S.T. Dupont mark on cap of Olympio

[lamarax]

Today I got a 'medium' S.T. Dupont Olympio Chinese lacquer-on-brass pen. It appears to be a 2014~ish issue, or even earlier.

 

There's this kind of "hallmark" hot print on the side of the cap:

 

 

Does anyone know what it stands for? I'm thinking it must be related to the authenticity/provenance of the sap used for the lacquer, or is it maybe some kind of artisan signature/stamp? 🤔

 

[Paul-in-SF]

My first (untutored) thought was that this pen might have been made for some kind of special event or promotion for a 3rd party, like a store, or an ecological movement (because it looks like a tree). That's a total WAG, though. 

[encremental]

It's just their Chinese Lacquer symbol.  It has always appeared on their urushi lacquered pens, either on the pen itself or on the metal ST Dupont Paris band which goes around the pen.

 

John

[Tashi_Tsering]

Leaf, a symbol of Chinese lacquer at S.T. Dupont. Until, if I'm not mistaken, the mid-1990s, they depicted 2 hieroglyphs as a symbol of Chinese lacquer, then they began to put an image of a leaf instead of hieroglyphs.

 

Dupont had two types of lacquer: natural (Chinese) and cheaper synthetic. Inexpensive Fidelio pens were coated with synthetic lacquer and no leaf symbol, while Olympio had natural lacquer, so Olympio had a leaf depicted on them. 
 

On my two Olympios, the same leaf was engraved to the top ring of the cap, on the back side of the clip.

[lamarax]

Aha! Makes sense 🙂 Thank you all (and especially @Tashi_Tsering for making me aware of this awesome pen!)

[jchch1950]

On 1/14/2025 at 6:17 AM, encremental said:

It's just their Chinese Lacquer symbol.  It has always appeared on their urushi lacquered pens, either on the pen itself or on the metal ST Dupont Paris band which goes around the pen.

 

John

+ 1.