I have bought a used fountain pen online and the seller included a bottle of ink apparently produced in West Germany

    by RedTomatoSauce

    18 Comments

    1. Suspicious-Basis-885 on

      Bought a used fountain pen online and found out it came with yesterday’s ink still in it looks like it wrote its past life too.

    2. I’m genuinely curious as to what you do professionally or recreationally with this. Do you just take notes? Or are you an artist?

    3. German reunification was “only” 36 years ago. There’s still plenty of stuff like this around.

    4. I love finding stuff like this. I bought a sewing box second hand and it came with a bunch of sewing machine needles made in West Germany. Needles older than me!

    5. karateninjazombie on

      I can’t find the reference. But do remember reading somewhere the one or two countries still only buy specifically made in West Germany bits and pieces for something or other. Some kind of machinery iirc. But as West Germany isn’t a separate thing any more they just stamp them with made in West Germany instead of made in Germany for that small market segment. And it works apparently as they keep using them as a supplier. Even though Germany’s been unified for a long time and that’s no secret.

    6. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the ink was produced before 1990. It could be that the manufacturer had ordered lots of these labels and used them in the 1990s.

    7. Made in Western-Germany products are plentiful in Europe. Items ‘Made in GDR’ are tougher to find. Even tougher are goods manufactured in Germany when it was divided in four occupation sectors by the Allies at the end of WW2. The stamped marking Germany-US. zone appears on one such product.

    8. lauruhhpalooza on

      I have a boar bristle brush I took from my dad years ago that was made in West Germany. Very cool find!

    9. I have my great grandma’s measuring tape (for sewing) with a “W. Germany” imprint. Love these little pieces of history.

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