CARTIER PARIS ART DECO GOLD, ENAMEL TELESCOPIC PENCIL/SEAL, CIRCA 1929-30

Cylindrical telescopic pencil, the gold cover with an Art Deco design enameled black, one end terminating in a seal engraved with a coat-of-arms and the motto ‘EU PASTORME’ (I am a shepherd), the other with an enameled loop and a stylized Art Deco triangular-shaped ringlet signed ‘Cartier Paris’ (on the shaft), numbered ‘01037’ (on the ringlet) Hallmarks: French 18K gold mark ‘eagle’s head’ (on loop and ringlet) 10.4 cm (fully extended), 7,3 cm (closed, with ringlet) gross weight: 26.17 gr. circa 1929-30 in Cartier box Condition: functions correctly Certificate of expertise by Alain Cartier, expert CNE, Paris and LAPADA, London, dated October 12, 2023 References: For a series of telescopic pencils with similar designs , see ‘Cartier-Creative Writing’, F. Chaille, 2000, Flammarion, ill. page 84. Accessories such as writing instruments entered Cartier’s inventory early after the opening of Cartier at 13 rue de la Paix. Following the evolution of style from the Belle Epoque to Art Deco, these accessories were no longer decorated in guilloche enamel but with champlevé enamel with geometric designs. The ringlet permitted the pencil to be placed on a chain around one’s neck, man or woman, for use at the races, or at the end of a watch fob or a watch chain with a vesta case, a cigar-cutter, or a penknife. The seal function was an added ‘gimmick’ in an era when many people still sealed letters with molten wax.