Editorial criteria of historical data

This page summarizes all the editorial criteria used in writing the wiki pages pertaining to historical data (dates, events, ancillary information) so as to make it clear to the reader how historical reconstructions related to the various brands and models illustrated on the site were made.

Criteria for dating the birth of companies

The main criterion for dating the birth of a company is, when known, the registration of its foundation on official documents (chamber of commerce or related body). Even if there is clear evidence of activity prior to the so-called “incorporation” of the company, the company will not be considered to have been actually founded prior to its actual founding date, but care will still be taken to report the possible presence of “informal” activity prior to that.

If the company was founded at an earlier time and began fountain pen production at a later date, the relevant dates will be distinguished, attempting to determine that of the actual beginning of fountain pen production as precisely as possible and explicitly stating the relevant sources and any margin of uncertainty present.

Source validity criteria

Historical data in the wiki (e.g., dates) are compiled using criteria for the validity of the sources from which they are taken, which are used to make a choice when there is uncertain or conflicting information. Sources of information should always be indicated on the pages (for brand or models).

The most relevant criterion for attesting to the validity of a source is the ancient Latin "carta canta", meaning that the presence of dates or other information on contemporaneous paper documents (or on archived scans of them) always takes precedence over all other possible sources, such as those reported in generic historical reconstructions found in books and journals (which often turn out to be inaccurate, if not totally made-up), or even in official historical reconstructions made by the companies themselves, which sometime tend to give themselves a more prestigious tone by setting back the dates by a few years.

This criterion of prevalence also applies even more strongly in relation to any indications obtained from direct testimony of people involved in the company's activities. Indeed, people's memory tends to be a far less stable medium over time than paper, as well evidenced by the difference in what the same person reported in different times, which emerged at this discussion on the forum.

Image dating criteria

One of the main information sources used to reconstruct the history of brands and models is that one coming from the advertisements that the various companies published in newspapers and magazines, from invoices or commercial documents found or from the (unfortunately few) original catalogs. All the material available to the authors of the site has been scanned and published on the site in the various sections (in particular advertising, documents, catalogs), together with the material made available by all those who have contributed by providing scans or material to be scanned.

For the dating of individual images, a special template has been prepared (Template:Datazione) to be inserted in the image classification template when uploading them (see for example Help:Upload an advertisement and Help:Upload a document) using the value of the Datazione argument, which allows you to indicate how the date assigned to the image was determined, starting from the obvious case in which it appears directly on it.

The meaning of the various classification values used for the cited topic, with relative meaning that also indicates the level of reliability of the dating itself, is that of the following list:

• archive= Dating established by finding the page in an archived version of the magazine. (date is certain)
• back= Date reported on the back. (date is certain)
• guess= Guess date, (a following explanation has to be written, date is totally uncertain)
• seller= Dating given by the provider. (date is indicated by the supplier, but the reliability is not verifiable)
• provider= Dating given by provider, reliable. (date is certain, the supplier to reputable)
• copyright= Dating from copyright note. (year is certain)
• backco= Dating from a copyright note on the back. (year is certain)
• backref= Dating from a reference on the back, (a following explanation has to be written, date is quite reliable)
• same= Dating from a reference on the same page, (a following explanation has to be written, date is quite reliable)
• google= Dating established by finding the page on Google Books. (date is certain)
• book= Dating established by the publication date of the volume from which the page is taken. (date is certain)
• side= Date reported on a section not included in the image. (date is certain)
• otherpage= Date reported on another page. (to be used for catalogs and related pages) (date is certain)
• direct= Date directly showing. (date is certain)
• other= Dating obtained by (a following explanation has to be written, the date is uncertain)