Godron, 1968 - ?

 

Pattern

23 parallel lines formed by deep v-cut grooves which give it a jeweled appearance. The angle of grooves made it appear dark even without the use of any black enamel. Click here for detail view.

Material

Silverplate over brass
Goldplate over brass
Sterling silver, introduced in 1980
Solid 18K gold Presidential, very rare

Availability (model #)

Fountain pen in goldplate (#536-100) and ball pen
Fountain pen in silverplate and rhodium) and ball pen ( in 1971, #542-100 )

Price

 

Notes

Member of the Place Vendôme series.

While most had indented end tassies, these early versions had flat end tassies making them especially prized among collectors.  Also, these early versions had the plating thickness inscribed on the cap band, 20µ for the goldplate and 30µ for the silverplate. Sometimes the word "micron" appears instead of the Greek µ character, though spelling it out like this is less common.

 

The sterling silver Godron had a cabochon on the cap end, instead of indented end tassie. Similar to the cabochon found on other French sterling models, most of them are black.  I did, however, find this lapis lazuli blue cabochon on a BP.

The French word Godron translates to the English word gadroon which is a term used in silver work to mean to embellish with fluting, reeding, or another continuous pattern.

 

Update of Oct 31, 2001: Special packaging for Italy

Here is a picture of the special packaging to sell the sterling Godron to the Italian market, courtesy of Marco Antonetto.  Click the picture to see more.

 

Update of Dec 31, 2001: Presidential in solid 18K

Here is the FP and BP set in solid 18K.