Thread: UNIQUE PEN THE ONLY ONE LIKE IT

In 1985 I received a death sentence of 3 mths from the top Urologist in town raced home challenged SWMBO who declined my invitation to go to Hong Kong (does not like distance flights) so I went to book right away chose a round the world one way unlimited stops.Half way round the itinerary cancelled the flight to Hong Kong would I like to go to India Bombay in particular yes I would arrived there cultural shock YES intimidated by huge crowds YES hired a car and the owner for a day for 20 plus Aussie pesos and visited the famous hanging gardens etc. Because I have five daughters a son and lovely wife I asked the driver (many relatives) where I could buy gems reasonably so we ended up at his cousins Jewelry business they locked the front door minor panic for me and I bought three handfuls of precious stones some diamond, sapphires, rubies, etc as earrings, sets of various stuff and the law in India was only up to a certain figure for any transaction on the card so they post dated three cards a month apart (scary stuff) but since they were modest I realised I could handle them easily each month. All these years later I turned thefew left after all these yrs and thinking Bling on the pen at least one pic with the stones etc.

I have a 50 yr friendship with a mate now in his 60,s ran into him recently who owns and works an opal mine out west and he agreed to sell me an opal cut to 12mm so I punched out the top of the pen and fitted that instead taking care to fit the opal after pressing the parts together however in retrospect the opal was flush with the rim.

Using Amboyna Burl (golden that darkened with finish) I was very pleased because I bought the blank years ago and it had been varnished one of my pet dislikes you rarely can tell whats really underneath the varnish, it turned out special timber though.

I rarely make larger pens I know why reinforced again the timber thickness is so thin is why unless you belly out the shape, I believe this pen is too formal for that.

Kind regards Peter.