Toledo
The art of working with Damascus steel goes back thousands of years and involves steel or iron objects being decorated by engraving a pattern into the surface. A thin sheet of gold is placed over the pattern and embossed deep into the material with the help of a little hammer. In order to show the newly filled pattern, the object will then be heated to approximately 800°C. By doing so, the steel surfaces oxidizes and turn black, allowing the gold to shine brilliantly. This technique traveled with the Arabs into Spain and has been perfected throughout the centuries, particularly in the famous Spanish town of Toledo.
In 1931, Pelikan adopted this technique for the Toledo model with such success that the design has remained virtually unchanged throughout the years. Today the decorative sleeve is made of a single piece of sterling silver and the motif is covered with a layer of gold (or palladium to obtain a silver surface) in a series of painstaking steps. Every Toledo fountain pen is a unique piece made in Germany - even the tiny engravings in the motif are made by hand, making each Pelikan feather come alive. Due to the intense craftsmanship required by each piece, a maximum of 200 Toledo pens are created per month.
If you own a Toledo fountain pen, you own a piece of art and a small piece of history.