Company Backstory
The origins of Gold Starry date to 1909 with the marketing of Conway Stewart fountain pens in France, under the Gold Star brand name. In 1912, the name was changed to Gold Starry.
In 1921, Gold Starry became a wholly-owned French pen manufacturer of fountain pens, thus ending the import of English pens. Production initially occurred in a pavilion on the outskirts of Paris The company adopted the slogan “le stylo qui marche” (the pen that works). Characterized by the trademark consisting of a star, the Manifacture Francaise engraving on the barrel.
A lever fill model was introduced in 1927. My pen is a streamlined style, made popular by the Shaeffer Balance. This dates the pen to the 1930’s.
My Pen
My pen came from a seller in Rouen France. It is a small mottled ebonite lever filler with a gold loop to attach the pen to a chain and worn around the neck. As with my other 2 Gold Starry’s, there were surprises, some good, some not so good, but all awaiting for me to find.
The most obvious issue is the opening for the lever. It appears a tool was inserted into the opening and used to widen the opening to reinsert the lever and the snap ring. Feeling empowered I decided to try and restore the lever opening/barrel to its original shape.
I removed the lever and j-bar. Armed with an aluminum straw that fit the barrel perfecting, I set the tea kettle to boil. Taking hold of the straw, the damage section of the barrel is lightly applied to the steam for 15 seconds. Then inserting the handle of a spoon into the leveler slot (to prevent the accidentally over correction of the misshaped opening), applied pressure to each side, evaluated the results then the process repeated until the barrel is acceptable. The steam did leave a misty finish to the barrel which quickly came off when a Sunshine cloth was applied.
Speaking of the lever, it turned out to be an interesting find. I’ve only seen levers that are plain, this one has a small raised accent shaped like an hourglass. Unfortunately, the hourglass is well worn and hard to see.
Also an interesting find is the J pressure bar, it reminds me of a Shaeffer SH pressure bar but in reverse and this pressure bar is in 2 pieces. The workmanship is really quit impressive.
The ink sac is also a surprise. Firstly, it is too large for the pen. A #18 sac has installed in the pen, which completely filled the inside of the barrel less the j-bar. Secondly, the ink sac is secured to the section by a string – no shellac. WTH. After reinstalling the J-bar, a #16 ink sac was inserted and determined that to be too large with the J-bar. I’ve settled on a #14 which I don’t have so I ordered a couple.
I decided to remove the nib and feed because there was some kind of white chalky “stuff” on the underside of the nib, plus the feed is out of position relative to the nib. Another interesting find, the nib is oblique.
Normally, I would ink up the pen and give it a go, but I am still waiting for the #14 ink sac. The nib is very flexible so I dipped the nib into Waterman Serenity Blue ink. The nib needs a visit to a nibsmith but definitely is flexible.
Vital Statistics
- Capped length. 99mm
- Uncapped length. 84mm
- Barrel diameter 10mm
- Cap diameter 11mm
- Weighs in at 9g
Chronicles of a Fountain Pen 
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