Nicro Fico has - like almost all enterprises that serve the recreational maritime market - a fun
history.
Fico started in
Australia in the 1950s. The Field Instrument Company - using the Fico moniker - started in about 1950, run by Reg Freame and Gordon Chatfield. Reg and Gordon set up their
commercial base in Brighton (a coastal suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Aus; now a suburb largely inhabited by the well-heeled).
Fico made
stainless steel fittings for boats. So it was the major local competition for Ron and Stan (whose
commercial enterprise was, of course, called Ronstan).
In 1981, Ronstan bought Fico.
Then we have to jump to San Leandro,
California. Norman Scott Wright junior (1912-2006) was the president of Transworld
Purchasing & Supply Corp.
In 1954, Norman formed Nicro Corporation. I guess the name is an allusion to Nickel and Chromium? In the 1960s, Nicro pioneered lightweight investment-cast
stainless steel snap shackles.
In the early 1970s, Norman Scott Wright bought Fico from Ronstan (which was in a financial crisis) and merged it with his Nicro Corp.
Nicro/Fico gained street cred (or 'round the buoys cred'??) in the 1970s and 1980s because specially made Nicro/Fico snap shackles went to the moon on Apollo missions. And were on the
Columbia space shuttle (remember that?).
In 1995, Ronstan bought Nicro/Fico. Again.
I've a few snap shackles from the Nicro/Fico division of Ronstan.