La Guardia - A pen made from ebonite and 18 K gold.

[penboard.de]

Hello to the Pen Making part of the network.

Here is the first pen, I have finished this year in cooperation with a local gold artist.

La Guardia

This project was created in Kooperation with Maurizio D´Ottavio, goldsmith in Guardiagrele, Abruzzo. He is working for 15 Years here in this town. There is a traditional gold technique here, the "presentosa", made from solid gold filigree.

 

As a base for the gold, I created a pushbuttonfiller from scratch, a rod of ebonite become a large senior size cylindric pen, on the lathe at home in Caprafico.

 

Cap and barrel were then overlayed with an eternal spiral of Abruzzo Filigree, made from about 60 gramms of 18 Karat solid gold.

 

The pen bears the Guardiagrele seal in the cap top, cast in solid gold

as well.

 

On July, 31, 2007 at the opening of this year´s Mostra dell´Artigianato, the pen was first

presented to the public. This pen is a unique item, one of a kind. And its been sold already.

 

Of course, if requested, we will be happy to do a second one -

but sure, this will not be a similar pen, it will change with buyer´s and artists ideas.

 

 

Here is a view of the pen´s top and the nib - which is a vintage MB 149 nib, polished so it does not conflict with MB´s brand rights.

 

 

 

 

Best regards and happy holidays.

 

Tom Westerich

www.penboard.de

 

 

 

[fatehbajwa]

If i may ask, what did it sell for?

[dfurlano]

Nice pen.

[penboard.de]

If i may ask, what did it sell for?

 

Dear Fateh,

 

with about 100 gramms of 18 Karat Gold and weeks of goldsmith´s work,

asking price was around 6000 Euro.

We didn´t fully reach this amount, in the end, it was an even 5, and part of it became my christmas present:

a professional race bike, which will from now on have to climb the Abruzzo mountains with me on top.

 

Best regards

Tom

[fatehbajwa]

If i may ask, what did it sell for?

 

Dear Fateh,

 

with about 100 gramms of 18 Karat Gold and weeks of goldsmith´s work,

asking price was around 6000 Euro.

We didn´t fully reach this amount, in the end, it was an even 5, and part of it became my christmas present:

a professional race bike, which will from now on have to climb the Abruzzo mountains with me on top.

 

Best regards

Tom

 

 

:bonk: Why did I even ask?

[Ruaidhri]

What a lovely piece of work Tom!

 

Perhaps when you have some time you might show us some pictures of your workshop & gear?

 

Happy Christmas,

Ruaidhrí

[Eagle]

A truly magnificent piece of art and wonderful looking pen.

(please excuse me while I try to find a buyer for my tools)

[QM2]

 

This is just too lovely, I am speechless.

Have you ever done anything similar with silver filigree or overlay?

[penboard.de]

This is just too lovely, I am speechless.

Have you ever done anything similar with silver filigree or overlay?

:-) thanks, I must say, I am overwhelmed by the positive response.

 

A silver overlay? No, I haven´t yet done it in silver, Maurizio, the Goldsmith just preferred gold, told me, that if ever he does such a pen,

all done by hand, he´d never do it in silver - Imagine, the tiny curls are all made from two thin threads of gold, curled like a rope, then rolled to become flat, then mounted in place.

 

If ever I do one in silver, it would be a pen cast in silver from the gold original.

 

Best regards

Tom

[bgray]

Wow!

 

You have taken the bar, and set it beyond the scope of many, many a penmaker out there.

 

Great work.

[Readymade]

That looks like a masterpiece.

 

You mentioned that you had to polish the MB nib to remove the MB design, but I think the naked nib - in addition to looking good by itself - particularly complements the ornate appearance of the pen.

[Eleazar]

Wow, truly... wow... speechless.

[georges zaslavsky]

my hatsoff to you, I am amazed by the work involved in this beauty

[ppenloverr]

awesome if i could ever afford the price tag... a true masterpiece... congrats...

[Ghost Plane]

[richardandtracy]

The skill involved is awesome. Well done.

 

Regards

 

Richard.

 

[penboard.de]

Hello to all, and a Happy inky pen maker´s 2008!

 

here are three variations of the LaGuardia Pen,

which play with the very cylindric design - that was needed to fit the filigree,

but in the end, I rather liked it, so I finished some without or just a little filigree added.

 

Any critics greatly apreciated.

 

Best regards

Tom

[bgray]

Another great one, Tom!

[fountainbel]

Astonishing work of Art Tom, my sincere congratulations.

I expect the Guardiagrele seal in the cap top was casted in solid gold using the "lost wax"method?

 

[hamadryad11]

Oh my, that is just gorgeous. I love the one with the narrow band of filigree too. It's very striking.