To the worldwide fans of Retro 51 and beyond,
In early 2020, George Kartsotis announced that after 30 years he and the Retro 51 brand would be retiring. How could we let Retro end? The answer is… we couldn’t.
We are now under new ownership with the same outstanding team members. We are thrilled to announce that Richard, our Lead Designer for 20 years, is staying with us. You will also still be hearing from Dan in Sales, as well as our front-line Customer Service experts. Thank you to this team for their dedication throughout the unknowns of 2020.
Additionally, George and Vickie will stick around a little longer to share their 30 years of experience and insights. We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank George for working with us and helping us put this team together. We are honored to be the new custodians of Retro 51.
There will be more details to come, but rest assured we are 100% committed to continuing the high level of quality, unique designs, and exceptional customer service everyone has come to expect and love about Retro 51 products. We are fans, collectors, and yes…we walk among you.
We can’t wait to get popping!
Adam, Jeff & Joe
The Retro 51 Blog 
Congratulatons and best wishes for an enjoyable experience and much success. Can’t wait until your first release!Stay safe and enjoy he day.Tom J.
Thank you Thomas!
Also, I would love to be able to purchase the bamboo style of the pen holders to keep my collection in. They are nearly impossible to find anymore.
Thanks Derek. I will pass this info on!
Thinking that Retro51 might stop existing was pretty terrible, so I’m so glad pen lovers have taken up the mantle, so thank you. I look forward to new pens! (And please keep prices reasonable, for us collectors with modest incomes!)
Thank you Nor and yes we will definitely try to keep the prices reasonable.
Excellent! Thank you!
Nor, I would like to second your comment, especially the quality collectible pens at reasonable prices.
Congratulations and best of luck to you all, Adam, Jeff, and Joe. I’d like to pass along a suggestion I made a few years ago, and that is to put the Retro 51 slogan, “Life is too short to carry an ugly pen” on a annual special edition pen, with different fonts each year. Would be a nice beginning for the new stewardship of Retro 51.
Thanks.
Gloria F.
Thank you Gloria, great idea and I will share that with the team.
First I’d like to THANK George and Vickie for 30 years of love, dedication and hard work to make Retro51 what it is today. My Hubby and I have been collectors from the beginning, although we don’t have many of the old pens. You have poured so much love into Retro51, and it shows!
Congrats, and THANKS to Adam, Jeff and Joe for making sure Retro51 doesn’t die! I’m sure you will put in just as much love, dedication and hard work to keep Retro51 going for many, many years!
We look forward to seeing what’s to come, and offer you our best wishes! I agree with Gloria F. that we need to have a pen with “Life is too short to carry an ugly pen” on it!
Thank you Susan for being a fan for so many years. The LTS pen is a good idea!
Congrats!
Thank you!
Plz bring back some of the old fountain pens such as the post mark fountain pens and others. Those were exceptional quality pens! Thank you.
Marci
Thank you Mari! I will pass this onto the new team.
Congratulations George and Vickie, I just started collecting your pens a couple years ago but I now have about 16 of them. It’s a fun hobby and not that expensive. I’m glad you found someone you trust to carry on the Retro51 name . I have one question, is the pen (Tuesday) the last pen under your ownership?
Thank you Bob! Yes the Tuesday pen is the last Retro design under George and Vickie. There are some other dealer exclusive ideas that were done yet have not come out but we still think of Tuesday as the last of Retro51’s original owner.
I like Mari’s ideas! Do you have any control over the retro bamboo trays? I am a new collector and would like to have more trays. I can’t find any more right now. Keep up the great work, I am looking forward to some more pens. I like fountain pens and pencils!
Thank you Mary Beth. I will share all this input about the trays, FPs and pencils.
Dear Adam, Jeff & Joe,
On behalf of Retro 51 fans everywhere…THANK YOU for taking over the reins! 🙂
Best of luck in your new endeavour!
Just great! Love the pens!
Thank you Hap
Does this news mean you will be accepting new wholesale customers? When I last checked in, you were not.
Thank you!
Hi Pam, yes, please email sales[at]retro51.com and they will send you the paperwork to apply to become a dealer.
Hot Dog, this is great news!
Thank you guys for steppin’ up and thank you George and Vicki et al. for helping them out!!
A future with Retro 51 in it looks a lot brighter now!!
Seth and Dana…
Thank you!
I’m disappointed so far in the new ownership. They are no longer utilizing this blog, they don’t interact with people on social media (in particular Instagram) by liking comments or responding to comments, and they’re releasing ultra-limited pens, which benefits eBay resellers but doesn’t allow most actual Retro51 collectors to buy new pens. I’m now wondering if the brand would have been better to have left the market on a high note.
It’s only been a couple of months since the new ownership took over and they have said that there are some new Vintage Metalsmiths coming out soon, as well as the Cat and Dog Rescue Series IV. They’ve been posting on Instagram regularly but might be a bit too busy to respond to comments, having just taken over the wheel from George & company…
I’m hopeful that we will see some non-retailer-exclusive models coming out soon 🙂
SO SO SO Happy Retro 51 will continue!!
thank you!