CLASSIC PENS CIVIL WAR LIMITED EDITION PEN, Jim’s Fountain Pen Site
Jim’s Fountain Pen Site
Classic Pens CP4 – 1997 Washington & Richmond Limited Edition
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The American Civil War- also known as the War Between the States and the Great Rebellion – was the most shattering trauma to have been experienced by the United States in its entire history.
In four years of conflict, between 1861 and 1865, more Americans died at the hands of other Americans than were lost in all the nation’s other wars combined. In the three days of the Battle of Gettysburg alone, the casualties exceeded the total number of dead in Vietnam.
The Civil War represented the coming of age of a previously young, naive, and idealistic country. Its poignancy and its tragedy lay in the ferocity with which families were torn apart, friends and relatives pitted against each other, old allegiances and loving attachments to the land uprooted.
By the end of the struggle, a civilization, a culture, a way of life lay in ruins. But this destruction, as Lincoln had hoped, heralded a national rebirth and resurrection – a new direction for the United States as a whole, which was to transform the nation beyond all recognition.
As a result of the Civil War, slavery was abolished and American development acquired a dynamic new momentum, which, by the end of the century, was to make the United States one of the world’s major powers.
Yet the horrors of fratricidal strife took more than a century to heal, and left scars which remain in the present day. And those horrors, intensified by new technologies and methodologies of warfare, were to offer the world a foretaste of the conflicts that have characterized our own century.
The circumstances of the Civil War produced one of the most extraordinary assemblies of great commanders in the entire course of military history. While European generals still looked back to the warfare of half a century before, those of the Civil War introduced new forms of strategy, tactics, and logistics which established precedents for the future.
Southern commanders like Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson adaptedto their own age and needs the cunning, the originality, the audacity and imaginative thinking of such predecessors as Fredrick the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte.
Union commanders like Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumsah Sherman laid down the strategic principles on the basis of which all subsequent conflicts, including those of our own century, were to be conducted.
Confederate calvary leaders like James Ewell Brown (“Jeb”) Stuart epitomished the dash, the glamour, the courtly gallantry and chivalry traditionally associated with the “Old South” at its best, its most cultured and civilized.
Union calvary leaders, like Phillip Sheridan, were to develop the techniques which (for better or for worse) led to the opening and conquest of the American West – as well as to a major source of inspiration for Hollywood.
Many of the commanders on both sides had formerly been friends, comrades, colleagues at military academies like West Point. Many had fought side by side in the war against Mexico between 1846 and 1848. By 1861, the were to be pitted against each other in a struggle to the death.
If the commanders of the Civil War were extraordinary, so, too, were the armies. Coming largely from rural backgrounds, accustomed to horses, weapons and living rough, Confederate soldiers are now recognized to have been among the toughest and most resourceful in military history. They possessed the additional incentive of fighting for their own land, their own homes, their own beloved soil. During the first half of the Civil War, they consistently outmaneuvered and outfought their adversaries.
But the soldiers of the Union – farmers from the mid-west, workers from the North’s great urban centres, reluctant draftees in some cases and idealistic university professors in others – were quick to learn. They soon acquired the discipline andtenacity necessary to resist their opponents; and they benefited, too, from the inexhaustible wealth of equipment, weaponry and supplies churned out by the North’s burgeoning factories and industrial energy. By the end of the conflict, they might well have held their own against any European army – as, indeed, observers from such armies readily admitted.
The Civil War left the United States with many kinds of legacy. It left the country, and the world, with one of the first photographic records of any conflict in history. It left a wealth of songs which have become part of the country’s and the world’s most cherished musical heritage – “Dixie” being one of those.
It also fostered in America a new and more mature idealism born out of tragedy and loss, a new concept of freedom and equality made all the more precious for the price it cost. And it confronted the nation with the painful recognition that civil war, or fratricidal strife, is always the most shattering and heartbreaking form of conflict that any nation can experience. To that extent, it represents a lesson for all of us today.
SHEAFFER LEGACYCP4CIVIL WAR PENS
Washington & Richmond
The traditional art of guillochè engraving has adorned fountain pens for many years and been passed down through generations. Master craftsmen today harmonise this art with computer technology to produce linear patterns in which the lines of engraving run vertically down the pen body.
Circular guillochè patterns are formed with the lines of engraving running horizontally around the pen body. They are very distinctive, substantial and of exquisite beauty, but, alas, are virtually unobtainable today. It is just suchcircular engravings, however, which inpart the strength and complexity to the American Civil War pens. A celebrated circular engraving machine dating from 1928 was reactivated from the museum of the distinguished Murelli R. S.A.R.L. company in France. This machine is used exclusively to produce theCP4series.
TheCP4series of Civil War pens bears witness to the imaginative originality of Classic Pens, the fastidious craftsmanship of Murelli and the technical precision and expertise of Sheaffer.
The Sheaffer LegacyCP4CIVIL WAR PENSWashington & Richmondare further authenticated by a certificate from Classic Pens specifying the edition and individual limited edition number for each pen. They are housed in hand-crafted presentation cases exclusively made for the series and are accompanied by theSheaffer instruction booklet and guarantee.
TheCP4series of Civil War pens reflects the Classic Pens policy of devising new and original designs through which writing instruments transcend their function, and become objects of beauty as precious as jewellry, as well as valuable investments and future heirlooms.
Item #53A -1997 CP4 Civil War Limited Edition Pens – The “Washington & Richmond” Classic Pens, by world the famous pen collector and designer, Andreas Lambrou – Sterling Silver – Solid 18kt gold inlaid medium nib – Remembering the American Civil War 1861-1865 in truly a proud way – Each set of two pens, comes with hand made presentation boxes – Signed ceretifcaite by Andreas Lambrou…
Two Pen Set – Medium Nib…Retail $2,600.00…$1,562.50 per set
Washington or The Richmond Single Fountain Pen Retail $1,400.00…$859.35
Insured Priority Mail Paid In the U.S.
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