# pen blanks from the titanic!



## Rarest wood (Jan 2, 2009)

what if I had a few pen blanks of wood from the titanic what could one resonably sell it for? it got me thinking what other historic pieces of timber would you like to have to turn into a pen? personaly I would  love gopher wood from Noahs ark or acrylised moon rock? what do you think?


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## markgum (Jan 2, 2009)

don't know if I would turn it into a pen or just frame it as a piece of art.  Anything with a story deserves special consideration.


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## spiritwoodturner (Jan 2, 2009)

I'm with Mark. For me, cutting it up to make a pen that likely someday would get lost or used up would be a shame. In a frame, with a picture and a story would not only be more valuable, but to me, more respectful.

But that's just me...

Dale


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## keithkarl2007 (Jan 2, 2009)

i was just thinking of the same thing last night, amongst other things were dried insects/butterflies walrus tusks feathers from smaller birds like budgies or canaries


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## Dario (Jan 2, 2009)

I would love to get my paws on these biblical woods:

Tree of Knowledge & Tree of Life
Noah's Arc
Moses' Staff
Arc of the Covenant
Manger where Jesus was born
Jesus' Cross

I probably won't turn any of these into a pen though.


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## Rarest wood (Jan 2, 2009)

Ive seen harrison ford in the Arc of the Covenant film thingy and if you had a pen made of that it would leach angelic beings who would either make you explode or melt your face thats a scary pen blank


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## ed4copies (Jan 2, 2009)

I have to ask:

Who gives you the "authentication" on these items?

When you get "Titanic wood", what degree of certainty do you have??

The fact that the Arc of the Covenant and the Ark itself have not been certified as "found" leads me to ask how you could sell parts of them???  This leads me to question ALL certifications.

Can you elucidate???

Thanks!!!


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## coach (Jan 2, 2009)

I agree with Ed.  Sounds cool in theory but how could you guarantee where it came from.  If you could verify, how would you get others to believe it?  I would say most of the woods spoken about here would be considered priceless.


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## Rarest wood (Jan 2, 2009)

just to say this is only speculative I do not have any of these woods:biggrin: But ed brings up a good point how does one prove that wood is from the titanic or just from the local rubbish tip? there is someone who is selling very small bits of a plank from the titanic on the web they are framed an come with certification. but.......how could one be sure


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## ed4copies (Jan 2, 2009)

If you are purchasing it for resale and YOU don't know how to authenticate, your credibility should certainly be suspect.

NO offense meant, but I think this is important for future offerings.


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## Rojo22 (Jan 2, 2009)

There is a company here in Atlanta, Georgia that has all rights to anything from the Titanic wreck.  They keep, restore, and catalog everything in a warehouse "in an undisclosed location" not far from my office.  NOTHING can be sold without approval from the company, and if I am not mistaken a judge.  The ONLY thing that I know of that is being sold to the public LEGALLY is coal from the wreck.  There are probably several items that were found in the wreckage floating that may have been recovered and owned by individuals ( I saw a television program about a deck chair that may have been certified as a true Titanic deck chair), but not much.  The company actually tries to give back any personal items that can be identified to surviving family members, as most of the survivors have passed on.

Several Russian companies visit the wreck site often, and allow trips down to the Titanic, but they are not cheap.  The folks who have been diving on the wreck say that it wont be too much longer and you will not be able to recognize it as a ship wreck.  Time and decay have done serious damage to the wreck.  It is sad to see that only this one company can sell stuff and do things at the wreck site.  Personally, I think more should be done to get pieces of the ship into collectors and museums collections.

I have visited the touring collection of the Titanic items, and it is worth going to see the collection if you get a chance.


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## Nolan (Jan 2, 2009)

Want some Teak from the USS California? (sank at Pearl Harbor) rebuilt then later decommissioned.


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## Rarest wood (Jan 2, 2009)

ed4copies said:


> If you are purchasing it for resale and YOU don't know how to authenticate, your credibility should certainly be suspect.
> 
> NO offense meant, but I think this is important for future offerings.



