The pen is very nice but I agree the background detracts. If you want to include it in your picture, perhaps you could try laying a piece of light gauze across the "stone" to mute the colors and reflect more light.
you needed longer exposure, but then the bright spots on the metal of the pen would become more of a problem. not only do you need more light. you need a different light. defused and not the flash on your camera. As for the background. it depends on what effect you where going for. This woudl be a great way to photograph a camouflage pen for example. So if you where going for that comparison effect I think it works pretty well with the light adjustment Roy made. still to much flash in the metal though.. Lighting is hard to get a grip on. stick with it.
Personally I like the background, I have always liked Malachite. It is a beautifu stone and very easy to work with. Of course I also like lapidary, look at the bullseye in the background "stone".