Pen World V30.6

The Universe of Writing Culture

30th

Anniversary 1987-2017

David Oscarson stays regal with Russian Imperial 30th Anniversary Penstravaganza:

Diplomat, Pilot-Namiki, Pens 18111 and more!

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OCTOBER

38

VOLUME 30, NUMBER 6

ON OUR COVER: David Oscarson Russian Imperial

68 romancing the Romanovs

Artisan penmaker David Oscarson’s newest collection is both personal and historic.

38 what’s in a name?

A lot, if that name is “Herbin,” and you’re one of the oldest name in inks.

44 cool as a convertible

Take a drive down historic Parker Road in a 51 Convertible.

50 a. a.

The first act in a three part saga of A. A. Waterman.

54 magnificence in celluloid

Wahl-Eversharp pays homage to a cinema classic and classic design.

56

56 full-course meal

Gourmet Pens is a blog for the pen and ink gourmand.

62 written in peace

Montegrappa of Italy and American Master Penman Jake Weidmann create a piece of tangible peace.

64 pens from 18111

Brooklyn-based Yoshi Nakama marries oldworld style with new-world technology.

72 a lesson in diplomacy

Germany’s Diplomat is making headlines in the United States.

68

76 finelining with STAEDTLER

64 72

The triplus line of art pens is a favorite of journalists and artists. See why.

79 the great navigator

Pilot and Namiki are two parts that make an exquisite whole.

83 Pearls of Wisdom

The 25th annual Fall Preview of Pens: brilliance contained within.

76

departments

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6 view 8 news 16 now

PW at 30

GW Pens, Edison, Kaweco, Fountain Pen Day

new pens and products

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mark your calendars

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San Francisco, D.C., Dallas: PW was there!

32 shop

Atlanta’s Total Office Products

52 doodles

Monteverde and Jose-Manuel Sandoval

59 strokes 108 network

why calligraphy guilds?

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view Show, Don’t Tell

BY NICKY PESSAROFF

W

e’re not going to get too lost in the history here, but PW started because there was a need—a small group of vintage and collectible fountain pen enthusiasts wanted a niche luxury magazine that reflected their interests. They wanted a place to see the newest releases of their favorite brands: Parker and Cross, Montblanc and Pelikan, Pilot and Platinum, Aurora and Visconti. They wanted to know how to fix their Sheaffer Snorkels and what shops were trustworthy. It was a time before bloggers, before online pen shops, before Fountain Pen Network. In the beginning, there was Pen World.

This issue concludes our 30th consecutive year in production, and we’re actually in a period of growth while we remain rooted to the highest production values we can provide. As editor-in-chief, those facts fill me with a great sense of pride. And as a pen enthusiast, I still learn something from each article we publish. Thirty years later, here we are, and you can feel why. It’s in the quality of the paper you hold, the crispness of the photographs, the vibrancy of the art, the voices of the writers.

Look back at our 30 years of work, and you will see the history of the pen collecting community, the changing face of calligraphy, the academic discourse around handwriting, the rise and fall (and sometimes the resurrection) of iconic brands. We’ve met and said goodbye to icons like Fred Plewa and Susan Wirth. We’ve welcomed the voices of a new, younger set of collectors, those “analog tool” enthusiasts. We’ve watched beginning penmen (and penwomen) become leaders in the field. We rode the waves of economic heights and nadirs with brick and mortar as well as online shops.

We’ve done it not by dictating what this community is, but by reflecting it. And in this age of “dying” print journalism, there is still something this magazine can do better than anyone else.

It’s one thing to read something on your phone or computer screen. It’s another thing to feel the weight of our paper; to see its sheen; to hear the fwap of paper on paper as you turn these pages; to smell that pulpy aroma that takes you in your memory to your favorite reading nook. I don’t recommend licking the paper, but I think it’s safe to say that the high quality of our photography might cause you to salivate with desire for the objects you see.

Over the past thirty years, PW has already made a subtle change from a niche pen collectors magazine to a niche lifestyle magazine. We’re also growing our online footprint, and we have plans for greater expansion in that regard. This community is already on the web in a big way—it always has been—and we must reflect that fact. You’ll also see greater variety in subject matter, as the demographics of the handwriting community change along with a new generation of collectors— more ink, more paper, more travel, more accessories.

What won’t change? This journal that you’re holding. These production values. The fact that we are still an “analog tool.” A single stroke of human stupidity could destroy the electronic grid we all take as a given. It would take a lot more work to destroy 30 years’ worth of proudly printed Pen World Magazines.

