There are no visible seams in the twisted portion, which has clearly started out as silver sheet. It is not cast, and if it was die-stamped, the halves have been joined with extreme skill. My initial thought was that this pen might be related to a group of Gorham-made silver dip pens, in which a twist pattern appears to have been applied with some sort of die to a one-piece pen blank, without any joining. The Gorham pens, however, have a much slower rate of twist, and usually just a few impressed flutes to the pattern. They are also all fully Gorham-marked, whereas the pen shown above is marked rather differently. In any event, figuring out how the Gorham pens were done is on my long-term to-do list -- long-term, since it's likely that the process was a trade secret and never patented, and since the Gorham archives at Brown University aren't going to be accessible for a while during renovation of their home at the John Hay Library (not that they are easily searchable, especially for such a narrow and esoteric question).
UPDATE: It appears the pen was made by wrapping a channeled strip around a mandrel; the seam runs helically. Discussion here.
No comments:
Post a Comment