The Scotland
The Scotland is the first trademark, the oldest one, used by Stiassi e Tantini for their fountain pen production. Many hypothesis are made on The Scotland pens origins, attributing their production sometime to Omas, sometime to Montegrappa or both.[1] The only confirmed evidence is the brand relation with Stiassi e Tantini who was the owner of the trademark registration, and without a documented evidence, production by other brands is just a still unsupported hypothesis.
The Scotland branded pen have a very high general quality, in par with the production of the more famous Italian producer of that time. Because the short live of the brand, these pens are quite rare, and so highly sought by collectors.
| The Scotland |
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| Brand photos |
History
The history of the The Scotland brand is still very uncertain. In 1920 the two Stiassi e Tantini members founded also A.S.C.A., acronym of Azienda Specializzata in Cancelleria ed Affini (meaning Company Specialized in Stationery and Related), and registered the company name The Scotland Pen Italiana with the Chamber of Commerce of Bologna, presumably by virtue of the strong anglophiles trends in the Italian market, which at the time saw many brands using english names. There are no know information about when production was effectively started, but it's generally assumed to be in the '20s.
The trademark registration was done in 1931 (Reg. Gen. N. 44193), and later there was a change in Scotland Italiana, registered in 1936/1937 (Reg. Gen. N. 54732), probably as the result of market trends changes due to the fight against anglophile trends and the exaltation of the Italian naming made by the fascist regime propaganda. The link with Tabo is anyway confirmed by the presence of a oversize model marked Scotland Italiana - Tabo Mod 1926.
The only other known document about the brand is a February 4, 1930 bill on behalf of the "Fabbrica Penne Stilografiche Armando Merighi" company which depicts a fountain pen called "The Scotland Self Filling Pen", for which this company is claiming to be the dealer for the Italian distribution, and Merighi himself registered in the '40s the brand name Mercurio, often found on economic nibs.
The earlier fountain pen production by The Scotland was composed by safety models made both in simple black chased hard rubber or with metal overlays, these ones using laminated gold metal decorated with geometric engravings. There are no known specific names of these models than those previously cited in the bill that reports the following names: special, junior, 9I safetj, zigrinato tipo Waterman 40.
The first celluloid models are, as for many other Italian pens produced in the same period, Duofold imitations. To demonstrate the influence of anglophile names, these models were containing the inscriptions like The Scotland Pen and Self filling in two rows on the body, and gold nib was marked The Scotland Pen and Made in England, these were replaced in the '30s models by nibs marked Scotland Italiana and Made in Italy.
After these models followed, still from the '30s, new streamlined models fitted with the same type of clip and finishes of the previous Duofold imitations, but with tapered ends for cap and barrel. It seems, however, that there was an Omas role in the production of some later models, known as The Scotland Prisma, that are fairly evident imitation (and perhaps derived) from the Omas Extra. The production of The Scotland branded pens seems to have stopped with the advent of World War II.
From the end of '30s the brand was discontinued, as consequence of the Stiassi e Tantini company transformations, the restarted fountain pens production at '40s beginning using the Tabo trademark. For the high quality of its pens, and their scarcity, The Scotland brand has an high interest between collectors.
Chronology
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1920 | Stiassi e Tantini register The Scotland Pen Italiana at the Chamber of Commerce of Bologna |
| 1931 | the company registers the The Scotland Pen Italiana trademark |
| 1936 | the company registers the new trademark Scotland Italiana |
External references
- none by now
Notes