Thread: Designer Elite

simply stunning where did you get the black coral from ? am interested in some
troy

that is a stunning pen

I have not seen black coral in real life I hope it is as good as it looks in your pens

Hey John,

Verry Nice set up,

One of the local Fishermen here had a piece of Black Coral on the dash of his boat the other day, the Departmental people, weren't impressed, apparently you have to be special to have it, the piece I saw come from about 200m down somewhere off the coast at Exmouth WA. wasn't big enough to make a pen from either.

HazzaB

Yep it grows deep and slow ,it is a protected species and strictly controlled all over the world,some have licenses to gather , the bit I have was given to me about ten years ago from a licensed collecter from TI. was going to make jewellery from it back in my lapidiary days.It just sat around for years till some one who knew its real value coaxed me into making a Majestic pen out of a piece.My wife showed her boss ,who was a marine scientist ,so of course with a fair amount of Bribery I had to find enough to make another .He gets it tomorrow hehe. But it is hard to get in any size I am sure ,I tried to buy some on ebay, was advertised as "black coral" was coral painted black lol. It's a nice ornament though and yes it does look as good as the picture shiny black with some minor inclusions to show its not plastic

Originally Posted by gawdelpus

Yep it grows deep and slow ...

That's red coral, also protected. I saw heaps of black coral in Fiji growing in quite shallow water (12-20m). The live coral was actually brown and apparently turns black after it dies. Quite a few dead branches were around when I was diving, but the locals use it to carve and had dibs . Plenty of fakes about, only limited amounts of the real stuff around (red and black), but at a price. I've only scored beads , so you are lucky to get what you did.

Great pen though , shame the photo makes it look like plastic.

Nice work, looks great John

Very classy and classic looking pen.