Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Leningrad Vintage Soviet Fountain Pen Accordion Filler Review

Vintage Fountain Pen Accordion Filler from Soviet Union - SOYUZ
Accordion Filling - simple and reliable
Accordion Filling is not a common thing when it comes to vintage fountain pens, but as per every basic rule there are some exceptions too.

Back in 1980's  based in Leningrad / former name of Saint Petersburg / factory produced most of the fountain pens in middle range as well as some luxury ones. SOYUZ / in Russian - СОЮЗ - Union / pens were considered the top choice when it comes to choose pen both durable and good looking.



Soyuz - Vintage Fountain Pen Accordion Filler from Soviet Union
Cap top and signed clip
Chromed cap with plastic jewel-stone like top. It was replaced with a ruby gem stone in high end models. Parallel lines along the cap. Clip shape kind of reminds of a Parker arrow, at least at its top part. Soviet people borrowed a lot of design ideas from Western countries during the communist regime after the WW2. Signed СОЮЗ at the top. Cap signed Ленинград. Владимир Илич Ленин - the leader of the Communist revolution was the most popular person for more than 70 years. For any product to be allowed to bear his name was a sign of quality appreciation and brand prestige at the same time. 

Blind cap reveals the accordion filling push button. Made transparent, its another way of telling whether there is any ink inside and what color is it. Black rubber sac is glued to the button and the connector and houses the breather tube.

Vintage Fountain Pen Accordion Filler from Soviet Union
Cap signed "Ленинград"
Electric Blue plastic barrel. Color not much used in Soviet Union, where RED was the "cult" color and more pastel tones were generally used. Special "friction" ring allows the cap to rotate without scratching the barrel. Most of the used pens  barrels have cracks due to the left thread. Accustomed to the opposite, most of the owners over-tighten it when trying to unscrew.

Hooded steel nib allows some flex, but is a little "scratchy".












5 comments:

  1. Nice pen. Great condittion. Most of the used pens listed on eBay are far from this MINT condittion. Accordion filling - nothing like it in my collection.

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  2. >For any product to be allowed to bear his name was a >sign of quality appreciation and brand prestige at the >same time.
    No, it was just a name of city where that pen was made.
    For example, some FPs made in Jaroslavl what had a similar cap, bore both mark of factory (letter Я in the circle) and Ярославль inscription.

    That pen probably from 60s or start of 70s. Later they started using piston fillers en mass and, sometimes, cartridges. BTW, mark of Soyuz plant on the cap is old one, it was changed in the 80s.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for sharing this. I'm still collecting more info on this topic.
      The city itself was named after the Vladimir Lenin, being the leader of the Communist Revolution in 1917. Град ( Grad ) in Russian means city.
      Regards.

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    2. >The city itself was named after the Vladimir Lenin
      Indeed, but still inscription on the cap have nothing to do with ideology. You read in it too much, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

      By the way, you probably already saw it, but this is an old site of Soyuz. It still produced FPs circa 2000, but not today.
      http://zavod-soyuz.narod.ru/ink/
      Factory logo to the left:
      http://zavod-soyuz.narod.ru/so1.gif
      Used since 80s. Recently I heard that it was used as early as 1978.

      Jaroslavl, PO Orgtehnika (was a Metal Products Plant before). Damn, I like soviet no-nonsence factory names. :lol:
      Logo before, probably, second half of 80s.
      http://i47.tinypic.com/r9exq0.jpg
      Logo since second half of 80s.
      http://i44.tinypic.com/euejx2.jpg

      There is another Moscow plant, named for Sacco and Vanzetti.
      old logo was a similar to old Soyuz logo, only had a CB letters instead C.
      new logo (i.e. 80s, factory was closed in 90s)
      http://www.elitepen.ru/forum/files/mnnr062cffs_189.jpg

      Harkov, Avtoruchka plant.
      Conjoined AP letters

      Happy hunting.

      Delete
    3. Thank you for the thorough info one more time.
      I see you are quite familiar with this topic. If you want to write a guest post I'll be happy to publish it on my store with a link to you. You could click the link to find some Vintage Soviet Fountain Pens

      Delete