National Pen Company of Chicago Art Nouveau Fountain Pen, United States circa 1920, handpainted **

Very Rare and Artistic ** National Pen Company of Chicago ORIGINAL ART NOUVEAU HAND-PAINTED Fountain Pen, USA circa 1920 **

In the era following World War I, fountain pens still largely were crafted by skilled workers who turned the pen barrels, caps and sundry parts on their lathes… while colleagues in adjoining or independent workshops, shaped, tipped, hand-ground and polished the associated gold nibs, trim, etc.

Nurtured by this context of hand-craftsmanship, there emerged, in Chicago USA circa 1920, an Art Studio dedicated to creating and individually hand painting original Art Nouveau designs… not onto canvas, but instead onto high quality fountain pens! Their clientele… a limited number of leading pen companies located nearby, which included the likes of National Pen Company, Parker Pen Company and Grieshaber Pen Co.!

The wonderful Fountain Pen presently offered here for your consideration – issued from that 1920s Chicago Art Studio – exemplifies American Art Nouveau decoration, an art form which evolved naturally from the craft-tradition of the early 19th century… and by the 1890s included works such as those by Rookwood Pottery of Cincinnati and Tiffany Studios of New York City, as well as by other brilliant designers of the period… who – idem the present pen – characteristically created elegant objects decorated with colored natural and/or fluid organic forms.

All this occurred at a time when mass-produced consumer goods began to fill the marketplace. So that designers, architects and artists began to realize the danger that the handcraft skills acquired across past centuries could be lost.

In reclaiming this craft tradition, Art Nouveau designers simultaneously rejected traditional styles in favor of new, organic forms which emphasized humanity’s connection to nature. .. and erased the barrier between fine arts vs. applied arts, applying Art to all aspects of living—from architecture to utilitarian objects to painting. It is through this integrated approach that art nouveau exercised its deepest influence!

• Length: 11.5 cm / 4 ½“ when closed (excluding the ring-top)
• Filler System: Lever. To fill the tank with ink, the lever is simply lifted and then released back down while the pen point is immersed in ink
• Nib: 14K solid gold, flexible medium point. Signed “WARRENTED 14KT U.S.A.”
• Material: Ebonite (black hard rubber), hand painted with vividly colored red, turquoise and gold organic forms.
• Condition: Mint. Fully functional. No cracks, no chips, nor other damage. No monogram nor personal engraving. Serviced. Fresh rubber reservoir installed. Tested.

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The National Pen Company

Founded in circa 1920, the National Pen Company of Chicago grew to become one of the biggest pen companies in the world during the Golden Age of fountain pens.

Interestingly, while pen manufacturers such as Parker, Waterman, Sheaffer, Wahl-Eversharp or Conklin aimed to build big, unified brand-names, the pens made by National were sold under a long list of unconnected brand names.

Admittedly some of these were house-brands retailed by the likes of Sears & Roebuck and Montgomery Ward; however, all the brands produced by National appear to have been marketed and distributed independently from one and another, so that the public remained largely unaware that all issued from this single firm.

A company name that’s particularly intertwined with that of National is C.E. Barrett. Both National and Barrett were located at the same Chicago address in the 1920s; and according to expert opinion, the National Pen Company’s founder in fact was this very same C.E. Barrett.

Barrett was mainly a parts-maker for fountain pens. His company lathe turned constituent components that were used by National, as well as by many other pen makers, notably Parker. He also was instrumental in the Chicago iteration of AA Waterman, in Century Pen Co. (which he subsequently acquired) and in Kraker’s pen-making business, as well as others.

The National Pen Company ultimately ceased operations in the 1940s.