Gold Starry
late 1930s
About This Model
Gold Starry pens had a long history, starting with their introduction in France before 1912 as Conway Stewart licensed exports. By 1920 Gold Starry was its own company, producing very nice hard rubber eyedropper and safety pens. Serious pen production started in the early 1920s with the return of non-essential industrial production after WWI, and the pens achieved French trademark status with the slogan "le stylo que marche" (the pen that works), which if nothing else describes the status of French pen manufacture at that time. Lever fillers were introduced by 1927, and brightly colored celluloid by 1929. From then on, Gold Starrys were known as elegant, pricey pens that worked well. From the outset of WWII on, Gold Starry suffered, from their pricing, from carrying an English name, from the war, and then from the rise of ballpoints. Their final years were like those of many other fountain pen firms worldwide: diversification, cash crisis, and failure in 1980.
About This Pen
This Gold Starry, from the late 1930s, has defied my efforts to identify its model, but it is an elegant, classically French pen. A bit shorter, at 11.1cm, it is full girth, a size combination I’ve only seen repeatedly in French pens. Its celluloid is burnt orange and black marbled, a dark, handsome appearance set off by the gold trim. The celluloid shows some wear but is generally quite clean, although the imprint is all but gone; knowing it was a Gold Starry from its appearance made reading what is there possible. The clip has the vaguely sword-like shape adopted by Gold Starry in the 1930s. Although the nib is not original to this pen, it is by Soma, from its famous Vingt Ans (20 year guarantee) line of 1940s pens, so is a very good nib, in gold. It writes a wet fine, with a touch of flex. Elegant, different.
Price: $125 Sold