Breathtaking 1930s Italy's ANCORA DUPLEX No. 42 Brown & Green Marbled - Tortoise Honey "Tiger Eye" Celluloid 14K Super Flex GZ Nib Push Button Fountain Pen from the "Attic Find"

More Views

Breathtaking 1930s Italy's ANCORA DUPLEX No. 42 Brown & Green Marbled - Tortoise Honey "Tiger Eye" Celluloid 14K Super Flex GZ Nib Push Button Fountain Pen from the "Attic Find" Item ID: VAR-172

Availability: Out of stock

Sold for:

$676.99

Details

ANCORA Duplex - 42

Manufacturer/Model: Ancora Italy / Duplex 42 Tortoise Brown
Year of production:  Exact year unknown, estimated: late 1930s
Filling system: Push button filling (Original press bar, replaced rubber ink sac/bladder)
Nib: 14K 585 - EF Extra Extra Fine - Super Flex extra large nib - melts on paper, writes up to BB/3B, super wet and consistent; Original Ebonite feed
Material: Entire pen is made out of celluloid. Trimmings, i.e. rings and clip either cast out of solid 18K gold, or are gold filled. "18KR" imprint on the clip
Length (pen closed): 127mm, Posted: 156mm
Condition and information:

*Date first published & listed: April 26th 2026
*This is the first ANCORA pen from this group/type of this find to be listed.

Context & Provenance:
To read more about the circumstances about how and where this pen was found, please visit our blog page here.
Article: "June 2nd 2021 - The 80 Year Lost, 300+ Pen Attic Find"
This find was also covered in an article by The Pelikan's Perch. You can read the article here: "Treasures In The Attic: A Time Capsule Rediscovered"


Ancora Duplex 42

No matter how many pens we have worked on in the last couple of decades, sometimes, a pen appears that simply takes our breath away. This is one of those pens. Having seen pretty much most of what was ever made, either worked on them, saw and felt on pen shows, there are still some pens that even for us, are just breaking the ordinary and making our days at the office more exciting.
 
The pen offered here was made by the famed Ancora company in Italy in mid to late 1930. Ancora was founded in 1919, and went out of business in the late to mid 1970s. Nonetheless, for the knowledgeable in the Italian pen industry, Ancora is ranked in the top 3-5 pen Italian manufacturers in any respect, both in quality of craftsmanship, design, innovation, and strict adherence to maintain quality regardless of the line of pens they made.
 
The pen here comes from a group of just a few Ancora pens from the Find. Some were damaged beyond repair and recognition, but this along with a couple of other Ancora pens was perfectly preserved. Possibly not by coincidence, and more likely due to the way they were stored, as obviously even then they were on the higher spectrum of cost and quality, both from the factory and in the store itself.
 
The pen bares the "Duplex" marking on the body and the nib, alongside the "42" mark on the nib, as was common for Ancora to mark their pens on the nibs. The pen is a push button filler, with its original press bar, which unlike other brands, even it bears the engraving Ancora. Ancora went to extreme lengths in manufacturing to make some of the best pens ever made in Italy. The nib also bares the initials "GZ" as in Giuseppe Zanini, the founder of the company.
 
We couldn't even start to imagine how this amazing deep colorful celluloid pattern was made, we know it must had been made from a laminated pieces of celluloid, but this is a completely different level as opposed to the tortoise striped versions or sleeved versions as on the Pelikans 100/100N. The pattern is extremely intricate, with many colors, from amber, red, yellow, jade/fluorescent green, brown, gold, black, mother of pearl and more. It is translucent in some parts, and it's simply breathtaking. The technique and craftsmanship are amazing, one of the best we have ever seen, on par or even surpassing some of its German rivals. 
 
Here are some things to point out that were not common on many pens from this era or that go beyond the "standard" of it's time:
  • Thick celluloid deep marble pattern - entire body and cap made out of carefully laminated sheets and later turned/rolled into a barrel and cap shape. Transparent, vivid colors, unmatched quality, no deformations, very strong build
  • The clip along with the rings are probably made out of solid 18K gold. They all pass our tests as solid 18K gold, but we cannot confirm this, as they may be thick gold filled finished. However, the clip bears "18KR" gold engraving on it, which was mandatory to place only on solid gold parts. The clip is also finished with a "roller" at its tip, which means no tangling on its way in and out of pockets, it just glides/rolls smoothly over the edge and fabric.
  • Not 1, not 2, but 3 masterfully executed, gentle, fine and elegant ring inserts around the cap to prevent any cracks. One of the hardest processes in cap band making
  • 3 cracks preventing rings on the body, one on the push button bling cap, one mid barrel, and one on the top of the cap above the ring.
And for the star of the show, the masterpiece nib, since any words won't do it justice, and as we all know know, it's more about the "feel", let's just say, this is not a nib, rather it is a gentle, smooth, paint brush. The nib just splits apart as soon as it touches the paper, and with the smallest pressure it will split about 2-3mm apart. One should put an effort not to flex the nib when writing, as it simply flexes by default. The nib is huge, almost as Montblanc 149 nib, and for size comparison, one of the photos shows this nib, next to a Pelikan 140 nib which most of us can relate to the size.
 
