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Onoto De La Rue Pen

Onoto De La Rue Pen

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Onoto De La Rue

By the early nineteenth century, Thomas de Ia Rue had built up a veritablecolor printing and paper production empire encompassing fields as diverse asplaying cards, postage stamps, bank notes and stationery. The year 1880 markedan important stage in the development of the family business. Just when ThomasAndros de Ia Rue, son of the founder, had taken over the running of the firm,it was awarded the monopoly to print all British postage stamps. With thisenormous guaranteed income behind it, De La Rue and Sons decided to round outits activities in the stationery and printing fields, where it already had anexcellent distribution network in place, by moving into fountain pen making.The early models, based on patents registered by a certain T.R. Hearson, wererather unusual and somewhat complicated. The first De La Rue pen to resemblethe pens other manufacturers of the time were producing was a hard rubbersafety with a gold nib. It appeared in the catalogue of Harrods, the famousLondon department store, and by sheer chance was called the Pelican (thePelikan trademark, the heraldic symbol of the Wagner family, had already beenregistered in Germany, but at that time the company produced only colors andpaints; the first Pelikan pen appeared in 1929).It was only in the family'sfourth generation, with Evelyn Andros de La Rue at the helm, that the company'spen production really began to take off. Introduced in 1905, the success of thenew Onoto, as it was christened, with its original plunger type mechanism morethan justified the company's huge £50,000 investment in advertising (thename itself had no special meaning; it was chosen because it was easy toremember and sounded the same in any language). The main reason for the pen'ssuccess was that its piston-filling system was more practical and up-to-datethan the standard eye-dropper mechanisms still being used by other companies.The original Onoto cost more than £10, but cheaper models like the Empire,Hermit and Pent ago were also introduced. The commercial success of these pens(which made De La Rue Britain's leading pen manufacturer) was nicely timedbecause in the meantime it had lost its lucrative stamp printing contract withthe Post Office.The company's wartime advertising was, naturally, patriotic intone ("the All-British pen"), and it copied its American rivals inits armed forces production by introducing soluble ink pellets to replace lesspractical ink from a bottle. De La Rue became a public company after the war,but it allowed itself to be overtaken by Mabie Todd's superior image andtechnical innovation. Its plated Onotos, for example, simply could not competewith the more luxurious materials and decoration of the rival Swans, and thecompany made the technical error of relying for too long on its piston-fillingsystem. It continued using it until 1924, when all other manufacturers hadalready been using the more successful lever-filler systems for ten years ormore. This meant that the mass-produced Onotos of the late 1920s and early1930s were basically the same as the Parker Duofolds, but lacked thedistinctive personality of the American pen. However, De La Rue continued tohold its own in the middle-price market, supplementing the attractive marblecolors of its basic range with beautiful upmarket silver overlays. Lackinganything really new to say about the Onoto, the company's advertisers limitedthemselves to describing it rather snobbishly as "The Pen".The company's image was given a face-lift around the mid 1930's with theintroduction of a specially treated plastic for the barrel and cap in what wewould now call a minimalist design of alternating opaque and transparentlayers. This new process allowed for a much more imaginative range of colorcombinations and optical effects than those Parker was using for its Vacumaticsof the time. The De La Rue and Onoto pens of this period (some had specialnames like Magma, Minor or Dainty) are now perhaps those most sought after bythe average collector. More discerning collectors with more money at theirdisposal will go for the costlier versions like, for example, the silver-platedmodel used by King George VI signing a visitor's book. The company neversucceeded in the postwar period. The last model it produced before closing in1958, the K Series, was an imitation of the Parker 51.

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Onoto De La Rue

By the early nineteenth century, Thomas de Ia Rue had built up a veritablecolor printing and paper production empire encompassing fields as diverse asplaying cards, postage stamps, bank notes and stationery. The year 1880 markedan important stage in the development of the family business. Just when ThomasAndros de Ia Rue, son of the founder, had taken over the running of the firm,it was awarded the monopoly to print all British postage stamps. With thisenormous guaranteed income behind it, De La Rue and Sons decided to round outits activities in the stationery and printing fields, where it already had anexcellent distribution network in place, by moving into fountain pen making.The early models, based on patents registered by a certain T.R. Hearson, wererather unusual and somewhat complicated. The first De La Rue pen to resemblethe pens other manufacturers of the time were producing was a hard rubbersafety with a gold nib. It appeared in the catalogue of Harrods, the famousLondon department store, and by sheer chance was called the Pelican (thePelikan trademark, the heraldic symbol of the Wagner family, had already beenregistered in Germany, but at that time the company produced only colors andpaints; the first Pelikan pen appeared in 1929).It was only in the family'sfourth generation, with Evelyn Andros de La Rue at the helm, that the company'spen production really began to take off. Introduced in 1905, the success of thenew Onoto, as it was christened, with its original plunger type mechanism morethan justified the company's huge £50,000 investment in advertising (thename itself had no special meaning; it was chosen because it was easy toremember and sounded the same in any language). The main reason for the pen'ssuccess was that its piston-filling system was more practical and up-to-datethan the standard eye-dropper mechanisms still being used by other companies.The original Onoto cost more than £10, but cheaper models like the Empire,Hermit and Pent ago were also introduced. The commercial success of these pens(which made De La Rue Britain's leading pen manufacturer) was nicely timedbecause in the meantime it had lost its lucrative stamp printing contract withthe Post Office.The company's wartime advertising was, naturally, patriotic intone ("the All-British pen"), and it copied its American rivals inits armed forces production by introducing soluble ink pellets to replace lesspractical ink from a bottle. De La Rue became a public company after the war,but it allowed itself to be overtaken by Mabie Todd's superior image andtechnical innovation. Its plated Onotos, for example, simply could not competewith the more luxurious materials and decoration of the rival Swans, and thecompany made the technical error of relying for too long on its piston-fillingsystem. It continued using it until 1924, when all other manufacturers hadalready been using the more successful lever-filler systems for ten years ormore. This meant that the mass-produced Onotos of the late 1920s and early1930s were basically the same as the Parker Duofolds, but lacked thedistinctive personality of the American pen. However, De La Rue continued tohold its own in the middle-price market, supplementing the attractive marblecolors of its basic range with beautiful upmarket silver overlays. Lackinganything really new to say about the Onoto, the company's advertisers limitedthemselves to describing it rather snobbishly as "The Pen".The company's image was given a face-lift around the mid 1930's with theintroduction of a specially treated plastic for the barrel and cap in what wewould now call a minimalist design of alternating opaque and transparentlayers. This new process allowed for a much more imaginative range of colorcombinations and optical effects than those Parker was using for its Vacumaticsof the time. The De La Rue and Onoto pens of this period (some had specialnames like Magma, Minor or Dainty) are now perhaps those most sought after bythe average collector. More discerning collectors with more money at theirdisposal will go for the costlier versions like, for example, the silver-platedmodel used by King George VI signing a visitor's book. The company neversucceeded in the postwar period. The last model it produced before closing in1958, the K Series, was an imitation of the Parker 51.

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