Stilus
The Stilus company, founded in Turin in 1917 by Emilio Pecco, is one of the oldest Italian fountain pens manufacturer, and it was born well before much more prestigious brands such as Aurora and Omas. The company was present on the market until the 50s, but then suffered the effects of the introduction of new materials and consequent market changes. It ceased production in 1955 selling the brand to the Pagliero company, that was using it until approximately mid '60s.
The production, despite a progressive deterioration in quality suffered in the postwar period, when the company declined, was quite goof and up to all the '30s was of the highest quality, with nothing to envy to the other best Italian producers. The brand is less known, however, and this leads to lesser interest by collectors respect to other brand younger in historical productions and which do not have an equivalent quality.
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| Instructions sheet |
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History
Stilus is one of the oldest Italian fountain pens manufacturer; its origins date back to 1917 in Turin, as evidenced by the inscription in the invoice shown on the side that reports the date of April 12, 1917 as the date for company registration at the Ministry of Industry and Trade (Ministero Industria e Commercio). This makes this company a producer of great significance, being born two years before the more famous Aurora, although the details of this early period are extremely rare.[1]
The company was founded by Dr. Emilio Pecco in Turin based in Via Cibrario 12, with the name Pecco and C. Stilus, although on some later models (like the one in celluloid, here shown in the photo below) we find a different name as FRATELLI PECCO (Pecco brothers). Others names were Ditta F.lli Pecco or Ditta Pecco & C. fabbrica di penne stilografiche as found in some trademark registration. The Stilus brand however was registered in 1919 (Reg. Gen. N. 18555) and was maintained as a constant reference throughout the production life of the company.
The initial production until the late '20s consists mostly of safety or eyedropper pens in hard rubber, style and construction was similar to the other contemporary production. They were made with wavy patterns and there are also some versions in distinctive color and mottled hard rubber. There are however some different safety models that refers to a specific patent for mounting the inner spiral, which is hooked by a screw on the bottom. These models have are marked in the barrel with an inscriptions reporting in three lines Brevetto, Stilus, Pecco e C. Torino, and in the bottom, there is another inscription reporting the word Brevettata (patented) in addition to the brand name and model number.
At least in the early years is also known an economic production under the brands Eridano and Eridania, usually accompanied by a model number, and sometimes by the letters PCT, as an acronym of Pecco and C., Turin. The initial production were eyedropper or safety hard rubber pens, in four different sizes. The same mark was used on a later production for celluloid button filler models. It is also believed that the company has produced parts and pen for other brands, and some believe that also the brand Scriba is attributable to Stilus.
After this early ones, as done by most Italian brands in the same period, newer models were produced using a Duofold-like style. Some of them have a ball clip marked with the Stilus brand in cursive engraved vertically, to which was added a longitudinal 18 KR engraving written on the end of the clip near the ball. These models were produced with both button and lever filler. The production of these models continued until the '30s, with new celluloid versions.
These early hard rubber models were usually identified by a three-digit number, where the number of units referred to the size of the nib, the tens referred to decoration and the hundreds to the filling system. The safety models were identified by the digit 3 for the ordinary ones, and by the digit 4 for the ones using the company patented mechanism, while the lever filler used the digit 6, and the button filler the digit 7.
For black hard rubber pens normal wave chasing was identified by the digit 1, while the larger wave chasing has the digit 0. The colored hard rubber were indicated by the digit 2, and besides the usual color of red and mottled hard rubber were also found specimens with bright colors similar to those of Waterman 94 (yellow background with green or blue veins).
There were many different sizes of nibs, all made in 14-carat gold, and marked Stilus horizontally in italics. A specific range is unknown, but the maximum size, used on the largest fountain pens, was 9. In the '20s and '30s were also produced overlay models with very elegant engine turned decorations in the art nouveau style.
Nel corso anni '30 lo stile iniziò ad essere rivisto, con l'abbandono della clip a pallina e l'adozione di linee più affusolate. Anche la produzione della Stilus seguì la moda introdotta dalla Omas Extra, con penne sfaccettate e clip a rotellina, imitazione dello stile della Doric della Eversharp, che contraddistingue praticamente tutta la produzione italiana di quel periodo. Vennero prodotte in questo periodo le penne in celluloide sfaccettata con caricamento a levetta denominate Automatica.
I nuovi modelli sfaccettati venivano identificato con la cifra 10 (ottenendo così un codice a 4 cifre) mentre quelli lisci avevano la cifra 9. L'uso della celluloide venne presumibilmente indicato dalla cifra 4 nella colonna delle decine, anche se sono presenti modelli con la cifra 5 e con la cifra 1. I dettagli sulla numerazione di questo periodo sono pertanto alquanto incerti.
Con il progredire della propaganda autarchica del regime fascista, alla fine degli anni '30 come gli altri produttori l'azienda iniziò ad usare pennini in acciaio, e come le altre aziende adottò per la lega utilizzata un nome di fantasia Osmiria. All'uso dei pennini di acciaio vennero poi abbinate delle finiture cromate anziché dorate.
Nel dopoguerra la qualità della produzione iniziò a diminuire, e seguendo al solito lo stile in voga in quel periodo, adottato da tutti i produttori, vennero introdotti modelli affusolati di forma ogivale, ed oltre ai tradizionali caricamento a levetta e a pulsante di fondo venne utilizzato anche il nuovo caricamento a stantuffo. Vennero inoltre prodotte penne economiche con pennini in acciaio dorato.
L'azienda rimase in attività fino al 1954, quando per gli effetti della crisi della stilografica fu costretta a chiudere la produzione. Il marchio venne ceduto nel 1955 alla Pagliero, azienda del distretto di Settimo Torinese che proseguì la produzione almeno fino agli inizi degli anni '60.[2]
Nonostante sia uno dei produttori fra i più antichi in Italia, ed abbia realizzato dei prodotti di ottima qualità, la Stilus non gode di grande fama in ambito collezionistico, e viene spesso ignorata e sottovalutata rispetto ad altri marchi che risultano più famosi pur non avendo una storia altrettanto antica ed una produzione altrettanto valida.
Template:CronoMarche |- | 1917 || Nascita della Stilus |- | 1939~ || (data approssimata[3]) Introdotti i pennini in acciaio Osmiria |- | 1955 || Il marchio Stilus viene venduto alla Pagliero |- | 1965~ || (data indicativa[4]) Cessa l'uso del marchio Stilus |- |}
Template:LegendaModelli |- | Eridania || 193x || XX, ? |}
Note
- ↑ most are in the second volume of the Letizia Jacopini book, from which we got most of the informations about this company.
- ↑ uno di questi modelli, datato 1962, è mostrato in questa pagina.
- ↑ si fa riferimento data di registrazione del marchio (Reg. Gen. N. 60764).
- ↑ si fa riferimento alla metà degli anni '60.
Riferimenti esterni
- nessuno, per ora