David Oscarson pens are such high-end works of art, they can seem intimidating and unobtainable, but I know two women who have recently purchased their first one. I realized I wanted to better understand and relate to what makes people take the leap and buy these spectacular writing instruments, so I asked each of them if she would tell me her story over Zoom. They both said yes!
I know it's a little unusual for me to focus on the same brand for two articles in a row, but I hope readers will indulge me. I actually began writing this before last week's piece about David Oscarson's pens, but David's store visit at Pen Boutique was so wonderful and rich with detail, I knew I needed to focus an entire article on my own experience getting to know David Oscarson better, and to release that story separately first. Think of that article as the main attraction, and this one as a spin-off from another point of view!
Clare
I first met Clare Coco and her husband Peter at the DC Pen Show last month when I briefly stopped by David Oscarson's table, something I did three or four times during the show. I didn't know it at the time, but Clare had just met David, and had bought her first pen from him about fifteen minutes before I walked up. As he started showing her one of his powerful Deus Regit pens, I captured a quick video.
Later, I asked Clare for her permission to use the above still image from the video in my DC Pen Show blog article, which she graciously granted, and then told me about her new pen and how meaningful it is to her. Thank you so much for speaking with me and sharing your story, Clare! Although I barely know Clare and Peter, I can see why the pen community has embraced them and she has become a "penfluencer" on Instagram (@clarecoco_), YouTube (, at pen shows, and beyond. Clare's warmth and down to earth enthusiasm made our conversation both a pleasure and a revelation.
Clare's David Oscarson story started with Peter. Clare and Peter have been married for 40 years and have both always liked fine pens, but they didn't start actively collecting until two years ago. All of the sudden, something clicked for them, and they discovered that it was a passion that they loved exploring together. Meeting people and sharing their love of pens has propelled their mutual interest.
Clare and Peter didn't own any David Oscarson pens until this March, when Peter found his dream pen at the Baltimore Pen Show when talking with nibmeister Kirk Speer about David. In a stroke of beautiful serendipity, someone had just traded the Black Harlequin pen to Kirk, and it was in perfect condition. It was the exact David Oscarson pen Peter had always wanted, and, when he saw that Kirk had it at a reduced price, he couldn't believe it! Peter couldn't resist, and texted Clare to tell her how "boo-boo" (naughty) he'd been. She laughed with affection recounting the story to me.
[David brought some beautiful pens from his Harlequin collection to his store event with us! We can order any of the colors that are still available. This photo is by my teammate Harsh Atit.]
Peter loved his new pen so much that he decided to get Clare her own David Oscarson pen for her birthday when they were at the DC Supershow in August. He wanted it to be a surprise, but he wanted her to choose her favorite. Clare had been helping at the Leonardo table, but Peter managed to lure her away before David closed up for the day, led her to David's table, and said, "Choose whichever one you want." Wow! As Clare told me this story, her face and voice glowed with love and excitement.
When I asked Clare how she chose from all those beautiful designs, her demeanor shifted to a more reflective deep tenderness. She held up a mother of pearl pendant depicting the Hindu deity Ganesha, who is described as having a human form with an elephant’s head and one broken tusk. "We lost our daughter, [Alexandra], it will be five years in November. I bought her this pendant fifteen years ago, and she never took it off." Clare now keeps the pendant as a memory of her daughter, who loved elephants and had a tattoo of Lord Ganesha on her arm, along with several other small elephant tattoos. When Clare looked into David's pen cases at the show, at first she was drawn to the Celestial pens, but, as soon as she saw the Lord Ganesha pens in his second case, she knew which one she wanted.
[A white Lord Ganesha pen lies in a tray with other David Oscarson designs during our store event with David. Pictured are Hans Christian Andersen in two color variations, Deus Regit in two color variations, Lord Ganesha in white, Art Nouveau in purple, and Ellis Island in two color variations.]
The sun and sunburst designs on the cap are also breathtaking and use multiple levels of engraving to add depth and realism. David Oscarson's website explains how the effect is achieved: "the rays of the sun remain in high relief while the sunburst pattern in the background features occasional omissions in engraving, reflecting heat and solar flares." This is so effective and cool! When he visited our store, David told us that the three-dimensional face of the sun engraved on the cap is a replica of the Nauvoo sunstone from Nauvoo, Illinois.
