Limited editions are common in fine writing instruments. What is unusual about David Oscarson is that the limit is chosen to mean something. An edition size is rarely a round number; it is usually a date, a lifespan or an anniversary connected to the subject of the pen.
Numbers with meaning
- Edwin Hubble — 63 pieces per colour, for the 63 years of Hubble's life.
- Alfred Bernhard Nobel — 63 pieces per colour, one for each year of Nobel's life.
- Spirit of St. Louis — 72 pieces per colour, one for each year of Charles Lindbergh's life.
- Carl Milles — 80 pieces per design, for the 80 years of the sculptor's life.
- America the Beautiful — 76 pieces per colour, in honour of 1776 and the 250th anniversary of the United States.
- Russian Imperial — 304 pieces, one for each year of the Romanov reign.
- 25th Anniversary Art Nouveau — just 25 pieces per colour, for twenty-five years of the house.
Read together, the numbers form a small history of their own. The number on the pen is part of the story the pen tells, in the same way as the engraving on the barrel or the emblem on the crown.
How the count works
Each primary colour variation is limited separately, and the limit includes both fountain pen and roller ball styles. A collection offered in five colours and limited to 63 pieces per colour will therefore never exceed 63 of any one colour, whatever mix of fountain pens and roller balls is made. The Russian Imperial is the exception that proves the rule: its 304 pieces are an aggregate across its four primary colour variations.
Every piece is individually numbered. The number identifies your pen within its run and is part of what a collector records when a pen is bought, insured or eventually passed on.
Once a run is complete, it does not return.
Sold out means sold out
Several earlier collections, Celestial, Harvest and Jacques deMolay among them, are already listed as sold out by the house. They are not reissued. For collectors, the number is both a record of the story and a guarantee that the edition will stay small.
That has a practical consequence. When a colour you like is still available, it will not necessarily remain so, and later pieces from a completed run can only be found on the secondary market. If a particular colour or number matters to you, it is worth asking early.
What to keep with your pen
Keep the presentation box and any documentation that comes with the pen, and make a note of its number and colour. Those details make insurance simpler and help establish the pen's provenance if it is ever sold or handed down.
Finding a particular piece
El Laguito Cigars is an authorized David Oscarson retailer in Canada. Availability changes as runs progress, so if you are looking for a particular collection, colour or style, contact us and we will check with the house before you order. Every pen we supply is genuine, individually numbered and shipped insured from Mississauga, Ontario.