Pen-Co
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The Pen-Co (or simply Penco) brand is the best known brand of the F. R. V. (which stands for Fratelli Rossi Vicenza) a company founded in Sandrigo, a small town located near Vicenza, in 1923, by Rinaldo and Marcello Rossi. The company was founded as Fratelli Rossi - Penne Stilografiche e Materiali Pressati, adopting the Caesar initial brand name (with the logo inscribed on a plaque surmounted by the imperial eagle), clearly inspired by the climate established by the Fascist regime propaganda.
The production of the '30s was aimed at the lower end of the market, with button filler fountain pens produced mainly in black celluloid, but quality was still acceptable. The pens were generally identifiable by the words F.R.V. engraved on the barrel and on the nib. The company, however, also marketed parts and production on demand models, and because his nibs had a good quality/price ratio often happen to find them mounted on other pens.
After the war the nationalist autarchy emphasis of the fascist regime ended, so the company changed its name to Pen-Co, short for Pen Company Manufacturer, producing pens in three different marks: Palladium , Diplomat and Pen-Co, directed respectively to the lower, medium and high-end. The former were pens that reflected the traditional style, produced with lower quality materials. The intermediate brand included a single size pen with traditional lines and mid-level finishes, while Pen-Co were clearly inspired by the US market trends, with a short clip in military style and very slender lines.
I modelli più famosi sono però quelli degli anni '50, delle chiare imitazioni dei modelli Triumph della Sheaffer, con pennino conico, linee affusolate e cappuccio metallico in stile Crest. La Pen-Co 53 era il modello di punta dell'azienda, ampiamente pubblicizzata, tanto da suscitare la reazione il distributore italiano della Sheaffer.
Ma oltre alla versione a pennino conico la Pen-Co, per quanto assai meno comuni, e praticamente ignote fino poco tempo fa, la produsse anche delle varianti con l'ordinario pennino aperto, come del resto aveva fatto anche la Sheaffer con le varia Admiral o Saratoga, come quella illustrata nella fotografia a fianco.
Despite attempts to stay afloat in an increasingly reduced market, taken by the emergence of disposable ballpoint pens, the company found itself in increasingly difficult economic activities and finally closed in the late 50's, March 30, 1957.