The Marzullo Collection

“A maior casa de canetas-tinteiros da America do Sul”. The largest shop of fountain pens in South America—that was the claim of Casa Marzullo in the early 1940s.

Published in A Noite, August 1944.

Might that be right or just a marketing slogan, the fact is that Casa Marzullo was a very prominent stationer in the 1930s in Rio de Janeiro. According to their ads, and there were many of them, Casa Marzullo offered a wide range brands—Sheaffer, Parker, Esterbrook, Pelikan... And Pilot too.

Published in O Jornal, December 1939. Pelikan, Eagle, Sheaffer, ... and Pilot too. Other ads included Montblanc, Esterbrook, and others.

This ad is not specific of Casa Marzullo, although this shop appears among those selling the Pilot 38R on display. Published in O Malho, December 1940.

The Pilot pens we see on those ads, and those by Hachiya Company, are primarily the 38R with “nomikomi-shiki” filling system, “abastecimento magico” in Portuguese. But there is also evidence –although not ads—of high end Pilot pens in Brazil. And those are maki-e decorated pens that somehow ended up in the hands of Casa Marzullo. That is the Marzullo Collection.

The Marzullo Collection.

In all likelihood, these pens were imported by Hachiya, Irmãos e Companhia and passed –or sold— to Casa Marzullo. And they saw the light at the liquidation of the old assets of the stationer.

The set is formed by 10 pens, not all of them complete. Some lack nib and feed, others lack the whole section; a couple of them have their clip damaged or broken. All of them are branded as Pilot, as opposed to those similar pens marketed at the time in the West as Namiki or Dunhill-Namiki.

Their filling systems are “nomikomi-shiki”, albeit these pens lack the internal deposit. This detail is not new on pens from those early 1940s.

A complete section together with nib --size 3-- and feed. The internal deposit is missing.

The pens, or rather their decoration, are signed by some of the heavyweight craftsmen of the Kokkokai: Kõho (光甫), Shõetsu (松悦), Ritsuzan (立山), Shisen (紫川), Shõmi (松美).

Signed by Shõetsu (松悦). Produced by the Namiki Kan, as was the case of all pre-war maki-e pens nade by Pilot-Namiki.

Signed by Shisen (紫川).

Not much else is really known about these pens. Their presence in Brazil is surprising enough, and opens up the possibility of finding other maki-e pens in this and in neighboring countries.

The Marzullo Collection is now in the hands of a Brazilian stylophile.

Pilot Custom 74, Yamada Seisakusho – Diamine Teal

TM - BT
March 28th, 2023
labels: Brasil, Pilot, maki-e