PARKER SNAKE FOUNTAIN PEN, 1997. Black resin barrel with emeralds and silver. Nib in 18 kts. gold and 750 ml. silver. Limited edition of 5000 copies. No box. Measurements: 13.30 cm. length, 12.80 mm. diameter. The Parker Snake is legendary among fountain pen collectors; an eyedropper pen in black ebonite with a sterling silver overlay, with two filigree snakes with emerald-coloured cabochons set in the eyes. One of them winding around the barrel, with plain space for engraving the owner s name, and the other sliding into the cap. It was manufactured for a few years from 1906 onwards and Parker presented it as "this strange and fantastic design is of the body of a snake. The eyes are made of green stones. Certainly a unique cover for a fountain pen". For some reason, a mystical fascination surrounds this pen and makes it one of the most desirable fountain pens. Perhaps these models are Parker s most popular coated fountain pen, a coveted Holy Grail for the collector. There seems to be no single pattern in the design of the snake s curl, so we can see them crawling up or down, both on the barrel and on the cap, and no two snakes are alike; each filigree is the result of unique artwork. Although inspired by a basic design template, each one is individually hand-chiselled and hand-embossed by a goldsmith artist.