Welcome to Thursday (Friday is now officially in site).
I love a mystery, especially when it involves an item I’ve found while scrounging through thrift stores.
And this metal quill-shaped pen is a doozy!
This lightweight quill pen appears to be made of aluminum in the shape of a feather. It is engraved with “Ausstellung Nurnberg 1906 (T)ola Liebermann”.
“Nurnberg, Bavaria in 1906 hosted the Nurnberg Exhibition. The Bavarian State Trade, Industry and Art Exhibition (the 100-year anniversary on Nuremberg’s membership in Bavaria). The state exhibitions demonstrated the technical progress in industry and craft with companies in the pencil, electrical, toy and bicycle industry. The exhibition lasted from May 12 until October 15, 1906 and saw 2.5 million visitors.”
Something else happened in Nurnberg in 1906. Duralumin was discovered. Duralumin is a strong, hard, lightweight alloy of aluminum which would become widely used in the construction of aircraft. Could this be one of the first samples of this alloy to appear in public?
By 1906 fountain pens had pretty much replaced dip pens so why would a dip pen be given as a souvenir? Could it be that the shape of this pen … a feather … be what’s more significant here? Feathers = flight, perhaps this feather-shaped pen is advertising the ‘new’ metal to be used in aircraft construction which would turn into the most significant game changer, especially in the coming WWII, for war planes. Maybe.
Here’s the link to the listing in my shop Old Raven on Etsy:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/770785889/aluminum-or-possibly-duralumin-quill?ref=shop_home_active_1
If anyone out there has additional information on this item and/or history – please share. Thanks for joining me. – Kriss
Old Raven Creates 