The oldest fountain pen on the planet?

With a barrel made with 360 million year old petrified wood, Graf von Faber-Castell's "Pen of the Year 2007" could quite possibly get away with such a boast. Limited in reality to production only during the year 2007, this beautiful magnum-sized fountain pen should become an important collectors' piece and will regrettably not be available for too much longer (the Pen of the Year for the previous year, 2006, is on the verge of becoming completely sold out at time of writing; most preceding years' pens are already unavailable... maybe we should say 'extinct'!).

The eight fossilised wood panels inlayed around the barrel of the 2007 have been expertly crafted by world-class gemstone cutters to give a subtle sparkle which has many jewel-like qualities. Every pen is different because of the unique qualities in the petrified wood material.

The cap, ends and other metal components are platinum-plated and like a jewel in a crown there is an expertly inlayed petrified wood end-piece in the cap. Again, beautifully crafted and showing the grain of this rare but intrigueing stone material to great effect.

Like all Graf von Faber-Castell fountain pen nibs, the nib of the Pen of the Year 2007 is of 18-carat bicolour gold which has been 'run-in' by hand, the final stage of about 100 production procedures, many of them by hand, which go into the making of just the nib.

Supplied in a beautiful wooden case with a brochure and a certificate showing the personal signature of Andreas Crummenauer, the master craftsman of the Herbert Stephan gemstone manufactory, the fountain pen is available with a fine, medium or broad nib.

EU price (incl. VAT @ 17½%): £1840. Rest of the world (VAT-free): £1565.96 from www.pensfromheaven.com. More info....