Hello everyone! This is my first post on FPN (besides the Marketplace), asking for your help. I can finally call myself a former lurker!

I was just about to list this Prelude on the sales boards, and describe it as made of gunmetal, but then I started wondering if might be chrome, instead. Can anyone help me with this? I don't know if you will be able to tell from the picture (especially with the neutral background and the quality of the picture), but I would greatly appreciate any assistance that you can provide. I think it might be chrome, but I don't want to list it that way until I am sure. It has some heft, but IMO it isn't a heavy pen. I found pictures of both Preludes on the internet (gunmetal and chrome), but it's difficult to see the different hues of certain colors on my monitor.

If you need more information to answer this, just let me know.




THANK YOU!!!

Annette

From the picture it looks like brushed chrome finish (don't know the official name) to me. Someone I know has gunmetal finish. When you touch it, does it easily get finger prints? If it does I would say gunmetal finish

I don't think any Preludes are actually *made* of gun metal - they're just coloured to look that way. The Gunmetal colour of Preludes are quite shiny and noticeably quite blue.

Thank you Taki and *david*.

Taki, when I touch the pen, it does NOT easily get fingerprints-I guess it is the brushed chrome finish.

*david* I didn't realize about the finish of the Preludes...thanks for the information. The Prelude in my post is the only Prelude I have seen in person. As you can see, my pen is neither shiny nor blue - so that's another vote for chrome.

Thank you both, very much.

Annette

I thought all of the Preludes were brass. The finish was either paint or plate.

"Gunmetal" as far as I have seen has always been a dark metalic blue painted finish. With firearms, "gunmetal" is usually blued, or occasionally case hardened, steel.

I don't see why one couldn't make the barrel and cap out of steel and then hot blue or case harden them for the finish, but I have not yet seen that.

I´ve got a Prelude that looks like stainless still, with chrome trim. Isn´t it really steel?
Actually, I find it rather hard to tell stainless steel from brushed chrome. I had a Sheaffer Imperial I used to think was stainless steel, until the day it got some corrosion points and the finish started to peel away...

I really don't know, you might want to check with PenHero. I was under the impression that there were no "Special Editions" for the Prelude. I thought to reduce manufacturing cost they limited it to what finishes could apply to a brass barrel.

All Preludes are brass base metal with a finish applied. The brushed chrome pen (as in the photo) is chrome plated brass, not stainless steel. The last Sheaffer with a stainless steel cap was the Imperial VI, which probably ended production in the mid 1960s. Ever since then, if it's brushed or polished and looks like steel - it's chrome or palladium plated brass.

Cheers,

Jim Mamoulides
www.PenHero.com

I should add that the Gunmetal finish is a mirror polished metallic finish, not unlike chrome plating. I don't know what it is exactly, but it's not a pure plating, like the chrome or palladium. The new Brilliant Silver finish is actually a PVD finish.

Cheers,

Jim Mamoulides
www.PenHero.com