[Don_Fluckinger]

OK, I must share my latest acquisition/project.

I am very interested in feedback, especially from Bill Sexauer and the Targa maniacs with whom I have conversed on this forum over the years chasing odd models and that uber-spreadsheet.

This started out more than a year ago, when I met Gary Ellison of SheafferTarga.com. His site cataloguing all Targas, all-time, is tremendous. I was attracted to the jeweled ones. I always liked lapis and jade, and even if Sheaffer had made a Targa with lapis or jade on top, I probably couldn't afford the $500+ it would entail.

And then I remembered, I had a gemologist friend in Asia, a gentleman with whom I had graduated from high school.I shared with him my ideas...and he sent me some Afghan #1 Lapis cabochons and some mawsitsit cabs (jadelike, because apparently, the great jade comes from Burma and there are moral, political, and legal issues that make me want to avoid it) cabs, too.

After a year of chasing cabs, my gemologist sent me a batch of rough and some stones. Today I put a lapis test piece on top of a steel Targa to carry and see if our (me and Richard Binder's) mounting techniques work. And a mawsitsit mounted to a gold fluted Targa.

Here is a shot of the pens, the rough, some of the unused cabs. The lapis is stunning. I might be just one voice in the wilderness, but Sheaffer did a couple short runs for Harrod's back in the day; if Tiffany's had caught the bug, I can't help but wonder if they would have ordered up some of this Afghan #1.



Anyway, I love 'em, I will definitely outfit a silver one and maybe one or two others for my collection and for conversation pieces. My gemologist friend (www.tiptopgem.com) has sold me on some chrysopase to try.

The questions I have are:
1) Does this excite Targa collectors or not?
2) Is anyone else interested in these?
3) What are the collector ramifications--no one's gonna try and pass this off as a prototype or something dishonest like that after I have left this mortal coil, right? (A couple years ago I had a conversation with David Isaacson about a mutual friend who seemed to be making replica parts that could in theory be passed off as not replicas. This is not my intent, I'm just interested in customizing (pimping out) my own Targas....I won't be pushing these on eBay as some sort of rare undiscovered model.)

Anyway, this has been a blast for me. Honestly, I am sharing with you all tonight as a happy collector, but also collecting answers here for an Extra Fine column as well as a "should I order more cabochons from Tip Top because my friends are interested in this, too?" thing. I have a pro gem dealer who can custom-cut cabs to make some great pens. If it just interests me, that's OK! But if this excites you all, too, we can invite more to the party.

This post has been edited by Don_Fluckinger: 13 April 2009 - 03:44 AM

[Pepin]

I've been wanting to do the same on my Legacy pens, esp. with a little square gold piece at the bottom of the section to mirror the chic appearance of PFM V. I think certain "modification" can make the pen look good. Adding a half-moon spherical stone to the cap of the Targa gives it a very distinctive art deco look since the Targa borrowed a lot of design themes from that period as the streamlining craze was dying out.

I suspect a lot of purists are going to be running around the town screaming right now. However, I'm afraid the end result (esp. if it's not published with pics and prominent notes of the modification) is going to do more harm than good. But it does look good.

This post has been edited by Pepin: 13 April 2009 - 03:40 AM

[david i]

OK, I must share my latest acquisition/project.

I am very interested in feedback, especially from Bill Sexauer and the Targa maniacs with whom I have conversed on this forum over the years chasing odd models and that uber-spreadsheet.

This started out more than a year ago, when I met Gary Ellison of SheafferTarga.com. His site cataloguing all Targas, all-time, is tremendous. I was attracted to the jeweled ones. I always liked lapis and jade, and even if Sheaffer had made a Targa with lapis or jade on top, I probably couldn't afford the $500+ it would entail.

And then I remembered, I had a gemologist friend in Asia, a gentleman with whom I had graduated from high school.I shared with him my ideas...and he sent me some Afghan #1 Lapis cabochons (the best) and some mawsitsit cabs (jadelike, because great jade comes from Burma and there are moral, political, and legal issues that make me want to avoid it) cabs, too.

