What is the most expensive pen blanks / kit you have ever seen or used?

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jalbert

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Joined
May 17, 2015
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991
Location
Louisville, KY
Arco celluloid. Upwards of $1k for an 8ish inch blank, should you be lucky enough to find any.
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egnald

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Joined
Jun 9, 2017
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3,062
Location
Columbus, Nebraska, USA
I think it is likely Khamphi Rosewood Burl. It is hard to put an exact value on it because it is so rare. I would estimate a pen blank sized piece to be somewhere in the $100 to $200 range.

Even non-burl Khamphi Rosewood has been a difficult species to obtain even before the Cites ban on the export of rosewoods. Khamphi grows in areas in Laos in and around the Ho Chi Minh trail. These areas are still covered with unexploded cluster bombs which makes harvesting Khamphi problematical.

During the Vietnam War, 270 million cluster bombs were dropped on Laos. Nearly a third did not detonate leaving Laos contaminated with over 80 million unexploded bombs most of which still remain a hazard today.

Here is a picture of a pen that I made from Khamphi Rosewood Burl. I was very fortunate to acquire it. It was brought from Laos by Souphom Manikhong.- Dave
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mrburls

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Sep 13, 2008
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1,726
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San Antonio Tx.
Most expensive pen I made was back in 2015 (not sure how to bring picture up) it was using Tibaldi Celluloid Nitrate rod made in Italy with a Oriental Dragon kit and 18k gold nib. Now thinking about it wishing I would have kept that pen. Oh well. Normally I would just make another one, but trying find that material anymore is almost impossible. And the price for a rod is well over $1,000.00 now.
Keith
 

jrista

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Joined
Aug 12, 2021
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2,222
Location
Colorado
Well, I was going to chime in and say some of the most intricate Detroit Agate (fordite) pen blanks sometimes sell for over $100. Also that certain Fossilized Mammoth Tooth blanks can sell for around $200.

But then I saw the Tibaldi Impero blank post, and looked that up. :D Wow, what a beautiful pen!!


And it seems the blanks, if you can find one, do indeed sell for over a grand...
 

jcm71

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Joined
May 5, 2011
Messages
1,660
Location
Chattanooga, TN
Huanghuali. I won some sort of contest here on IAP several years ago, and Mark James (a generous man if there ever was one) included a huanghuali blank in the prize box he sent me. I used it on a Jr. Emperor and was fortunate enough to sell it to the McKee Foods matriarch, who was going to gift it to her son. Most expensive pen I have ever sold, by far.
 

Mortalis

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Joined
Aug 19, 2013
Messages
658
Location
Bardstown, Ky
The most expensive pen blanks I've ever purchased were Honduran Rosewood Burl. IIRC I paid around $30 per blank and I bought 4 of them.
 

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jrista

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Aug 12, 2021
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2,222
Location
Colorado
Elephant tusk. It was expensive, and I cannot sell it without being outlaw. Double cost. But it is not an unpleasant pen to write with... View attachment 336871
If people would source this stuff properly, from naturally deceased elephants, and not poach from living elephants, real Ivory would be a whole different story. My father has some things made from real ivory, some of it from well back in our family history. It is amazing material. It's too bad people are wiping out beautiful and amazing animals to get it these days, though.

I recently found some pretty good synthetic ivory that is fairly close to the real thing. Has the natural striations, sometimes those little "knots"... Actually, I've found a couple sources, one of them was actually TruStone. I'll have to see if I can find the other option again.
 

wimkluck

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Joined
May 24, 2010
Messages
287
Location
Gaanderen Netherlands
If people would source this stuff properly, from naturally deceased elephants, and not poach from living elephants, real Ivory would be a whole different story. My father has some things made from real ivory, some of it from well back in our family history. It is amazing material. It's too bad people are wiping out beautiful and amazing animals to get it these days, though.

I recently found some pretty good synthetic ivory that is fairly close to the real thing. Has the natural striations, sometimes those little "knots"... Actually, I've found a couple sources, one of them was actually TruStone. I'll have to see if I can find the other option again.
I bought this month a few blanks of elforyn, two blanks as a subtitute for ivory. here is the link https://www.elforyn.de/en/products/elforyn/
 

MedWoodWorx

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Joined
Nov 23, 2021
Messages
598
Location
Greece
Do you guys really want to be the last link in a chain of destruction? What exactly means the most valuable? It means its rare, right? And since most rare woods are exotic species in part of the world with extreme poverty i think its easy for anyone to connect the dots.
Ok maybe a small piece of wood doesn't make a huge difference when talking about deforestation. But still we as penturners do our part to make/raise the demand of a particular species when buying such a blank. Do we really want to do that?
The most valuable wood is the one that puts a smile on the face of the user not the one that creates envy because of its perceived monetary value. Just a thought, cheers.
 

jttheclockman

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Joined
Feb 22, 2005
Messages
19,083
Location
NJ, USA.
I brought up a similar topic years ago asking about the best HighEnd pens you have seen. I had many conversations with Roy (OKLAHOMAN ) in private and he showed me a pen that he did not want to show on the site for again back years ago sharing top made pens and selling did not mix well here. I am still looking for it for I am sure he would not mind now. I am sure there are members here that still do not share their best work here in fear of copycats.
 
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
797
Location
Fuquay Varina, NC
If I hit my sales goals for this year I'm going to produce the most expensive DiamondCast blank yet... rough estimates show that it will be about $2000-3000 depending on how much of the pigment I need to get decent opacity. It's an insane project with no real guarantee of success but I do like doing things that other's haven't done.
Our current most expensive blank uses the top grade Lapis lazuli pigment that costs $1400 for 100g of pigment. Results in about a $50 blank with that blank being translucent. To do opaque would cost probably $200.
 
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