Maki-e Fountain Pen Catalog
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The Asking Price for this pen is: $3,500 Perhaps the most common used word in ebay descriptions is the word "Rare" We fountain pen collectors tend to joke about it amongst ourselves, but here is a pen that I think everyone will agree fits that bill. This is a Parker Lucky Curve Jack Knife Safety with a lovely Urushi Maki-e with gold dust and raden (pearl and abalone shell) design. The only other pen that I have ever seen like this is Nakazono Hiroshi's notorious Whal Eversharp Skyline maki-e pen that was displayed at the Chicago Pen show several years ago and is illustrated in his book "Seikai no Mannenhitsu" or "Fountain Pens of the World" in English. Vintage non-Japanese pens with maki-e work are very very hard to find. Much more difficult to find than the famous Dunhill Namiki maki-e pens. I have a few Parker pens in my personal collection, but I am not a Parker collector and I certainly am not an expert on early Parker pens or their history, but I spent some time looking up this Parker model. It is a Parker 2 1/2 Long and is a button filler. The Clip has a patent date for 1916. The number 2 1/2 is imprinted onto the blindcap. Parker pens were sold at the Itoya Import store in Nihonbashi for a short time before World War II, and it is likely that this pen was originally purchased from this store. The feature I like most about this pen is the pearl cherry blossom especially carved out of mother of pearl and set into the crown of the cap. This pearl work radiates a gem like fire as you turn it in your hand. The raden is set deeply into the urushi lacquer and is a wonderful work of art. The side of the cap and the barrel have bits of abalone set into the lacquer, which is to represent falling cherry blossoms. If you have ever visited Japan in the springtime, then you fully understand how important the cherry blossoms are for Japanese, their culture, and that cherry blossoms are a popular theme in maki-e artwork. The pen is not signed by a maki-e artist, but the work is quite similar to Rosui, Platinum 's cheif maki-e artist before the war. If you have Lambrou's "FP of the World" book you can see several Platinum pens with very similar raden work as this pen. I picked up this pen at the Aoyama Antique market a few months ago while I was visiting the Tokyo Area. This market is one step up from the usual Japanese flea market. I urged the seller to tell me as much about this pen and the others he had, and with some reluctance he told me that the pen had belonged to his father. He hated to sell his father's pens, but his wife was pushing him to get rid of the stuff and make some money. I hear these stories a lot and they always make me a little sad. However, I think that this father would be happy if he could know that his pen was going to someone who would appreciate it. That price is not written stone. If you have something for a full or partial trade, let's talk about it.
Any questions? Please send an e-mail to: rd@kamakurapens.com |
