Les Quatre Couleurs is the seventeenth in the David Oscarson™ series of Limited Edition Writing Instruments. Produced in four color variations, each will be limited to production of 88 pieces (including Fountain Pen and Roller Ball styles).
Translated, “Les Quatre Couleurs” means The Four Colors, and / or The Four Suits.
While origins of playing cards can be traced to China, India and Persia as early as the 7th century, it wasn’t until the fourteenth century that they were introduced to Europe. The “pique” and “spade” can be traced the sword of the Italian suits. The Spanish replaced queens with mounted knights (caballeros) and the Germans modified some suits, using bells, hearts, leaves and acorns as symbols. Improvement in French production, however helped propel the more simplified French design to eventually become the standard for most of Europe. The French had originally included family names on court cards, but this practice came to an end with the French Revolution in the late 18th century.
The four suits now used in most of the world – Spades, Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs – originated in France about 1480. The Spade represents Nobility or Aristocracy; the Heart represents the Church or Clergy; the Diamond represents Merchants or the Wealthy and the Club represents Peasantry with its reference to clover, or the food of swine. The Quatre Couleurs Collection incorporates multiple levels of Guilloché engraving and a combination of translucent and opaque Hard Enamel. The entire body of each pen is first cut down to the level of the background, leaving the outer and inner lines of the four suits and decorative filigree motif in high relief. Translucent and opaque Enamels are repeatedly kiln-fired and filed by hand, resulting in the beautiful and enduring finish of true Hard Enamel.
‘Les Quatre Couleurs’ with its double meaning is an appropriate play on words as the four-suited collection will be available in four color variations, each portraying all four suits on the cap and barrel.
Each David Oscarson Writing Instrument is available as a Fountain Pen in Fine, Medium, or Broad. It is also available as a Rollerball Pen or can be purchased as a convertible set to switch between the two writing modes.