After a year of chasing cabs, my gemologist sent me a batch of rough and some stones. Today I put a lapis test piece on top of a steel Targa to carry and see if our (me and Richard Binder's) mounting techniques works. And a mawsitsit mounted to a gold fluted targa.

Here is a shot of the pens, the rough, some of the unused cabs. The lapis is stunning. I might be just one voice in the wilderness, but Sheaffer did a couple short runs for Harrod's back in the day; if Tiffany's had caught the bug, I can't help but wonder if they would have ordered up some of this Afghan #1.



Anyway, I love 'em, I will definitely outfit a silver one and maybe one or two others for my collection and for conversation piece. My gemologist friend (www.tiptopgem.com) has sold me on some chrysopase to try.

The questions I have are:
1) Does this excite Targa collectors or not?
2) Is anyone else interested in these?
3) What are the collector ramifications--no one's gonna try and pass this off as a prototype or something dishonest like that after I have left this mortal coil, right? (A couple years ago I had a conversation with David Isaacson about a mutual friend who seemed to be making replica parts that could in theory be passed off as not replicas. This is not my intent, I'm just interested in customizing (pimping out) my own Targas....I won't be pushing these on eBay as some sort of rare undiscovered model.)

Anyway, this has been a blast for me. Honestly, I am sharing with you all tonight as a happy collector, but also collecting answers here for an Extra Fine column as well as a "should I order more cabochons from Tip Top because my friends are interested in this, too?" thing. I have a pro gem dealer who can custom-cut cabs to make some great pens. If it just interests me, that's OK! But if this excites you all, too, we can invite more to the party.

Mixed feelings, Don

They are very pretty done this way. I do share the basic concern we've raised over dinner, about unmarked mods/replacement parts/blackening/etc being considered original. Perhaps you could have an elegant D/F engraved in the tops. That way, we'd know they are rare customized Fluckingers. Hey, Seems to work for Tiffany.

regards

David

[Don_Fluckinger]

Yes, David, you know me--and my heart.

The last thing I want to do is give someone license to pass this off as a legit Sheaffer piece and promote confusion for monetary gain. Forget that stuff. I'd rather stomp these flat with my boot heel and be done with them than do that.

[david i]

Yes, David, you know me--and my heart.

The last thing I want to do is give someone license to pass this off as a legit Sheaffer piece and promote confusion for monetary gain. Forget that stuff. I'd rather stomp these flat with my boot heel and be done with them than do that.

I suspect there is room for shades of gray in this matter

I'd hate to be responsible for you wandering amongst the grayhounds stomping stones.

-d

[Richard]

One thing to note here is that Sheaffer's jeweled caps (with deep fire opals) have much flatter cabochons. IMHO, it would be difficult to pass these off as Sheaffer originals to anyone reasonably knowledgeable, but the "great unwashed" could probably be fooled.

Apropos of nothing, I think that photo might make a nice computer wallpaper. Anybody agree with me?

This post has been edited by Richard: 13 April 2009 - 01:33 PM

[sexauerw]

Don,
I think they look great. And I agree with Richard that they are sufficiently different than anything that Sheaffer ever did that they can't be mistaken by a knowledgeable collector for a Sheaffer product. As far as I know the only Sheaffer Targa with a jewel on the top was the 1065 gold fluted model which had an opal. The opal was so flat that when the pen was viewed in profile the opal could not be seen at all. So go for it with a clear conscience.

That said, I myself am not interested. I have defined my collection as those Targas with Sheaffer model numbers, thus excluding prototypes and custom variants. Even so, there are some models that were made in such limited numbers that I don't ever expect to see one. For example, I've never seen any of the jeweled clip pens pictured on the attached page from a 1985 catalog. Nor have I ever seen one of the 1994 production Green Moire Targas that were made for Harrod's. I have seen a Targa Masterpiece but don't realistically expect to own one, much less one of each model. There were only ten of each. Even excluding those, I still have a few holes in the collection. So my interest continues and I don't need a new sidetrack.





