Threshold Test Ban Treaty - 1990

On June 1, 1990 President George Bush and President Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed new protocols to the Threshold Test Ban Treaty and Underground Nuclear Explosions for Peaceful Purposes Treaty. This treaty provided for advance notification and on-site inspection of tests of nuclear devices with an explosive yield greater than 35 kilotons.

 

Opening the leather wrapped outer box reveals a wooden box with the laser engraved  seals of the two Presidents on top of the lid.

And the inside lid of that box has the signatures and titles of the two world leaders engraved.

 

The pens themselves were custom-made out of sterling silver, making it essentially a 75 Keepsake.  But then  Parker finished it with an exquisite 24-karat gold plate and crowned the cap tassie with a blue sapphire, according to a description of it on National Geographic's website..  

So good is the gold plating that I first thought this pen was made out of solid gold.

 

Here is a close-up look at the cap and its laser-engraved signature.

 

The tassie of the real pen had a blue star sapphire.   But this specimen was incomplete and missing this piece.  Instead it is a common dimpled tassie normally found with Parker 75s from France.

 

So what is this pen and how could anyone other than Mr. Gorbachev possess it?  (Of course, I would expect Parker to also have a set!)  My theory is that Parker made several of these and only chose the pair that was perfect.  After all, the owners were to be the two leaders of our planet's superpower nations.  Therefore this pen must not have been good enough to become the real treaty pen.  Perhaps through some friendship a collector was given/sold this pen by a Parker employee.  If you know, please email me.

 

To find out more about this treaty click here.