Business View Magazine - October 2016 29
By Lorie Steiner
"Go on doing with your pen what in other times was
done with the sword." Thomas Jefferson in a letter to
Thomas Paine, 1796.
Substitute ‘assault rifle’ for ‘sword’ in the above quote
and, thanks to the collaboration of two peace-focused
entities, the pen indeed becomes mightier than the
weapon. Case in point: the recent launch of the Peer-
less Fonderie 47 Collector’s-Edition Rollerball Pen,
which marks the continuing partnership between
social good company Fonderie 47 and A.T. CROSS, a
name synonymous with fine writing instruments since
1846.
So, what’s so special about this pen? Sure it has clas-
sic looks, exquisite detail, comes in an elegant wooden
box, no doubt writes likes a dream… but in these days
of digital, there must be more to justify the hype. A
story, perhaps, with far-reaching consequences. And
a creative contribution to peace efforts that we can all
grasp.
Foundation for good
It all came about when A.T. Cross “Mark Maker” Pe-
ter Thum was in East Africa developing clean water
projects. There, he met boys armed with assault rifles,
and saw the victims of these weapons. The experience
touched his soul, bringing home the deadly implica-
tions caused by the availability and relative ease of
procuring such weaponry.
He thought, ‘What if these hateful tools could be trans-
formed into the opposite? Beautiful instruments to in-
spire change and, at the same time, fund the destruc-
tion of weapons.’ From that idea, in 2009, Fonderie
47 was born – 'Fonderie' being French for foundry (the
place for melting and casting metal), and '47' repre-
senting the year the AK47 was introduced.
Today, Fonderie 47 and Cross turn AK47s fromwar-torn
regions of Africa into luxurious accessories; a complex
effort led by the Fonderie 47 team, who spent a year
and a half in conflict zones in Africa negotiating the
safe and legal release of confiscated assault weapons.
The guns were then melted down by a local blacksmith
and transported by the team to the US. Back home, at
a forge in Brooklyn, NY, an American blacksmith was
hired to transform the gun steel into ingots.
Following a successful limited edition collaboration in
2015, Cross and Fonderie 47 worked in sync to better
reflect design elements of the actual assault rifle in
the writing instrument. Each pen features black PVD
plating with 23KT gold-plated appointments, a disk of
blackened steel from a melted-down AK47 gun em-
bedded in its cap, and the unique serial number of the
gun that was destroyed to create the pen.
To date, the Fonderie 47 initiative has helped to re-
move more than 55,000 assault rifles from circulation
in Africa. With the release of the exclusive Peerless
Fonderie 47 Collector's-Edition Rollerball Pen, the fight
for peace goes on – one gun at a time; each pen pur-
chased funds the destruction of one more assault rifle
in Africa.
Fonderie 47 Founder & CEO Peter Thum shares from
the heart, "In the last 20 years, wars on the African
continent have resulted in the loss of millions of lives.
The widespread availability of assault rifles has played
a significant role in these ongoing tragedies. This fall
we are happy to partner with Cross again to help bring
an end to violence with the release of the collector's
edition of the Peerless Fonderie 47."
The Cross Peerless Fonderie 47 Collector's-Edition
Rollerball Pen, priced at $350, is available at select
retailers and