Although she loves the iconic Celestial collection, Clare explained to me that her daughter's love for elephants was something they liked to share, and she and Peter had given Alexandra many little elephant gifts over the years. "I tend to sometimes buy pens for their meaning... so it's like keeping her memory alive, for me." As she showed me her pen's details, I thought about how powerfully moving it must have been for Clare, as a fountain pen lover, to lay eyes on a pen with such a strong connection to her only daughter.
Then Clare opened up to me more about Alexandra and how important it is to her to talk about her, both to keep her memory alive and to keep people aware. Alexandra had some surgeries and got addicted to pain medications. She went through cycles of being clean and not clean, but was doing really well and was working at her dream job in California, and Clare and Peter planned to visit her for her birthday. She was super excited to have them visit, and they talked every day, but, two weeks before her 29th birthday, she died. They will never know exactly what happened.
I've lost people very important to me, too, and I know that thinking about them can be difficult, so I asked Clare, "When you got the pen, was it emotional for you? Did it stir up really strong feelings? Or was it just like, 'Yes. This is great, and perfect, and it makes me happy'?" Clare nodded. "It did, a little bit. But it was happy memories." She added, "David is very religious as well, and, knowing that, I could share the reasons why I chose that pen, and he appreciated that I told him that."
[One of David Oscarson's powerful Deus Regit (God Rules) pens, his most personally spiritual design to date. Photo by Harsh Atit.]
"We have it out, and, every morning, I see it. So, I smile. [Alexandra] liked to write, as well. She was always into drawing and writing. Her favorite store was Staples.... If she was here, she would be so excited for it. I just know that. So it was a good feeling, when I saw it, and I said, 'This is the one I want.'"
Clare added that Peter had seen the Lord Ganesha pen, and knew she would choose it, but he wanted her to choose. I love that!
Although Clare is from a Greek Orthodox background, not Hindu, and doesn't view the pen's symbolism as something religiously significant to her personally, she appreciates it and likes learning about other people's religion and backgrounds. She told me that Lord Ganesha is known for wisdom and removing obstacles, and is also honored during writing sessions as a patron of letters and learning. But, for her, the most powerful symbolic meaning of the pen is her connection to her daughter.
As I talked to David later during our store event, I realized that a lot of people who buy his pens are drawn to them for similar reasons. There is something powerful about his pens that speak to an individual personally, and which pen is the most meaningful is different for everyone. This is because they are so rich with details, full of imagery and stories that capture our imaginations and reach our hearts.
[Hans Christian Andersen The Ugly Duckling pen, now on display in our store. Photo by Harsh Atit.]
For some, they are an art piece only, to appreciate for their beauty, their craftsmanship, and their ability to convey a powerful message. For Clare, that's part of the reason she loves her pen, but she assured me, "I do write with the expensive pens. That's what they're there for.... I display it, but I will also use it."
Clare lifted up the ornate pen lying in its highly polished hinged wooden box, which is akin to a lovely jewelry box. "There's just something special about it. I just find the whole process of making the pen amazing. Even the detail on the box is just incredible." She added, "It is heavy, but once you take the cap off, it's fine."
I agreed, "Yes... without the cap on, it feels really good in your hand. It's well balanced." Clare nodded, "I have rheumatoid arthritis, and... what I like about this is the grip section. Even though it's metal, it's got writing on it, so it's not slippery." In addition to the texture, the large size of the grip section makes the pen ergonomic for her.
As translated on David Oscarson's website, the Sanskrit text surrounding the gripping section of the Lord Ganesha collection reads:
Clare added, "[These pens] are just outstanding. It floors me, the detail work that's in here, and I can see the value of it. So much work goes into it. And there's [only a few] pieces." I nodded in agreement. The Lord Ganesha collection was produced in eight color variations, each limited to production of 108 pieces, including fountain pens and rollerballs. My article from last week describes the astonishing amount of time, skill, and patience creating each piece requires.
Clare went on to mention some of the Visconti and Montblanc pens she and her husband own, and I commented, "You have a really nice collection. Did you already have other pens in the same price range as David's pens before you got your David Oscarson pens?" To my surprise, she shook her head. "No." David Oscarson's pens are special, and, for Clare and Peter, it was worth spending more than they had for any other pen.
