I have 4 very expensive Porsche Design Titanium Pens. (They were a corporate
gift from AT&T
for selling their 3B2 Unix products back in the '80s). They are definitely
solid Ti bodies
and they are a brushed Ti color. However there are some highly polished ends
on the
these. They also gave me a set of the black finished TI Pens. Well I started
using the
black Ti pen and after a few years I noticed that the black Ti finish was
wearing off. Since
this was $200 pen I called Porsche Design and asked them what gives. Well they
were
assholes but they did refer me to Faber Castell in Germany. The rep at Faber
told me to
send all the black finished pens back to Germany. He said that those were a Ti
plating over
brass. He said that they will exchange them for some brand new solid Ti
Porsche Design Pens
which he did. He said that the acid in my skin cased the plate to come off.
Also FG told
Porsche not to plate black Ti over brass. But Porsche insisted because the
black look was
hip in the 1980's. Anyway, I now have 4 solid Ti Porsche Design Pens. They
feel like
medical instruments in my hands. They look just the same now as they did 9
years ago. What
blew me away was that these pens sold for $200 to $350 each back in the early
1990's. One
thing I learned is that Faber Castell is a wonderful company who has much pride
in their
quality and workmanship. The rep at FG insisted that I return those old pens
for the new
solid ones. He even supplied me with about a 20 year supply of cartridges for
the pens for
free. He says their products have a lifetime guarantee. Cool company. Olympus
reps are you
listening?
I don't know if this helps decide how the Ti bodies on the OM's are made, but
hey it's an
interesting story right?
Phillip Franklin
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