Graf von Faber-Castell Pen of The Year 2023 Ancient Egypt Rollerball

Ever since the first edition of the Graf von Faber-Castell’s collector’s series in 2003, the Pen of the Year has gained a special status among connoisseurs of fine writing culture. Each limited edition tells the tales of eras and peoples whose deeds shaped the history of humanity. The Pen of the Year 2023 is inspired by Ancient Egypt with its deities, tales and achievements. The people called their homeland the black land (Kemet), which was regularly flooded by the dark mud of the Nile and thus became fertile. Much has been handed down to us from Ancient Egypt over thousands of years, posing riddles and fascinating us to this day. It is thanks to the hieroglyphics, the elaborate characters in which the advanced civilization found its origin, that we have been able to uncover some of the secrets.

The metal barrel with the diamond-like carbon coating is milled with decorative skulls inspired by the skull racks found in Templo Mayor. Dark obsidian adorns the writing instrument’s grip. A relief in turquoise – the Aztecs’ most precious gemstone – depicts an eagle and the feather-clad god of the dead in the end caps. The grooved cap is reminiscent of the shape of the cactus from the prophecy, which resurrects the spirit of the Aztecs.

The exclusive Ancient Egypt edition of the Pen of the Year 2023 is limited to 125 rollerball pens and 375 fountain pens.

The black barrel of the Pen of the Year 2023, which has a diamond-like carbon coating, is engraved with hieroglyphics representing the 12 deities. The Ancient Egyptian deities were an integral part of ancient Egyptian religion and were worshipped for millennia. Many of them ruled over natural and social phenomena, as well as abstract concepts. These gods and goddesses appear in virtually every aspect of ancient Egyptian civilization, and more than 1,500 of them are known by name. Many Egyptian texts mention deities' names without indicating their character or role, while other texts refer to specific deities without even stating their name, so a complete list of them is difficult to assemble.

The shape of the cap is reminiscent of Nefertiti’s cap crown. Nefertiti was a queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the great royal wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for their radical overhaul of state religious policy, in which they promoted the earliest known form of monotheism, Atenism, centered on the sun disc and its direct connection to the royal household. At the top of the cap it is adorned with a reconstructed lapis lazuli engraved with a scarabaeus symbol. To the Ancient Egyptians, scarabaeus was a symbol of Khepri, the early morning manifestation of the sun god Ra, from an analogy between the beetle's behaviour of rolling a ball of dung across the ground and Khepri's task of rolling the sun across the sky.

The barrel’s end piece is engraved with a lotus and the end adorned with a small metal plate with 24-carat gold plating which is engraved with the symbol of the . The Eye of Horus is a concept and symbol in ancient Egyptian religion that represents well-being, healing, and protection.

In 1761, Kaspar Faber started to produce pencils in Stein, near Nuremberg. When the fourth generation, Baron Lothar von Faber, took over the company in 1839 he turned the pencil into a true quality product and the world's first branded writing instrument. Over the centuries, he and his descendants created remarkable products. The result is the Graf von Faber-Castell Collection, a range of extraordinary writing instruments and accessories. They embody "Luxury in Simplicity" by combining selected materials, functionality and superb aesthetics.