Fountain Pen of Rebbe Rayatz – Used by the Rebbe in the Late 1920s and Early 1930s – With Letter of Authenticity ...

Fountain Pen of Rebbe Rayatz – Used by the Rebbe in the Late 1920s and Early 1930s – With Letter of Authenticity Signed by Rebbetzin Chanah Gurary

Fountain pen (and nib) of Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, the Rayatz of Lubavitch, used by the rebbe in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Bakelite. Engraved on the nib: "Spencerian Velvet point no. 46. England". Birmingham, England, before 1914.
Letter of authenticity enclosed (handwritten note, in English), signed in Hebrew by Rebbetzin Chanah Gurary (1899-1991), eldest daughter of Rebbe Rayatz: "I hereby gift the Bakelite dip pen that my father used in the late 1920's and early 30's. Bakelite was an early type of plastic. He [the Rayatz] liked the feel of this dip pen and used it often". Dated – 3rd December 1989.

Letters of the Rayatz
It is difficult to find in Jewish history a Torah leader who wrote as many letters as the Rayatz. During the course of his life, the Rayatz wrote over a hundred thousand letters (an average of three thousand letters a year for the thirty years he served as rebbe – 1920-1950, and thousands of other letters in the twenty-two years prior to his appointment, during the period he ran the various branches of the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva, serving as right hand of his father the Rashab), most of which were never published. Some were printed in the series Igrot Kodesh of the Rayatz. Many of the letters deal in communal matters, the establishment and management of various Chabad institutions, while many others are private, and contain guidance, blessings and advice. The present pen was used by Rebbe Rayatz for writing his many letters.

For 102 years (1813-1915), Chabad Chassidut was centered in the town of Lubavitch, Belarus. In 1915, with the outbreak of WWI, Rebbe Rashab left Lubavitch and settled in Rostov, south-western Russia. Following the passing of the Rashab on 2nd Nissan 1920, his son Rebbe Rayatz succeeded him. In 1924, the Rayatz left Rostov for Leningrad, and after his release from prison on 12th-13th Tammuz 1927, he left Soviet Russia with several family members and settled in Riga, Latvia, where he remained for six years, until he moved to Warsaw in 1933. Two years later, he relocated to Otwosk (Otwock), a nearby town. Wherever he went, the Rayatz devoted himself to communal work, and to spreading and upholding Torah observance. According to the enclosed letter, the present pen was used by Rebbe Rayatz in the late 1920s and early 1930s, while he was living in Latvia and Poland.

Body of pen (Bakelite): 14.5 cm; nib (removable): 4 cm. Minor defects.