Classic Pens LR2 Harvest 2001

by Jim Mamoulides, February 2, 2024

Classic Pens LR2 Harvest fountain pen 2001

A Trip to Cyprus

Development work on the Classic Pens Lambrou Rossi LR collection, a collaboration between Andreas Lambrou and Paul Rossi, began in 2000 and by the end the year, resulted in five designs. The new collection, numbered LR1 to LR5, debuted at the February, 2001 Los Angeles Pen Show.

The second in the series, the Classic Pens LR2 Harvest fountain pen, was created by Paul Rossi as a sterling silver overlay on the Jasper Red Parker Duofold Centennial. The overlay design is based on an original watercolor of golden wheat, grapevines, and morning glory flowers reminiscent of harvest time on the island Cyprus.

Rossi’s design is an open, intertwining mesh of ripe seed heads of golden wheat and winding morning glory buds, leaves, and flowers leaving cutouts revealing the marbled Jasper Red acrylic of the cap and barrel as a background. Rossi evidently did not incorporate the grapevines and grapes from the original watercolor.

Classic Pens LR2 Harvest fountain pen 2001

The cap and barrel overlays are hallmarked 925 in an oval, indicating sterling silver, on the front near where the cap and barrel meet, and below the clip on the cap. The barrel overlay has Paul Rossi’s initials on either side of the hallmark. The back side of the barrel overlay is engraved with the edition number, as “No 9” for number nine. Depending on the level of detail, Rossi’s overlays could take 80-100 hours to complete.

Harvest time in Cyprus has been a recurring theme on subsequent Classic Pens models. The 2006 AL4 Minori (Harvest) fountain pen has harvest themed maki-e decoration by Takuro Masuda, painted on the Parker Duofold Centennial, Pelikan M800, and Classic Pens Legend fountain pens. Paul Rossi made a prototype harvest overlay on the Classic Pens Mythos fountain pen in 2009, the LN2 Harvest, cutting and carving the design into a 1.5 mm thick sterling silver tube. The latest use of the harvest theme was on the 2020 Lambrou Pens LN2 Harvest fountain pen, a Lambrou Pens Oversize Legend model hand crafted by Paul Rossi from Flame Red diffusion bonded acrylic and then painted by artist Yoshitsugu Nakama of New York. Rossi also hand crafted the floral design clip from sterling silver.

Each design appears to be inspired by a watercolor painting by Jenny Lambrou that includes golden wheat, grapevines and morning glory flowers.

Classic Pens LR2 Harvest fountain pen 2001

The inspiration, from a quote by Andreas Lambrou, is: “Cyprus is an island on the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It has two mountain regions, along the north and the south. The valley in between these mountains is cultivated with crops. In the summer when the crops are ready for harvesting the valley becomes a sea of golden wheat. The mountain regions of the island are abundant with fruit orchards and vineyards. Grapevines are also a common sight in the gardens of many Cypriot houses. The Mediterranean climate is ideal for growing beautiful flowers such as roses, carnations, jasmine and morning glory.”

The base pen for the LR2 Harvest is the Jasper Red Parker Duofold Centennial. The modern Duofold Centennial was introduced in 1987. Parker updated the pen in 1996 with several new design changes. The original pen resembled the early flattop Duofolds of the 1920s. The new pen favored the streamlined design introduced in 1929. The changes included a new two tone 18 karat gold nib, a tapered cap top, a new cap top emblem, a single plated band on the nib section, two wide cap bands, a single plated barrel end trim band, and a shorter barrel end cap. In addition to black, three new marbled cap and barrel colors were introduced, Jasper Red, Jade Green, and Lapis Lazuli Blue, made from acrylic resin.

Classic Pens LR2 Harvest fountain pen 2001

I don’t know how many pens were actually made, but I recall the edition was to be a total of ten. This example is number 9, so it’s likely that ten were made. These pens are highly prized, and a complete set is very valuable. They are rarely available for purchase.

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References

Parker Duofold, by David Shepherd and Dan Zazove, 2006 Surrenden Pens Limited, Brighton, UK, pages 278, 316-319