AURORA Xanten Colonia Ulpia Traiana (CUT) Limited Edition100 Fountain Pen M Nib

Description

AURORA Xanten Colonia Ulpia Traiana (CUT) Limited Edition 100 Fountain Pen
Model: Colonia Ulpia Traina Xanten
Limited Edition: 047/100 examples produced
Cap/Barrel/Clip: Textured silver cap and pen with gilded ring and clip, signed and numbered
Nib: Aurora 18k – 750 Medium (M) Nib
The pen is in
guilloché
sterling silver and is built on the classical Aurora Optima chassis
Length: 12.8cm
Accompaniments: Maker's presentation box, outer packaging, ink bottle and related literature (blank)
German market Only. Scarce.
Made in Italy
Exquisite craftsmanship.
I can locate no other data regarding this sterling silver Aurora CUT.
The only definitive fact regarding this pen's production that I can unequivocally endorse is that it is exceedingly uncommon (especially in this full set configuration).
Marcus Ulpius Traianus
RÖMISCHER KAISER 98 - 117 N. CHR.
It was Marcus Ulpius Traianus who took the Roman Empire to its last hight and caused its greatest extension in history for a short time.
He cooperated with the Senate and consolidated the infrastructure of the complete Empire, above all the travic system, and gave Rome the most magnificent buildings.
He raised the C.U.T. (Colonia Ulpia Traiana) to the status of a city.
The C.U.T. became the second important market and harbor town after Cologne in the province of lower Germany.
Nearly half of the ancient town area forms the archeological park of today. Some buildings have been reconstructed on the roman fundaments.
Tabula rasa with style - on writing in ancient rome
Making a clean sweep, just creating a basic change that' is "tabula rasa".
People who use this phrase in their language show a close relationship to ancient roman writing culture, maybe even greater knowledege than they have thought of.
The phrase dates out to the evenly smoothed out waxed table, the classical writing ground in roman everday life.
It was for the quick trivial note, the letter, or even buisness arrangements that the romans used waxed tablets.
The scratched letters into the wax on a wooden ground with the help of a bone or a metal pin, the "stilius", -but stop, in correct latin it must be ablative case "stilo".
Our word "style", either in English or in French, has its roots in this expression.
From the way of writing the writing style was developed, hence "style" in general.
Danger migth have been ahead when using the ancient "stilus" not only concerning significant words, which were scratched with it, but also in its use as a tool: the great aesar is supposed to have been assassinated with "stilis".
Thus the style worn in the folds of toga was not necessarily typical of a roman knowing how to write.
The well educated roman already wrote text of pergament value with ink on papyrus.
In this way literature had been given on the posterity.
The roll in the hand, wich you can see a lot of tombs and their reliefs or mosaics, was the predecessor of the book, a singulary still written with ink.
For that purpose a reed pen (greek "kalamos", Latin "calamus") was sharpened, sometimes with a cleft for better flow of the ink, sometimes without.
There is proof positive that' in ancient times metal nibs had already ben fastened to writing
tools. For people writing a lot this durable writing utensil was certainly a welcome development.
Imagine what it must have been like to be forced to rush a slave to a market stall before starting a new chapter of a maior work or even chasing suitable poultry for the needed feathers.
Penmanship in Xanten, the former CUT
It was self-evident that education could also be found in the province, just so in such so important town as the Colonia Ulpia Traiana (CUT). After Cologne, Roman
Xanten was classed second as a capital in the province of "Germania inferior".
School in the province meant to go to an elmentary teacher, the"ludi magister", actualiy a teacher of plays, who was directly payed by the parents.
When playful learing was over the boys went to the "grammaticus" who studies latin and greek texts with them.
What they had actually written and read in Xanten can only be incompletely imagined.
It is rather problematic to find any of these thin writing tablets or papyruses as they consisted of material of short duration.
Writing utensils of wood, metal, bronce have been unearthed even in the lower Rhine area.
Xanten's Roman Past
Roman things are presented here in a very vivid way, not only as dead stones in the museum.
There are days over the year when this part of Xanten's past is revied and roman legionaries and barbarians pitch their tents in a camp.
The scene of histories and stories is the archeological park of the medival town.
The park consists of only a third of the original CTU.
The scenery of the occasional roman spectacle is worth visiting all year round.
The visitor coming from the North first meets a great gate,impressivly reconstructed.
Like all the other partly rebuilt monuments of the archelogical park the representativ entrance to the town rests on the original roman fundaments.
It is the same with the unfinished harbor temple or the incomplete amphitheatre with its neariy 3000 seats.
In the summer when open air performances take place the theatre is packed mostiy to its capacity.
Excellent condition with no visible signs of use, apparently the pen has not been inked.
Some tarnishing to the silver work. Handling micro scratches.
Silver is slightly tarnished but with careful cleaning this should polish up nicely.
Nota Bene:
For further details please do not hesitate to contact us. International buyers, please note that the listed item price and shipping cost do not include import duties, taxes, and related charges.
The buyer is responsible for these charges.
Before bidding/buying, please check with your local customs or other responsible office for information on these charges.
Thank you for your cooperation in making my service efficient and relatively free of risk.
_____________________________________________________
Selling all over the world for us the shipping is an important issue.
We use only high quality materials such as double wall cardboard boxes, extra large buble wrap, polypropylene packaging tape, pvc pipe with high resistance.
Shipment is guaranteed within 24 hours after receiving payment.
We have had some problems with our traditional shipping methods (lost packages, major slowdown in delivery) therefore we decided to move to Fedex Priority Service.
So, the shipping costs are now slightly more expensive (between and 0 depending on destination country, volume and weight of the parcel) but the service is greatly better.
FedEx requires a telephone number (landline or mobile) on the shipping label.
For this reason we kindly ask you to tell us your phone number on the Paypal or with an ebay message.
If you are interested please don't hesitate to contact us.
We are at your disposal for any further information.
We usually reply e-mails within the same day, but please allow do bear in mind that our time zone differences might cause a slight delay.
Thanks for your time and happy bidding