It is suspended over a very nice, ski-sloped ebonite feed, with a large ink canal  to feed this very ink-thirsty nib.
 
The pen is a very precise and responsive push button filler, and one of the most reliable we have yet seen. The press bar is the original Ancora bar, optimized exactly for the size and length of the barrel. The only thing requiring a change was of course the original bladder, which was basically disintegrated into dust and small particles. Due to the full optimization of the space in the barrel, the pen uses a larger than normal sac size, hence a larger ink capacity. It will fully fill the sac with 2-3 presses on the button, and it's ready to go.
 
More information about Ancora and its pens, can be found at: Tenpen.it and the Book: History of the Italian Fountain Pen - Vol. 1 A/N
Credit goes to them for some of the information in this listing, as well as the last 3 photos which are from the publicly available book. They have done an amazing work on the history of these amazing Italian pen makers.
 
This pen together with several other Ancora pens, was found in the "Attic Find" together with over 300 other pens, which if you haven't read it by now, you can read all about it in our Blog here: https://www.protopens.com/blog
Article: June 2nd 2021 - The 80 Year Lost, 300+ Pen Attic Find
 
Besides the majority of German pens at the time, this was one of the few Italian pens in the find. We assume the store owner was allowed, (or was wise) to sell only pens from the Axis power, and not the Allais, while the country was under Axis occupation.
 
This was amazing - lifetime privilege - for us to be part of this Attic Find. It was also featured in an article at The Pelikan's Perch: https://thepelikansperch.com/2021/09/13/pelikan-attic-find-north-macedonia/
 
This pen together with the other pens in this find, was probably made in the late 1930, or possibly very early 1940. Only several of the brands from this find had 14K gold nibs, among  which Ancora, some Matador pens, most of the Reform pens, and some other brands that will be listed at a later time. Most of the known or as we assume most sold/popular brands at the time, such as the Pelikans, had CN nibs. The pen is not restored, except for the change of sac to make it fully functional, and had been only brought  back to life, lovingly refreshed, cleaned, serviced and praised and admired along each step. We are not just about selling pens... we consider these old pens works of art, so we like to take our time with each and every pen, even if it takes weeks-months or sometimes even years until we are ready to work on any of them.
Warranty

This item is covered by our 1 Year Full International Warranty at no additional cost. The terms of our Warranty are very simple, meant to give you a secure and trouble-free buying experience.

Learn more…

This item is located in Europe and ships Worldwide.

At checkout you can choose between two shipping options:
$14.95 Regular Postal Service, Priority & Registered Airmail - Limited Tracking 1-4 WEEKS Delivery 
$54.95 DHL Express International - Accurate Tracking 1-4 DAYS Delivery Worldwide

Learn more about these shipping options.

Prior shipping our items have to pass our highest quality control inspection, are perfectly cleaned and tested by ProtoPens pen staff after which are carefully packed. If the pen does not come in its original manufacturers box, it is packed in a special ProtoPens case.

RETURS: Returns are accepted. You are welcome to ship the item back to us within 7 days after receiving it in the same condition it was delivered to you and we will issue you a full refund! Learn more...

Be the first to review this product

Ask a question about Breathtaking 1930s Italy's ANCORA DUPLEX No. 42 Brown & Green Marbled - Tortoise Honey "Tiger Eye" Celluloid 14K Super Flex GZ Nib Push Button Fountain Pen from the "Attic Find".
(NOTE: If you don’t receive an email from us soon, please check your email spam folder)

Contact Information

* Required Fields

Write Your Own Review

You're reviewing: Breathtaking 1930s Italy's ANCORA DUPLEX No. 42 Brown & Green Marbled - Tortoise Honey "Tiger Eye" Celluloid 14K Super Flex GZ Nib Push Button Fountain Pen from the "Attic Find"