Art Deco Cat Desk Set With Sheaffer Fountain Pen ... Or Not Really

[joss]

I almost hit the buy-it-now button ($200.00!) on this rare desk base but then I saw the small text: "3D printed desk set inspired by rare original".

www.ebay.com/itm/133332567509

 

An original version of this rare base is shown in blurry pictures here but maybe the owners of the original 1930s base can also comment on the quality of this modern 'reprint'.

It doesn't look really attractive to me and the typical Art Deco lines on the cat seem to be completely lost.

 

 

[carlos.q]

Maybe they can 3-D print a desk base with the Maltese Falcon...

 

[Roger W.]

I saw that listing and I was not impressed. The original is far better so I would say the printed one came up too short to inspire that as a reasonable alternative.

 

Roger W.

[PAKMAN]

Amazing what they can do these days!

[doggle2]

Wow, that 3D print is also of extraordinarily low quality, it looks like the stuff that would come directly out of a consumer printer that's a few years old, without ANY form of treatment to make it even look decent. And the most insulting part of this—that plastic would cost at most $15 or so.

 

I mean, the idea is nice—it's just that the execution is absolutely awful.

[Parker51]

What is really amazing is they didn't bother to use a real vintage Sheaffer Desk Pen and socket at that price. Desk sets are notoriously undervalued and as such there is no shortage of great vintage gold nibbed desk pens with simple or damaged bases that could have been used.

[Paul-in-SF]

The remake doesn't even look like a cat to me, more like a squirrel.

[pajaro]

Looks like a cat. I see squirrels all day in my back yard, but the detail could be finer. My wife would like this, because we have a black cat. She would probably throw the pen away and put in the sterling Cross Century desk ballpoint she uses.

 

At that price a pen with a solid gold nib should be expected, and it is still a bit much. I have had a number of interesting desk sets, mainly Sheaffer, and I am a bit tired of most of them, using only the ones that were on my desk at work. I would probably put a Cross Century desk ballpoint in ones I use today, if it doesn't come with a Sheaffer Touchdown Imperial pen with solid gold inlaid or Dolphin nib. Maybe a vac fil nib, but I have one needing restoration. Can't afford it right now.

 

Plastic, 3-D printed. Give me the real stuff: onyx. For $200 that base ought to be hand carved whatever.

Edited February 16, 2020 by pajaro

[pajaro]

Maybe they can 3-D print a desk base with the Maltese Falcon...

 

 

Thanks for posting this. I like your idea.

[Roger W.]

Looks like a cat. I see squirrels all day in my back yard, but the detail could be finer. My wife would like this, because we have a black cat. She would probably throw the pen away and put in the sterling Cross Century desk ballpoint she uses.

 

At that price a pen with a solid gold nib should be expected, and it is still a bit much. I have had a number of interesting desk sets, mainly Sheaffer, and I am a bit tired of most of them, using only the ones that were on my desk at work. I would probably put a Cross Century desk ballpoint in ones I use today, if it doesn't come with a Sheaffer Touchdown Imperial pen with solid gold inlaid or Dolphin nib. Maybe a vac fil nib, but I have one needing restoration. Can't afford it right now.

 

Plastic, 3-D printed. Give me the real stuff: onyx. For $200 that base ought to be hand carved whatever.

You do know the real cat is not onyx?

 

Roger W.

[FredRydr]

The original was on a vendor table at the second to last DC show at the Sheraton Tysons. I know the price was north of a grand 'cause I wanted it and asked, but someone else took it home.

Edited February 17, 2020 by FredRydr

[pajaro]

The original was on a vendor table at the second to last DC show at the Sheraton Tysons. I know the price was north of a grand 'cause I wanted it and asked, but someone else took it home.

 

What was the original made of, if you know? Thanks for the info on the price

[FredRydr]

What was the original made of, if you know?...

 

Sorry, I don't. It would have nicely matched my black "palewa stone" cat bookends.

[joss]

 

What was the original made of, if you know? Thanks for the info on the price

Roger knows, he wrote about it long ago in his series on Sheaffer desk sets (pictures are long gone):

www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/29668-sheaffer-desk-set-of-the-week/

 

NYC pens has one for sale for those interested, price is on request.

[Roger W.]

The cat is a "black finish metal figure. (from the 1930 catalog)" It is a cast figure, some sort of pot metal.

 

Roger W.

[Roger W.]

[JonSzanto]

That's pretty magnificent, Roger.

[joss]

Thanks for sharing the picture!

[como]

Gosh, if that thing falls off the desk, it will break my foot!

[JonSzanto]

Gosh, if that thing falls off the desk, it will break my foot!

 

Yeah, I kept thinking "the first thing my cat would do if I got that would be to knock it off the desk!"