As I have droned on in the past, Birmingham was the centre and hub of the steel pen trade in the world. In the 1900's, 75% of every word written on this planet was written by a Birmingham pen. Rows of hundreds of women stamped out pens on hand fly presses, and despite then being extremely cheap (6d per gross) each individual pen required no less than 14 different operations, some of which being delicate and skilled work.
This was Heath's third factory, and was not built by them. They occupied it from the early 70's until 2001. To be honest after what we found in Brandauer and Hughes' pen works I was a little disappointed. Heaths had become little more than a stationers. I know for a fact that Brandauer were making pens for them, as I have found Heath pens in Brandauer, and seen their name on Brandauer's books.
Although the shop floors were buggered, the reception area was a mass of deco plasterwork and granite stairs, very nice indeed...
Oh, and I did find one pen nib!
This was Heath's third factory, and was not built by them. They occupied it from the early 70's until 2001. To be honest after what we found in Brandauer and Hughes' pen works I was a little disappointed. Heaths had become little more than a stationers. I know for a fact that Brandauer were making pens for them, as I have found Heath pens in Brandauer, and seen their name on Brandauer's books.
Although the shop floors were buggered, the reception area was a mass of deco plasterwork and granite stairs, very nice indeed...
Oh, and I did find one pen nib!
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