Stunning Original 1930s Obsidian Black Glass Like Celluloid KAWECO ELITE No. 187 F Super Flexible EF to 3B 14K Two Tone Nib Piston Fountain Pen from the "Attic Find" Item ID: KAW-054

KAWECO Elite 187 F/101

Manufacturer/Model: Kaweco Elite 187 F/Germany
Year of production: Mid to Late 1930s
Filling system: Piston filling (Original cork replaced with 2 rubber O-rings)
Nib: Fully flexible EF Solid 14K 585 gold, writes all sizes up to 3B and wider with little to no pressure
Material: High shine and gloss celluloid - Obsidian Black; Cap band rings, top cap logo and clip gold filled
Length (pen closed): 125mm; Posted at 150mm

*Date first published & listed: June 15th 2026
*This is the first Kaweco 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"

Condition and information:

We are very proud to offer this first Kaweco pen from the extremely rare find, a trove of pens that were stored-hidden for nearly 80 years.

Since the early 1930s, Kaweco has had three pen lines. The first one was the Elite, followed by the DIA, and the third was the Helios Transparent line, each was special in its own way.

The pen offered here is the Elite line, the flagship line of Kaweco, followed by the DIA, which was considered their medium tear, and followed by the more affordable Helios line. The Elite was a pen that had every special feature the flagship Kaweco pen was expected to have, and even among the pens bearing the Elite designation, there were also variations as we will show with other pens bearing the Elite line from this find which will be listed in the future.

The Elite line was distinguished by its ornamentation, decorations and post production textures, usually gold filled sleeves or similar overlays. But the finish was unmatched, all decorations were hand made, to simply astonishing results.

The Elite and some Dia pens were made out of what we call Obsidian Black celluloid, as we don't see this type of celluloid composition on any other pen maker at the time, nor since. In fact, this Kaweco celluloid formula shines and feels like a glass, and even makes sound like a glass rather like a common celluloid found on other pens. How was this celluloid composition done by Kaweco, we are not sure, but we can see the result in every Elite and Dia pens from this era, the pens simply shine like they are made out of glass.

The pen has that beautiful and classic original 1930s form factor, which amazingly still looks modern today. Even in the era when this pen was made, most pens had a tendency toward more rounded form factors that persisted for decades. However it was only in the 60s and the "Space Era" that pens started to get this more sharp look that persists to this day on many pen designs. Hence, one could say that Kaweco were ahead of their time, and they certainly were in both design and function.

The build quality is amazing. In the late 1930s all Kaweco pens were sold with a minimum of 10 years warranty, but Kaweco Elite pens were sold with 25 and even lifetime warranty. This confidence in Kaweco build quality is clearly visible on many levels. Firstly from the materials being used and on which components, such as the hard rubber piston shaft and rod, which on other Kaweco pens are made out of celluloid as well, to the very thick and masterfully ornamented cap ring meant to prevent cracks. This attention to detail and combination of materials is very visible and one can feel it when holding the pen, its just related that build quality in ones hand.

The pen has the original piston filling system and was found with its original cork, however the cork was stained with ink, meaning that this was either a test pen or a pen brought back for repair, we cannot be sure. The Kaweco pistons at the time had very elegant technical solutions, also ahead of the competition. It was the first piston to have a square cross-section piston shaft, which meant that the piston did not rely on the friction of the cork with the inner body to hold its position relative to the barrel. It also has a blind cap at the top of the turning knob, which will prevent accidental turning of the piston knob, thus preventing ink spills.

The nib is a soft masterpiece as only those old nibs can be. Paper thin, needle sharp F fully paint brush flexible. The F marking on the piston shaft stands for Kaweco's nib size rating at that time - F, but by today's size standards, this is clearly a needle sharp EF size nib. On top of this, the nib is finished in two tones, something which we tend to think is a newer technique, but Kaweco was doing two tone nibs on the Elite line since the early 1930s. In fact the clip and the cap ring are also finished in a two tone white and yellow gold plated. The rhodium or platinum plating on the clip has mostly tarnished over time and only the base gold filled/plated plating on the clip is visible, even though if one looks carefully, the two tone finish can still be seen. But the two tone finish on cap ring is very much visible.

The nib will write all bigger sizes, F, M, B, BB and 3B with little to no pressure, it feels more like a paint brush. Kaweco made some of the best flexible nibs as they were the first company in Europe to import the golden nib know-how from New York via one of the first and greatest gold nib manufacturers in US, the A. Morton & Co, which Kaweco have outright purchased and brought to Heidelberg in the early 1910s, together with many of its staff and machinery.

The pen is in pristine condition, fully restored and serviced and ready to be used and enjoyed as only those early celluloid pens with flex nibs can.

An astonishing writing instrument and a true piece of history, giving us context on some of what was best of the pens world in 1930s Europe.

More about Kaweco History:

These were the times when many of the European pen makers would look at a Kaweco pen first before making their own. Kaweco was in the 1920s one of the biggest pen manufacturers in Europe and they stood out from the competition as they made some of the highest quality and some of the most technologically advanced pens at the time. The company was founded in 1883 in Heidelberg Germany. From 1899 the new owners were Heinrich Koch and Rudolph Weber, thus the name KA-WE-CO, CO for Company. They had a great start and in 1922 they had more than a thousand employees. However, in 1929, the same year Pelikan patented their piston filler, Kaweco filed for bankruptcy, arguably as they could not sustain their enormous growth and possibly also related to the great financial crisis of the late 1920s. A considerably smaller fountain pen company known as Aurumia, bought the Kaweco factory, and decided to use the same name, Kaweco, as it was well known and admired by the people. Thus Kaweco thrived once again. By the end of the 40s Kaweco had many retail stores in many cities, from London to Istanbul, and this was not the case with many other manufacturers in Europe. Kaweco made some of the best pens in Europe, high-end pens with extraordinarily build quality. Vintage Kaweco pens are some of the most desired and enjoyed among pen users and collectors, including us. As many other brands, Kaweco too did not survive the carnage that the ballpoint pen did to this industry, so it filed for bankruptcy in the 80s. However, the brand was purchased by the Gutberlet family and company bearing the same name in the mid 1990, and the brand was revived. Today Kaweco continues to make great pens with the original Kaweco DNA sprinkled all over their current product lines.