Well I can answer that one! I am not offering anything from the titanic BUT here in Alnwick we have a local hotel that has the interior of the sister ship to the titanic as a dining room and very nice it is too,  namely the olympic now as conspiracy theories go this is a good one some claim that the titanic and the olympic ships were worked on and there identities switched whilst in dry dock so could we have the real titanic in alnwick?


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## PR_Princess (Jan 2, 2009)

I have seen that dining room. It is beautiful. Truly something to behold.

The Belfast City Hall is also done in the "Titanic style".


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## maxwell_smart007 (Jan 2, 2009)

I think that buying Titanic wood is akin to buying a piece of the Berlin Wall...in fact, I have a few pieces of Berlin Wall for sale...and don't let the fact that they look like pieces of my driveway dissuade you - it's a remarkable and utter coincidence!  I also have the lighter used to light Joan of Ark's pyre, the skeleton of the dove that Noah sent out (looks NOTHING like the remains of a KFC meal) and George Washington's wooden teeth...if you give me about ten minutes to play around on my computer...I mean 'find them', I can produce some certificates for them too! :wink: 

I would tend to doubt the veracity of any historical wood that was not verified by a reputable organization willing to stake its reputation on its certification of the artifact as genuine - Smithsonian, British Museum, etc...

But then again, I am a history teacher (and English teacher) by trade, so I tend to be somewhat dubious by nature.  

Andrew

BUT, to answer your question, if we toss the authenticity issue aside, I'd like: 
- a piece of wood from the Roman pilum carried by Julius Caesar in Gaul
- a sliver from the structure Michelangelo used to paint the Sistine Chapel
- a piece of the spear used by the first person to cross the land-bridge from Asia into North America
- a piece of decking from Ferdinand Magellan's ship 
- Bjarni Herjolufson's mast (first European to sight North America) 
- a piece of the walls (mostly made of sod, but there was some wood) from Lanse aux Meadows 
- Shaka Zulu's Iklawa (I think that's how it's spelled) 
- heck, I could keep going all night!  But I won't! :wink:


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## DCBluesman (Jan 2, 2009)

If I were to come into a piece of wood from the Titanic, I would fashion a pen from it and lend it to Elizabeth Gladys Dean until such time as her death when it would be donated to the British Museum.  It would be PRICELESS.


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## txbatons (Jan 2, 2009)

The only thing I've found with Titanic wood is this book....Legends, Maps and Stories of Boston and New England by Edward Snow. It includes chips of wood from four historic ships, but as has been said multiple times, I don't know how anyone could authenticate it.

The chips aren't big enough for a pen, but embedding a tiny piece in clear acrylic would be cool.

http://www.titanicbooksite.com/snowedwardrowe.html


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## amosfella (Jan 2, 2009)

For all the splinters of 'christ's cross' that the RCC sold in the middle ages, that cross had to be 900 feet tall, 90 feet wide, and probably had a sign 30 times the size of our regular bill boards.  lol
on a side note, a wood guy once told me that thuya burl is the same kind of wood taht was used to line the inside of Solomon's temple.


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## Darley (Jan 2, 2009)

Rarest wood said:


> what if I had a few pen blanks of wood from the titanic what could one resonably sell it for? it got me thinking what other historic pieces of timber would you like to have to turn into a pen? personaly I would  love gopher wood from Noahs ark or acrylised moon rock? what do you think?



Cool I will buy some if you can diver so far down   event submarine got problem to get photos shots as they use too quickly they batteries for light and heat. Titanic rest at 3.9 km or 2.42 miles or 12600 feets, diving at 480 feets is a max for a scuba diver at 1500 feets no light under water, Good LUCK and let us posted


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## PR_Princess (Jan 2, 2009)

Darley, I grew up in the shadows of Harland & Wolff, so please excuse my interest in this.

I have no doubt that there is wood from the Titanic that exists today. Some may still survive on the Titanic. Some was jettisoned as the ship sank and picked up crews of vessels (S.S. Minia and others) or when it washed up as flotsam and jetsam on the shores of Nova Scotia. Some wood was taken off of the Titanic before she made her infamous crossing. Nevertheless, wood from the Titanic *does *still exist. 

