I'm stoked! My battered, broken and beat up Zanerian Fine Art pen holder is now fully restored, with ink marks and history saved. I wanted to share the beautiful results and a bit of the history. This pen belonged to my grandfather, who was a penman in the early 1900's. When he died, my family cleared out his house, and knowing nothing about pens, threw out all his pens, nibs and ephemera. I saved this pen from the trash, because I thought it was so pretty, and put it in my hope chest. I was still in my pre-teens, and didn't know I'd one day grow up to be a broad pen calligrapher, and late in life, take up learning the pointed pen.
The pen holder kicked around in my pen box, full of $2.00 pen holders and junk, for 40 years, until I found it this year and decided to put it to use. I loved how it felt in my hand, but the flange was sloppy, the tail was broken off and the finial missing. I had no idea of its value, and still thought it was "pretty," and a nice link to my family history.
When I found out that it was a coveted pen, and held in high regard, I posted here in the forum to see if anyone knew of a pen smith who might be interested in restoring it. Forum member Anasazi recommended Yoke Pen Company, and I wrote Christopher Yoke the next day.
Christopher was so gracious and agreed to do the restoration. Once he received it, he decided how to approach it. Rather than make it "look new," he wanted to preserve the history by leaving the wear and ink stains on the pen holder, but cleaning it up, lightly coating the pen, replacing the finial and broken part of the shaft and repairing the flange.
He said he really enjoyed working on this family heirloom, and he made a video on Instagram of how he repaired and restored it, step by step. It's fascinating to see how he used the rosewood dust to fill in the cracks, and fitted the pieces together. You cannot even tell it was ever damaged now! It just looks loved and well used. It's a beautiful, phenomenal restoration, honoring the integrity of the original pen and it's first owner.
I couldn't be more thrilled!
Here's the link to Christopher's video:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BoNd37pDmQP