Holding the pen in her hand to show me its comfort and beauty, she kept looking down at it. "I don't know... the whole thing, it just makes me smile. It's something happy. This is just stunning, and I just fell in love with it. It means a lot. And it means a lot that he surprised me with it, too." Yes, I nodded. Surprising your loved one with a gift that shows you truly understand them is one of the sweetest things you can do. Losing their only child must have been extremely difficult for Clare and Peter, but their love for one another helped them get through it and reach a place where a beautiful memento like this pen can bring them closer together and evoke tenderness and joy rather than sadness.
Evelyn
"Evelyn" is one of my store customers whom I've gotten to know over the past several months. She prefers to keep her collection somewhat private, so she asked me to choose an alias for her in this article, which I was happy to do. Her David Oscarson story is very different from Clare's but fascinating and also powerful.
Evelyn originally became interested in fountain pens about ten or twelve years ago, but, at the time, she was living like a minimalist and valued having few possessions. Her personal policy was to only have one pen at a time. When she bought a new one, she would give one away. She encountered David Oscarson pens and thought they were beautiful, but felt they were part of a different market segment.
But, more recently, something changed in Evelyn and she realized she enjoys having multiple pens because she appreciates the differences among them, and that different pens can have different roles in your life. Her collection ballooned, and she began to look at collecting more seriously. She saw David Oscarson pens mentioned often in online discussion groups and at pen stores, but she didn't pay a lot of attention to them at first because Montblanc pens still seemed out of range to her at the time, and David Oscarson pens are significantly more expensive than that.
Then, like Clare, she saw the Lord Ganesha pen series. "I never really thought the concept of a grail pen made sense, because it's like... what the deal? Once I have this, I'm done? Is that how it's supposed to work? And I never wanted to idolize over something like that. But when I saw the Ganesha series, I really fell in love with it."
[Photo by Harsh Atit.]
Evelyn continued, "I felt like it was a special connection to me, because I have a lot of associations with Ganesha and elephants and those color schemes. And it also felt like a kind of excellent investment." She paused, backtracking. "'Investment' feels like the wrong term, because I'm not talking about it like an investment monetarily, but more like... I really care about this stuff, and being able to get something that's at the top of its class and something that I really care about was a really meaningful experience and something that I don't allow myself to have that often."
I asked Evelyn to tell me more about the meaning Lord Ganesha has for her personally, and she replied, "Ganesha has a powerful role in a lot of Indian households. So, for context, in a lot of Hindu households, there's a shrine that's maintained, and people will sometimes have little tokens or icons, including those of Ganesha, and Ganesha has domain over good fortune, and over new beginnings and enterprises. And so, when a person sets off on their own, or when they are going through something where some kind of luck is in play, sometimes they will be given a little totem or a little icon of Ganesha. So, I've always had small versions of these kind of looking over me as I was growing up, and I liked the tactility of them, too. You know, I liked picking them up, and I liked holding the weight in my hand. There's something very special to that."
She went on to explain, "In a lot of spiritual texts, the symbols have a lot of meaning, and so Ganesha has things tied into him that are part of his story, but it's not a coincidence that he has an elephant head. There is significance tied in there, with the wisdom, and the long memory, and the good judgement of elephants, and some respect for that."
I asked Evelyn if she likes elephants separately, or specifically in relation to Lord Ganesha, and she replied, "I enjoy both, and it's a little bit interesting to kind of navigate that, because to reduce the identify of Ganesha to elephanthood is disrespectful, so you wouldn't want to say you like it purely for that perspective, but I also won't deny that I share an aesthetic appreciation for elephants and also a kind of a respect for them as emotional, empathetic, and highly motivated and long-lived creatures that rival people. But I also have a separate stream of connection to the idol of Ganesha, and so, I would say that the idol of Ganesha trumps more of those associations, but I'm not going to deny that I look at the elephant head and smile."
[Rollerball version of the Lord Ganesha pen, on display in our store during our David Oscarson event. Photo by Harsh Atit.]
Like Clare, Evelyn didn't own any other pens in this price range before she decided to buy the Lord Ganesha pen. For her, making this leap was a "little bit of analysis, a little bit of opportunity, and a little bit of just love. And maybe a little bit of poetry, you could call it."
