An early example of Pauls Snake pen. It was designed by his son Marcel and was made in black hard rubber with solid silver parts. The filler, which was of Pauls design, was also sterling silver and will be seen only on his fountain pens.
The pen shown here has an ebony body and is one of the only pens to have a wood body. It's the fourth pen he made and is numbered on the end of the cap. Paul had a studio in my antique store in the 1990's and this is where he began making the snake pen. I had the privilage of doing some of the simple tasks and seeing the process of casting and machining that went into penmaking. The ebony wood pen was made for me, and I turned out the rough ebony blank to be finished by paul on his jewlers lathe. I still own it and hesitated before I polished it, It had a dark grey patina from setting for many years.
Early Snake Pen in Lignum Vitae Wood
This pen was made in Lignum Vitae which is known for it's durability. It has an oily feel was used for boat bearings in the old days. The eyes have small emeralds added. The pen was not numbered because it was his personal pen, but it was made at the same time as the ebony one, and is the only other wood body pen as far as I know.
I will write more about Paul as I get time. He was a good friend and compadre and is in my thoughts as I remember sitting by the old pot belly stove in the back of the shop and the good times picking antiques and old fountain pens at estate sales and flea markets.
signing off for now...G:
7 comments:
Beautiful work!
~One of his 7 sisters
Hi Terri, thank you for commenting here. I still own these pens and my daughter, Mia owns a Dolphin pen. She designed and fabricated the wax for the mold and assisted in the machine work. Paul and I had some great times together...his perception of the antique business and the art of jewelry and pen making was always reflected with a sense of humor that brought laughter when we were around anyone that took it serious. "Yeah right...give me a break" he would say, in his own casual way...I miss that
Hi Geezer, I own 4 Duclos pens, waiting for the fifth. Is there a list somewhere what Paul all did? His pens are extremly nice, but I would love to know a little bit more about his work.
This was interesting to read. Paul was my grandpa, my mom still has some of his jewelry
This was interesting to read. Paul was my grandpa, my mom still has some of his jewelry
Hi, sorry for my late replay...i read this only today when I stumbled about this page again. Please contact me: regina.martini (at) t-online.de
Good morning, I was just reaching out to you regarding Paul's pens. I am his daughter. If ever you have a need or desire to part with them or one, please let me know. I do not personally own one but would love to. I can be reached at mhaley1961@yahoo.com. Thank you.
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