Start Licensing secures new deal for the Oxford-based museum with luxury pen maker.
Start Licensing has brokered a new partnership between The Ashmolean Museum and luxury pen maker, Conway Stewart.
The company has worked closely with the museum to develop the first in a series of Ashmolean Pens. It will be sold in a limited edition of 200, will retail for £595 and is based on Conway Stewart’s iconic Churchill pen.
It has been produced in Oxford University Blue with 9-carat gold trim with English hallmarks, with the theme of the first pen in the series being John Ruskin.
Closely connected with Oxford and the Ashmolean, he studied as an undergraduate at Christ Church, and remained connected with Oxford for most of his life. He went on to establish his drawing school at Oxford in 1871. The Ashmolean Museum houses a significant amount of John Ruskin’s work including detailed sketches and paintings of rocks, plants, birds, landscapes, architectural structures and ornamentation.
The release of the pen dovetails with the opening of The Ashmolean Museum’s latest exhibition Pre-Raphaelites Drawings and Watercolours which will include a number of John Ruskin’s works.
The Ashmolean Pen will also feature the Ashmolean’s founder Elias Ashmole’s hand-written ‘Statutes Orders & Rules’ heading on the barrel of each pen as a further link to the museum and its history.
The pen will be sold in a presentation box and will include a bottle of ink, plus a specially developed booklet that sets out the history of the Ashmolean Museum and gives an insight into John Ruskin’s life. The booklet was written by The Ashmolean Museum adding a further layer of authenticity to the partnership.
“We are delighted to see The Ashmolean Museum and Conway Stewart working together,” commented Ian Downes, md of Start Licensing. “The Ashmolean pen is a unique and original product that makes great use of the Ashmolean’s collection and highlights their unique place in the Museum world. Conway Stewart are experts in their field and have developed a fantastic product.
“We believe the Limited Edition will prove extremely popular and we hope the John Ruskin pen will be the first in a series of pens from the Ashmolean.”
Alastair Adams, md of Conway Stewart, added: “I have loved working with the team at the Ashmolean Museum to produce this pen, doing the research and learning about the amazing collection on display in Oxford. I would urge all readers to visit this wonderful museum.”
The Ashmolean Museum’s Dec McCarthy described the new partnership as a “wonderful collaboration”.
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