The House

The Archive

From 1969 onward, the extract at the centre of these creams was the subject of a sustained research programme in Romania. Six inventor's certificates were issued by the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks. Reports were filed with the Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest and with the Brîncovenesc Hospital. In 1977 the work was presented in San Francisco. What follows is the record.

These documents concern earlier Pell Amar preparations developed for clinical settings. They are published here as brand history and say nothing about the cosmetic creams that will be sold on this site.

1969 — 1989

Twenty years of institutional research.

1969
The first clinical use of the Pell Amar preparation is recorded. Work on isolating the active fraction of the sediment at Balta Albă is already under way.
1975
The extraction method is filed on 17 April with three co-inventors. Two cosmetic formulations follow in June, with the Miraj works in Bucharest.
1977
Four certificates granted. The research is presented at the XIV International Congress of Rheumatology in San Francisco, California.
1978
Certificate 66960 granted on 25 March for the preparation process itself. It remains the foundation of the extract used today.

Three institutions carried the work: the Antibiotics Works at Iași, the Miraj cosmetics works in Bucharest, and the Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy, whose Department of Medical Polyclinic was led by Prof. Dr. Docent Ștefan Șuțeanu.

The inventor

Dr. Ștefan Ionescu-Călinești

His name appears on all six certificates, across fourteen years and three institutions, alongside chemists, engineers and pharmacists — Ioan Pop, Constantin Filipovici, Gheorghe Ceacovschi, Constantin Lupu, Rozalia Speteanu, Didina Hurduc, Stanca Cismaru, Nela Dandara.

The 1977 congress paper carries his name too, listed last among five authors from Bucharest. He signed his work the same way for thirty years, and that signature is reproduced in copper foil on every jar we make.

Signature of Dr. Ionescu-Calinesti
San Francisco, 1977

In the summer of 1977, the work left Romania.

Abstract from the XIV International Congress of Rheumatology, San Francisco, 1977

Between 26 June and 1 July 1977, the XIV International Congress of Rheumatology met in San Francisco, California. A paper on the Balta Albă extract was entered into the proceedings by five researchers from Bucharest, among them Dr. Ionescu-Călinești.

It is a small entry — one abstract, one paragraph number, in a volume of hundreds. But it is the moment a Romanian mineral extract, developed behind a closed border, was read by an international audience. The reference is precise enough that it can still be looked up.

VolumeXIV Congress
Page105
Paragraph408
Certificates of invention

Six certificates, issued by the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks of Romania.

Certificate of invention 66960
66960
Granted 25 March 1978
A process for preparing an active product from sapropelic muds. Filed 17 April 1975. This is the method behind the extract.
Certificate of invention 64547
64547
Granted 14 April 1977
A cosmetic composition, developed with the Miraj cosmetics works, Bucharest.
Certificate of invention 65073
65073
Granted 23 May 1977
A second cosmetic formulation from the same collaboration.
Certificate of invention 64221
64221
Granted 23 December 1977
Certificate of invention. Antibiotics Works, Iași.
Certificate of invention 66661
66661
Granted 17 November 1977
Certificate of invention. Ministry of Tourism, Bucharest.
Certificate of invention 79211
79211
Granted 15 March 1982
Certificate of invention. Antibiotics Works, Iași. The last of the six.
Period materials

Romanian Original Product

The packaging of the period described the range plainly: cosmetic products of original Romanian design, based on extracts from sapropelic muds. Beauty products — produse de frumusețe — not pharmacy. Pell Amar reached the public as a cosmetics house, through a cosmetics works, with two cosmetic patents behind it.

Pell Amar press advertisement
Press advertisement. Pell Amar beauty products, Întreprinderea de produse cosmetice Miraj, Bucharest. The signature appears beneath the name, as it does today.
Pell Amar brochure cover
Brochure cover, marked Romanian Original Product. The concentric wave motif survives in the present-day mark — the ripples of a lake, drawn then and still on the jar now.
Research papers

The documents themselves.

Typed, stamped and signed, in the original. Reproduced here as first pages — letterheads, titles, institutions and seals — exactly as they were filed.

Congress abstract, San Francisco 1977
1977 · San Francisco
XIV International Congress of Rheumatology
Abstract entered into the congress volume, page 105, paragraph 408. Five authors, CMR Bucharest.
Report, Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest
I.M.F. București
Department of Medical Polyclinic
Six pages. Signed by the head of department, Prof. Dr. Docent Ștefan Șuțeanu, with Dr. Victoria Blaja.
Report, Brincovenesc Hospital medical clinic
Brîncovenesc Hospital
Medical Clinic report
Four pages, forty-five participants. Carries the seal of the central institute for medicines and dyes.

Historical records of research conducted from 1969 onward on earlier Pell Amar preparations. They are not evidence of any effect of the cosmetic products sold on this site, and nothing in them should be read as a recommendation to use these creams for any medical purpose.

Today

From that programme, two creams — arriving in the United States.

Pellamar Professional takes one thing from the archive: the extract, made by the method set down in 1975. The first allocation opens to the private list before anyone else.

Join the private list

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Pellamar products are cosmetics and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.