The history of this company is slightly elusive. The Salz brothers themselves were Ignatz and James; there are some sources which speak of a Jason also being involved, but his role is elusive and he may merely be a misinterpretation of a now-defunct contraction for James– “Jas.” They entered the pen business in the early part of the 20th century, although precisely when is a little hard to pin down; the company’s first patent appears in 1919, and one assumes the company must somewhat predate that.
As with so many of the early pen companies, Salz Bros. made pens of middling quality while chasing the example set by Waterman, Parker and Sheaffer. The company seems to have stuck pretty firmly to this ground, never really transcending the pack but producing some models that draw positive comment, and they seem to have had no trouble with the transition from hard rubber to celluloid as the standard material.
Ignatz was left as the sole Salz in 1928 when James died of post-operative complications of a gallstone procedure. Ignatz had survived a shooting the year before, in what was rumoured to a response to his gadding about town with a couple of women; he was, according to newspapers, “well known in club circles.” He settled down somewhat, it seems, as he was not quick to follow James into the great beyond. During his time as the surviving Salz, he changed the name of the operation to Stratford, which had previously been a side-brand of Salz Bros. The company and Ignatz appear to have faded out together; Stratford’s output disappears in the 1950s, having apparently gone so low as to buy parts from Wearever, and Ignatz himself died in 1958 at age 80.
Salz Bros./Stratford was responsible for Warwick and Conqueror branded pens as well as their own output.
Models I’ve examined:
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