I suppose part of my job is to tell you what I foresee in the next 30 years, but my only expertise in this world is in the art of storytelling. Besides, it doesn’t take a Nostradamus. As long as there is a community that appreciates and preserves the written word and its tools, there is a need for the synthesis and transcription of that story. As long as there is an audience that understands the import of the printed word, there will be a printed journal that reflects it.

For 30 years now, Pen World has had a singular function, a reason for being that no other individual or publication can mimic: We are your biographer. We tell your story. If you’ll have us, we’d be honored to write your next 30 years.

The above portrait is courtesy of PW reader Ruth Korch. See her work at ruthkorch.com

David Oscarson’s Empire

BY SUZANNE C. LEE

The new Russian Imperial Collection pays tribute to the Romanovs in the artisan penmaker’s inimitable style.

Fabergé Imperial Coronation Egg (photo courtesy Miguel Hermosa Cuesta), commissioned by Russian Romanov Tsar Nicholas II, provided the inspiration for David Oscarson’s newest collection, Russian Imperial.

O

ften, when an artisan is skilled and the work is precious, his ultimate creations bear distinguishing characteristics that separate him from the hoi polloi of other brands. Indeed, the best of any product is in its signature style, those elements that distinguish its maker and feel, for that reason, immediately familiar; yet the effects never fail to dazzle. With great precision, David Oscarson’s marvelous writing instruments inherently convey impressions of not only his personal journeys, but other magical histories and loving homages.

Oscarson explains, “Many of the collection designs are very personal, and I am grateful for those who take the time to understand. I enjoy relating the personal aspects of each design to so many of my friends who meet me at shows and events every year.

These creations will last for centuries, and I hope they will be enjoyed by future generations.”

The prelude to the current collection was birthed earlier and, as per usual, Oscarson’s exquisite series 68

of fine writing instruments strives for continuity and is full of hidden intricacies, embedded with his introspective themes. The Henrik Wigstrom Trophy Collection of 2000 was inspired by the head work master to Peter Carl Fabergé from 1903–1918— Henrik Wigstrom—whose exquisite, bejeweled pieces of extraordinary detail and quality were so incredible they became favorites of the royal Romanov family in Russia. These Russian Imperial Fabergé Eggs were crafted uniquely and add additional intrigue to the mystique of the Romanovs; thus embodying, to some extent, the dynasty’s great aspirations and the decadence that would help lead to its spectacular downfall.

Oscarson’s pens, in this series from the year 2000, are based upon a specific 1907 masterpiece by Wigstrom. The Fabergé Imperial Trophy Egg (also known as the “Egg with Love Trophies” or “Cradle with Garlands Egg”) was a gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother, Empress Maria Fedorovna, on Easter, in celebration of the birth of a long-desired heir,

Russian Imperial in Emerald and Ruby. Rosettes on the clip and the Imperial Double Eagle are highlights of the cap work. The Imperial Double Eagle was the symbol of the Romanov Empire, shown on this page outside the Crystal Palace in St. Petersburg. Photo courtesy I, Saiko.

Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaievich. In short, this egg was a world, in and of itself—not unlike Oscarson’s own meaningful and finely composed pens, capable of transporting the writer to the rise and fall of empires, involved by design in the deepest interrogations of art.

Oscarson is a man of composition, continuity, and purpose; each collection of fine writing instruments is as delightful as the next, and although each collection contains unique, irreplaceable attributes, the Oscarson canon is to be taken as a narrative. In this spirit comes the Russian Imperial Collection, which takes as its subject the Russian Romanov Empire, a family that for centuries ruled as a formidable dynasty—a royal lineage whose name would come to be synonymous with its native land.

Oscarson also peeks more deeply into the magical world behind the famed objet d’art universe of Fabergé, exploring the trademark aesthetic masterpieces for the trenchant histories behind the delicacy. Furthermore, Oscarson gestures toward the rulers whose hands first held these spectacular eggs. Indeed, an alluring echo of his previous art can be felt in this new Russian Imperial Collection, and, as usual, the series has a story (or ten thousand) to tell.

The Romanovs hardly need an introduction, but both the complexity and historic importance involved in the family’s regal exploits bear investigation. Later Russian mythos would add greatly to confusion over facts post– 1613, although it is clear that a boyar in the middle of the fourteenth century, Andrei Ivanovich Koblya, was the family’s founder. Multiple revisions and renovations to the way in which royal descent was decided resulted in erratic twists of lineage.