However, unless it has a certifiable and verifiable trail, authenticating any such wood is problematic at best. (Particularity since the Titanic is now in the headlines again - with the new attraction being built in Belfast (Titanic Signature), and with RMST being on the ropes.) Of course, this does not approach the question if wood from the Titanic should be reworked at all….....But then it *is* still nice to dream! 


A very small sampling of links :-

Wooden Artifacts and Auctions

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0607_040607_titanicauction.html
http://www.henry-aldridge.co.uk/news.htm
http://titanic.gov.ns.ca/museum.html
http://www.titanichistoricalsociety.org/museum/16-railing.asp
http://www.luxist.com/2006/05/07/titanic-deck-chair-at-auction/
http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070415/ENTERTAIN/704150314/-1/NEWS

Wood in Private Collections

http://www.titaniccollector.com/recovered/2_17.html

And finally …RareWoods Home…

http://www.pottsoft.com/home/titanic/white_swan.html


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## Darley (Jan 3, 2009)

PR_Princess said:


> Darley, I grew up in the shadows of Harland & Wolff, so please excuse my interest in this.
> 
> Nevertheless, wood from the Titanic *does *still exist. [/SIZE][/FONT]
> 
> However, unless it has a certifiable and verifiable trail, authenticating any such wood is problematic at best.





No problem with that Dawn


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## cozee (Jan 3, 2009)

Nolan said:


> Want some Teak from the USS California? (sank at Pearl Harbor) rebuilt then later decommissioned.




I'm interested if you have documentation. It would go well with the wood I have from the USS Franklin.


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## PenAffair (Jan 3, 2009)

I'd like a piece of The Tardis :biggrin:

Russell.


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## cozee (Jan 4, 2009)

PenAffair said:


> I'd like a piece of The Tardis :biggrin:
> 
> Russell.



LOL!!! You and me both!!


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## titan2 (Jan 4, 2009)

cozee said:


> I'm interested if you have documentation. It would go well with the wood I have from the USS Franklin.


 
I too could go for some of that as I have a son that's in the Navy and one that just got out and going to school.

Let us know more.....

Barney


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## randyrls (Jan 4, 2009)

ed4copies said:


> I have to ask:
> 
> Who gives you the "authentication" on these items?
> 
> ...



Ed;  That hasn't stopped people from selling wood from the "True Cross" and "Noah's Ark" in the past.    :redface:


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## YORKGUM (Jan 5, 2009)

President Washington's Cherry Tree


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## YORKGUM (Jan 5, 2009)

Rarest wood said:


> Ive seen harrison ford in the Arc of the Covenant film thingy and if you had a pen made of that it would leach angelic beings who would either make you explode or melt your face thats a scary pen blank




*Ark itself was a small box made of acacia wood, overlaid with gold

Can we get some Aracia?
*


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## maxwell_smart007 (Jan 5, 2009)

I know that Monty had some Acacia wood for sale in the past...you might try PM'ing him


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## YORKGUM (Jan 6, 2009)

cozee said:


> I'm interested if you have documentation. It would go well with the wood I have from the USS Franklin.



I asked about documentation and they claim that they saw it but couldn't get a copy of it.  So basically you have to trust the reputation of the current owners.  I'm wondering why it's now being offered. Having been around the military most of my life when they decommission ships that stuff just disappears. And when they tear them up for salvage they REALLY tear them up.


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## Grizz (Jan 7, 2009)

Actually after having done study on this... most likely (but know one knows for sure) that 'Gopher' wood is a term for technique in using the wood, not a  particular wood.  Most likely lamination so it could be curved.


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## bitshird (Jan 7, 2009)

Proving Provenance is a major hassle for any antiquity, My wife and I used to sell Native American Artifacts, there was a nationally recognized expert in the field of Stone Projectile points that was considered to be the preeminent expert in that field, the second time we sent a non authentic point to him and it came back with a certificate of authenticity, I seriously began to question his ability.
 As demand for any antique or anthropological items grows so do the master re creators, and some are good enough to fool even the most respected experts and scientific specialists.
But with a decent certificate of Provenance, I would like to have a piece of wood from the Titanic large enough to make to create a pen


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## Nolan (Jan 7, 2009)

YORKGUM said:


> *Can we get some Aracia?*


 

Yes I can get it but it is expensive


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