View source for Astoria/en

<noinclude>{{Infobox_Brand|Astoria}}</noinclude> [[Image:1923-12-Astoria-Safety.jpg|thumb|A 1923 [[Astoria]] advertising]]
[[Astoria]] was founded in [[1921]] in Hamburg by ''Georg Ilgner'', which until then had been the [[Montblanc]] director of the production. These, with the financial support of Herman Dietzel, Sigmund Popper and  Wilhelm Frings left [[Montblanc]] to start his own business. [[Astoria]] began producing very good quality [[safety]] pens, very similar to those of [[Montblanc]]. Even the company logo, consisting of a circle divided into four segments of alternating black and white color likes a lot, if only for the contrast of black and white color, the one of the company Ilgner came.

In addition to the [[safety]] models [[Astoria]] also produced [[lever filler]] pens with and a good number of  good quality [[overlay]] pens, coated in gold and silver. The company suffered a financial crisis in the early 30s, and in [[1932]] was reacquired by the [[Montblanc]] that maintained the production of pens with this brand until [[1936]], at least as regards the main production facility in Germany. 

[[Astoria]] pens produced in this period appear to be of the best quality, so they are very often treated the same way as [[Montblanc]], which erroneously (at least for models earlier than 1932) is considered a sub-brand. Having been active in the market for a few years, the [[Astoria]] are quite rare and therefore have a considerable value to collectors.

[[Image:Astoria-60s-Black-CappedBox.jpg|thumb|left|An [[Astoria]] from '60s]]

Despite the dismission of the brand in [[1936]] reported by many people, there are still signs of a continuation of the [[Astoria]] production also in a subsequent period, as it can be seen from the picture shown next, showing a pen with the typical 60s design of an [[hooded nib]]. 

In the specific case that's a pen marked [[Astoria]] found in Finland<ref>as reported in [http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/182589-i-found-an-old-astoria-fountain-pen/ this thread] on FPN, and from the subsequent conversation with the actual owner, this is a pen remained in the family since its purchase by the his father.</ref> and with a [[Montblanc]] instruction booklet for the 60s models. 

It is not clear whether in this case the use of the [[Astoria]] brand has been used for a generic production of a  second tier economic pens as a [[Montblanc]] sub-brand, or rather it is an original production but addressed to some selected foreign markets (in the case of Northern Europe).

===External References===
* [http://www.fountainpen.de/astoria.htm] Page on fountainpen.de
* [http://www.caprafico.com/pens-88/astoria-catalogue-1928] Page from Tom Westerich's website
<noinclude>
===Notes===
<references/>
{{BrandData|Founder=Georg Ilgner|Place=Amburgo|Date=1921|Country=DE}}

{{CategorizeBrand|Germania|Secondary brand}}</noinclude>