It has been widely accepted that the establishment of the clan Romanov as royalty per se was in 1613, when Mikhail Romanov was elected tsar, although the reasons for this remain controversial. Some scholars conjecture that because of his youth and, by some accounts, simplicity, Mikhail Romanov could have been vulnerable to outside influences, which was the subterranean motive for his selection as monarch.

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Russian Imperial in Sapphire and Sky Blue. Oscarson’s trademark guilloche and hot enamel work are the backdrop for fine gold or silver overlay. The dates “1613” and “1917” mark the beginning and end of the Romanov dynasty.

Here the Romanov tree descends through Mikhail’s descendants, and the epic saga of their many centuries of escapades resists summarization, the drama so profuse and the national transformations so profound as to render condensation ineffective at best and often confusing. The Romanovs were the country Russia from 1613 until the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in 1917 following the February Revolution.

Oscarson says, “2017 year marks the 100th anniversary of the Romanov family’s abdication from the throne. Following a 304-year reign, it was an epic turn in history and also marked the end of an unparalleled era of creative luxury in Russia. The Romanov family propelled Fabergé’s creative use of guilloche and hot enamel to world-renowned status, and this collection is another tribute to that old-world craft. The design is reminiscent of the Coronation Egg from 1897 [a collaboration by Mikhail Perkhin and Henrik Wigstrom] and the Henrik Wigstrom collection we introduced in the spring of 2000.”

The standard line of the Russian Imperial Collection comprises four colors: Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, and Sky Blue. Each writing instrument is limited to 304 pieces in fountain pen or rollerball, in honor of the years of Romanov reign. Oscarson’s trademark guilloche and hot enamel work is on robust display throughout the entire pen body: delicate engraved lines beneath colored bodies and white finials. Solid sterling silver or gold vermeil crisscross the barrel and cap in a time-consuming and elaborate double-leaf-wire process.

The cap’s back side features the Double Eagle, the imperial symbol of Romanov hegemony, hand crafted and detailed in opaque black enamel.

The sturdy clip has the look of a Corinthian column, with delicate rosettes acting as a garland. The cap ring displays the name “DAVID OSCARSON” written in Cyrillic. The Double Eagle motif reappears in delicate engraving on the shapely section, and the bicolor nib also features delicate etching and the David Oscarson logo.

Just below the section, on the barrel, are two dates in high relief on white enamel: 1613 and 1917—the rise and fall, respectively, of the Romanov Empire. Gold or silver end caps on the cap and barrel lend the writing instruments uniformity of aesthetic. In addition to the standard lines, Oscarson plans extremely limited special editions with diamond insets on the overlay and rosettes and special colors—striking Amethyst, Citrine, Onyx, and Turquoise—to be released in late 2017/early 2018.

Like all David Oscarson pieces, the Russian Imperial Collection is more than artistic mastery. The pen has an internal cartridge/converter/eyedropper system, a reliable feed, and large 14 karat gold No. 6 nib in fine, medium, or broad. Oscarson adds, “It’s sometimes overlooked that these writing instruments also write! We go to great lengths to ensure that the performance of each collection piece is every bit the ‘writer’ that it is a showpiece, and our faithful retailers are quick to support us in this claim.”

70

The New York Times in 1949 wrote of Fabergé as a “fabricator of jeweled fantasies.” The same could be said of David Oscarson and his fabulous fine writing instruments, but it would be foolish to reduce his genius to pure aestheticism. Like each Fabergé egg, an Oscarson pen is an epic history in miniature, petals that must eventually yield to time and reveal the inner brilliant filament of a flower’s bright face.

Nor can Oscarson be reduced to another prominent artisan whose genius is similarly unique, for, in addition to his remarkable talent, the bespoke community owes much to his (metaphorical) giant shoulders.

Oscarson notes, “Our numbers are small, and most of the world will never know our name, but there will always be a select few who truly appreciate the very best—even perfection—and that is what we aspire to achieve.”

For almost 20 years now, David Oscarson has been fearless in pioneering the contemporary bespoke artisan community. His legacy is nothing less than royal.

Visit davidoscarson.com.

Oscarson’s Past Trophies The 2000 Henrik Wigstrom Trophy Collection was Oscarson’s first limited edition series and displayed the artisan’s early promise: guilloche and hot enamel in sterling silver or 18 karat gold, inspired by the Fabergé Eggs of Henrik Wigstrom. The collection—available in fountain pen and rollerball—came in four variations: red and white enamel with 18 karat gold vermeil, violet and white enamel with rhodium-plated vermeil, powder blue and white enamel with rhodium-plated vermeil, and black with white enamel and rhodium-plated vermeil.

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The Universe of Writing Culture

30th

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