Have fun!
Bill

edited to more accurately reference Richard's post.

This post has been edited by sexauerw: 13 April 2009 - 11:38 PM

[dannyboy]

Hi Don,

Thanks for showing us your ideas for customizing some of your Targas and for raising the thorny questions about the moral/ethical dilemma these might raise. My view is similar to a couple already expressed here: your design is different enough from Sheaffer's jeweled Targas, that there would be no mistaking them as originating from Sheaffer. I own a jeweled set (the Blue Moire pen and bp with sapphires) and I must say I like your idea of the cabochon better. I could be very excited over a sterling Targa with a lapis cabochon--that would have a WOW factor for me. My Targa collection has not focused on the prototypes, but the numbered and cataloged ones.

I do see the dilemma of someone passing the customized versions off as a rare variant, but it's your collection and if you're happy with the cabochons, then I say "go with them!"

[jar]

I think they look good but would look better as a flat facet table-like addition. I also agree that having an initial engraved in them would be a great idea. I'd love to see one done with a classic agate, where the incised initial would highlight a different color.

[pengoddess]

I think they are stunning!

But I've seen enough Sheaffer protos now that these could pass for one, they did very strange stuff, some of what looks nothing like the finished products we're used to seeing. If they go out into the collector stream without any markings, sooner or later they'll be back on the market and well .... not everyone reads FPN ;-) I hope not to see that happen.

Sam

[AndyH]

I think they're beautiful. I'm a half fast lapidary myself and have thought of trying the same thing, although I'm not sure about how to make a proper bezel for this use. Nice work Don!

[Don_Fluckinger]

Thanks everyone...I don't know where I will go with this but I do appreciate the input. I know I'll do a couple more for my personal collection (yes lapis on silver is one in mind...as suggested above!) Richard theorizes tiger-eye on gold would trip his trigger, and chrysoprase (another jadelike stone, my man at Tip Top's got some coming in from Australia) on gold's going to look great.

If I pursue this beyond pens for personal use--and I have a ways to go before that's a remote possibility--point taken on hallmarking/engraving.

A couple corrections on the above post:
1) That isn't Afghan #1 on the steel Targa, my bad. I have some coming in, but that was a test stone--afghan lapis, but not #1--on my everyday carrying Targa to test our mounting techniques.

2) The Mawsitsit is Burmese but it is not banned from import as jadeite and ruby is.

Keep entering comments if you feel led.

[DRP]

I am quite impressed with this design and might even be interested in having one of my Targas retrofitted.

As to trying to fool people, the idea of having the customer's initials engraved in the stone might avoid the problem, though I suspect that anyone seriously planning on deluding the public could probably do so.

I'm wondering if someone like Edison pens would be interested in designing a pen around one of these stones? Having a pen actually created for use with one of the stones intrigues me.

[david i]

Thanks everyone...I don't know where I will go with this but I do appreciate the input. I know I'll do a couple more for my personal collection (yes lapis on silver is one in mind...as suggested above!) Richard theorizes tiger-eye on gold would trip his trigger, and chrysoprase (another jadelike stone, my man at Tip Top's got some coming in from Australia) on gold's going to look great.

If I pursue this beyond pens for personal use--and I have a ways to go before that's a remote possibility--point taken on hallmarking/engraving.

A couple corrections on the above post:
1) That isn't Afghan #1 on the steel Targa, my bad. I have some coming in, but that was a test stone--afghan lapis, but not #1--on my everyday carrying Targa to test our mounting techniques.

2) The Mawsitsit is Burmese but it is not banned from import as jadeite and ruby is.

Keep entering comments if you feel led.

Weird. I long have been fond of Tiger's Eye, going back at least to age 6. Had toyed with suggesting such a thing.

Now, I'm just depressed nearly beyond words (me, beyond words?) to find that I have something in common with that so-n-so, Richard.

-d

[michael_s]

I assume Sheaffer/BIC doesn't have as many lawyers as MB, but isn't there a possibility that BIC could see this as a threat to their intellectual property? Note that I'm just playing devil's advocate...

-Mike