.S.A. (Fabbrica Italiana Stilografiche e Affini) |
| 1941?[3] | F.I.S.A. becomes Stiassi e Tantini S. A. |
| 1948 | Stiassi e Tantini S. A. ceased its activities |
Models
| Model | Period | Dimension/Version |
|---|---|---|
| XX | 19XX | XX, ? |
Notes