Selecta
1930s
About This Model
SAFIS (Italian acronym for "Italian fountain pen incorporated company") was a producer of fine Italian fountain pens from the 1920s-1950s, based in Turin. There is very little published about SAFIS, excepting Letizia Jacobini's fine scholarship. The company is not well known in the USA, but its two best known brands, Astura and Radius, are seen with some frequency. Radius pens were SAFIS' top line, and Astura were mid-market; in addition, SAFIS made many pens for other manufacturers. The main 1930s models were the Superiors and the Extras, and had beautiful celluoids, Doric-like bodies, and perforated cap bands. After WWII, they evolved into slimmer models, often with piston-fillers, and then into lower level pens.
About This Pen
This Selecta is a fine example of a beautifully designed Italian pen that does not carry major name cachet but is made to resemble a Vacumatic. There is virtually no published information about Selectas, but it looks very much like the Astura lines by SAFIS in the 1930s and 1940s, which even included a model called Selecta and were known to be highly varied and often marketed to third party sellers, as was the tradition in Italy. At any rate, this is an elegant pen that like so many made then in Italy, clearly emulated the super-popular Parker Vacumatics with their stacked striated celluloid bodies. It’s interesting to note that although Parker Vacumatic stripes are always exactly aligned, Italian versions carried their own rhythms. This pen is in very good condition, with unusually for pens like this, almost no corrosion in the trim. The imprint is complete and clear. The button filler is quite strong. The nib is marked “Victoria 585 Extra”, a brand that is not published. It writes a full fine line with typical Italian flex. This is a special pen that can certainly be used with regularity but deserves a case to be carried around.
Price: $275 Sold