Smiling, I laughed, "Do you care to explain more?"
"Yes, so, on the analysis side, I realized that because of my previous fountain pen life and my minimalism, I had been holding myself back, in terms of how deeply I wanted to let myself dive into the hobby. I have a good number of pens at this point--more than 50, less than 100--but they tend to hang out in the lower end of the price bracket. And I don't necessarily mean TWSBIs, but I do mean $100, $200 next-level pens, but not the luxury market or not even most of Pelikan's range."
I nodded with understanding, "Right."
"And so, I feel like a healthy, organically built hobby kind of has a pyramid of value, where you have things in each tier, and you're going to have probably fewer as you go up, but, once you become experienced, you'll probably cut away some of the lower value stuff that's not bringing something special to the table. But because I've been artificially limiting myself, my pyramid had a very wide, flat base and almost nothing up above." She added, laughing joyfully, "And you can kind of consider this almost a radical rebalancing!"
"And, to some degree, that has happened, because, after having the Oscarson in my collection, I do feel more enabled to pursue pens in different brackets, and, ultimately, that's a good thing, because I wasn't holding myself back because they were totally unaffordable, like if I were to sum up some of the cheaper pens, they would have equated to those pens. It's just... it's partly like that sense of where am I actually spending my money and how do I..." She broke off, paused, then stated directly, "I grew up poor, frankly. We're doing better now, but we spent a lot of time considering where our money went, and luxuries were something that I didn't spend much on. And so, that artificial limit was something that I held onto for a long time. But I don't really need to. And this is... my way of letting go of that."
"The other part of it was... serendipity. I wanted to get myself something kind of nice for my birthday. I don't normally get myself things for my birthday; I'm normally very monkish about it, like I don't accept gifts, I don't really throw a party. And I wanted to see if I could get something special." Evelyn's birthday overlapped with the DC Pen Show, and, at the show, she met David and spoke with him. "I felt like things were aligning. I got the chance to see and hold the pen. And I remember, I was holding the pen, and--David's a very charming man, and he also understands his customers--and so he was looking at me looking at the pen, and he says, 'Uh-oh. I know that look.' And, I didn't bother to deny it." She added, "I kind of decided to pull the trigger when I had the pen in my hand, and all of the things were coming together, and I realized that it might be possible."
[David hands a client the Lord Ganesha pen in our store. Photo by Harsh Atit.]
Evelyn and I went on to talk more about the details of the specific pen she had chosen, the Black Ganesha. She said the paisley pattern is a little more subtle in the black colorway, and, depending on the lighting, it looks more black and it is harder to see, but, when it catches a reflection, it shows a beautiful flash of teal green. "I'm all about that. I'm not a very flashy person by nature, but I do like that flash. But I like it in controlled quantities. I like it when I can pull it out and it catches the light and it's stunning, and I like it when it can fade back into something more subtle that you have to put a little effort into appreciating, like a movie that's a little bit less accessible. I enjoy that kind of thing."
I nodded in understanding and agreement, "Mm-hm! Or maybe, it's something that--I don't want to put words into your mouth, but--something that you have to know about to be able to really appreciate it. You're aware of it, but someone else might not see it if they looked at the pen."
"Exactly. And, besides the general subtlety that they convey, I think it's sort of like a fun moment of bringing a person in, when you can specifically line it up and show them how it looks and get that 'wow' moment. And I really enjoy that. I think it helps with the community aspect."
When I saw Evelyn at the store, I asked her to show me the effect. Her pen looks like a dark mossy green in bright light, and the intricate paisley guilloché pattern is easy to admire, although certainly not as visible as it is in the white version we have on display. But, indeed, in dimmer light, the pen appears black until the high and low relief parts of the guilloché engraving work together to reflect and refract light, flashing green. It's very alluring.
I asked Evelyn if she thinks she will actually use the pen to write with, or if it's more something to look at and appreciate as a piece of art. Her answer was swift and certain, "Oh, for sure! I am eager to use the pen!" The joy in her voice came through loud and clear. "I did spend some time thinking about this, and I know there are some people who would consider it crazy or even sacrilege to start using something like this, but... I don't think so! I think that... the thing is a pen. You honor it by using it as a pen."
I beamed, "I think it wants to be used!"
