'Pele Kan'

There were several more pen manufactories in Palestine-Israel. One had the intriguing name 'Pele Kan' which in Hebrew means "a miracle". It was actually coined to imitate the well-known German 'Pelikan' brand during the WWII years when nothing from Germany was available.

Culmus

Another fountain pen carried the inscription Culmus that in Aramaic (a language similar to Hebrew) means “a Pen”.

Concentra or Gafir

These brand names are associated with an entrepreneur by the name of Grievsky from Jerusalem. This gentleman was later associated with the ball pen brand name of Rolex. This brand name will be described later in the ball pen section.

The pens were made to externally imitate the Parker 51 with the hooded nib. The nib was a regular size nib and a piece of tubular metal was superimposed on it to make it look similar to the Parker 51.

The name Gafir was the name of a special police force to which all Jewish high school graduates had to give a year of service as a preparative armed force in expectation of the establishment of the Jewish state. This police force was trained and commanded by British officers and usually served to protect Jewish settlements against attack by Arab gangs. Details of their heroism do not belong in this treatise. When the State of Israel was established, this police force was abolished and the pens were then called Concentra.

They carried an embossed trade name in the form of concentric circles.

Washington Pens

This brand name is associated with an entrepreneur by the name of Weil.

The fountain pens carried the inscription “Washington U.S.A. Pen”.
They came in bright colors and were quite well made.

Napoleon Pens

These pens were produced by a partnership of Mr. Schulman and Mr. Uspiz.

Mr. Uspiz called himself “Pens’ King”. He had a shop in a yard off Allenby Street in Tel-Aviv. I happened to know this gentleman and met him on three different pen associated issues.

The first time I met him was when I went there to repair and buy fountain pens for my school studies. Mr. Uspiz was an acquaintance of my late father, Yeshayahu Ben-Sinai (formally Seidenzeig) who knew almost every second man in Tel-Aviv of those days. Just before my high school final examinations in 1950, my father bought me a Parker 51 Vacuumatic and that was my second encounter with Mr. Uspiz. This particular pen served me during my high school examinations, all through 4 and half years of studies at the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) and also during my studies for an M.Sc. degree at the University of Maryland in the U.S Although the chrome nickel plate on the cover of the integral ink pump is partially peeling off, the pen is still going strong, which in itself is a miracle since I now have had it for 52 years.

The third time I met Mr. Uspiz was in the year 1955. At that time ball pens became very popular and Mr. Uspiz’s fountain pen business declined sharply. He decided to go into ball pen manufacturing. He approached a metal stamping plant (in which I happened to be training in “Time and Motion” studies) for them to produce for him brass deep-drown caps for roller balls. I showed him a hand-made retracting ball pen that I had made from a Katab mechanical pencil. He liked it very much. However, the metal plant did not succeed in producing the caps and, as far as I know, Mr. Uspiz did not pursue ball pen manufacturing any further.

Washington look alike Fountain Pens

Mr. Mittelman called himself “Pens’ Physician”. He had a shop on Brenner Street off Allenby Street in Tel-Aviv where he produced these fountain pens. These carried no brand name.

Tarbut and Laam brands Fountain Pens

“Tarbut” means culture. These pens were produced in pre-state Israel (before 1948) while “Laam”, which means “for the people”, were produced in Israel (after 1948).

“Tarbut” was inscribed in Latin (and not Hebrew) letters. The nibs were made of gold and imported while the plastic and other parts were locally made. I have no more information as I write this note. Any bits and pieces of information will be welcomed.

Hirsch and Landes Fountain Pens

This partnership produced no-name pens, however, they carried the inscription “Made In Palestine”.

Atam made in Israel

These were produced for “Shekem” the Israeli equivalent of Naffi, a service of canteens and buffets for army personnel and families. The pen I have has the number 51 embossed on it although the quality is very different from the original Parker 51. The form is a conventional one with screw cap.

Waterman Fountain Pens

During 1948 and 1949 Waterman pens were produced in Israel from raw materials and/or parts imported from the U.K.
During 1934, the year in which Waterman celebrated its 50th anniversary, a letter was sent to the Jerusalem representative of Waterman. The ridiculously small sum mentioned (12/6d or 700 mills – there were 1000 mills in the Lira, the Eretz Israel currency equivalent to the British pound) could remind us of the good times when pens were affordable to all.

Kaes (Case?) Pens

I have one black pen without any markings, which is supposed to be made by the “Kaese” factory. This is based on verbal communication with Mr. Yair Nachmani. It was further found that the Kaese brand was available in different colors. The factory, or rather a workshop, was located in Tel-Aviv and the name is actually the name of the owner and director, Mr. Kaese (the name in German means cheese) who was a refugee from Nazi Germany. Rumor has it that his connection to fountain pens was that he was the local agent for Conway-Stuart.

Other brand names

“Aviva” and “Nordia”. These brand name pens carried an inscription written in Hebrew, however, some suspect the pens were produced in Poland.

I am sure there existed more brand names. I would be interested in receiving any information regarding this subject from readers.