"I think so, too. I think it wants to be used to write something special. I think that if you don't use it, it's less of a pen, and more of a pen-shaped work of art. And don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for pen-shaped works of art. But I'm a pen collector." She said she imagined she'd be very careful with it at first, wash her hands before using it, and have a little ritual of pulling it out of the box, but, "I am absolutely positive that, by the end of the year, it's going to end up in my pen case and it's going to be something that I feel comfortable using day to day."
"That's wonderful!"
"Oh, I want to add one thing."
"Sure!"
"David actually convinced me to use the pen. And it wasn't because of any specific effort on his part, it's because he talked about his warranty. According to him, if anything in the pen breaks, they will straight up reforge the thing... Like, I asked him, 'All right, let's say that I'm using the pen, I drop it onto the sidewalk, the cap shatters, it's entirely my fault.' He said, 'Send it in. We'll make you a new one.' And he explained to me that when you're buying one of these pens, you're not just buying the pen, you're buying that guarantee. And he has one in his pocket, you know? He's using it, too."
[25th Anniversary Art Nouveau pen in David Oscarson's jacket pocket. Photo by Harsh Atit.]
"And so, understanding that if anything actually happens to the pen, if part of the clip breaks, or if there's a crack in the finish, that he will take care of it, gives me the confidence to use it in the day to day."
I asked Evelyn how writing with the pen makes her feel. Does it feel different from writing with an ordinary pen?
She thought for a moment, then answered slowly, "This is one of those interesting things, where you have to ask yourself, 'What are you getting out of a pen?' So, the answer to your question is both yes and no. Does it write differently than a regular pen? No, in the sense that it feels like a pen, it has the weight and the balance of a pen, and it writes with an 18 karat gold nib, like many other pens. However, there are things that are unique to this pen that make it a bit different from the typical fare and from something that you would get in the day to day, and I would attribute that to the design of the overall body and certain aspects of its materials."
[Photo by Harsh Atit.]
"If you've ever written with one of the older high-end Watermans--not the vintage type, but the kind that has the 18 karat nib that has a little bit of softness, but not to the point of Pilot, it kind of reminds me of that. It's a forgiving experience, with a very smooth nib, and it has a nice degree of softness but not much variation."
She laughed, "Some of the people at the DC Pen Crew told me, 'Well, a lot of his customers don't necessarily write with his pens.'"
"Yeah, I can imagine," I nodded. "They're collecting them. And that's okay, too. It's just a different way of looking at it."
"So, what I love about his pens is that they aren't afraid to experiment and go with the theme very, very intensely. And I feel like sometimes, we're a little tied to tradition, and I think that Oscarson does a great job of marrying tradition with the vision of the project and actually turning it into something new."
"And, like, there are things in the Tesla pen that I love. I think that the idea of turning the clip into that whole assembly, and having the lightning radiating out from the circle underneath the Tesla pen, that was genius. I think that having the little pigeon there was a nice touch. There's a lot of little details about these pens that I really appreciate."
[Nikola Tesla’s beloved white pigeon on the cap of a Tesla pen. Photo by Harsh Atit.
At the end of our talk, I asked Evelyn if there was anything else she wanted to say about her pen that we hadn't already discussed, so she went to grab it and look at it. When she returned, she said, "A couple of things. I think we need to embrace more beauty in this world. And, I think this is one of them. I think this is an instance of something that's almost uncompromising in trying to hit the mark. And I feel like it's hard to do that because it's not something that we focus on in terms of the things we [usually] buy. But I think it makes a big difference in the way that we live our lives. I want to see more beauty in our buildings, I want to see more beauty in our tools, in our clothes."
"I agree. Yes. Is there one particular part of your pen that you like the most, that particularly attracts you, or is special?"
Evelyn paused for a moment, thinking, then answered, "The absolute show-stopper is the full 3D Ganesha head clip. I mean, there's no way around it, like... you want to comment on other things, but... you asked if writes like another pen, and there are interesting aspects of its writing experience, but ultimately, pens are within a spectrum of variation, and you're not going to get something that is fundamentally unique, right? The clip, though... I don't know anything else like that. As far as I know, that is fundamentally unique. ...I think people recognize the Ganesha pen, even if they're not fans of Oscarson, and I think that clip is a big part of why."
