This year is a milestone year for Singapore. 2015 marks the 50th birthday of Singapore ever since it became independent in 1965. Over 50 years, the country/island/city has evolved at top speed from a developing nation to a first-world country today! Since the Golden Jubilee is an important event, a nationwide celebration effort has taken place, known as SG50.

To join in this effort, Staedtler has launched the SG50 Flora and Fauna Limited Edition fountain pen on 6 June 2015. I was at Fook Hing Trading Co. right on this very date and had the chance to experience the pen for myself! This pen is based on the Intium Corum Urbes range of premium writing instruments by Staedtler.

The first thing you’ll notice is the colourful design on the barrel of the fountain pen. The barrel has a roll of fine quality cowhide leather around it, with the design of a bird and a flower on it. The bird is known as the Crimson Sunbird, the unofficial national bird of Singapore. I have never seen this bird myself in real life, but seeing it in pictures, I can tell it looks really pretty! The flower is Singapore national flower, a hybrid orchid called the Vanda Miss Joaquim. This orchid is known to be resilient and flowers all year round. In combination with the Crimson Sunbird, it forms a beautiful and vibrant picture as the barrel of the fountain pen.

The picture on the barrel had been hand-drawn, the image imprinted onto the leather using Staedtler’s special inkjet technology. This technology helps to get the colour onto the leather without compromising on quality. This leather-imprinting technology is something never seen before in writing instruments. To quote Staedtler:

The hand-drawn illustration is imprinted on the finest quality cowhide leather using innovative STAEDTLER inkjet technology. Imprinting leather is unique in writing instruments. Its finishing by tanning and dyeing is done manually with the utmost care. It is a handmade article and 100% made in Germany. — Staedtler press release, 6 June 2015

At the top of the cap, you will see the Staedtler logo, which I always felt was rather minimalistic, and even more so in this particular photo that I took with my macro clip-on lens. Note: you’ll have to tilt your head 90 degrees to your left in order to see the logo the right side up. 🙂 It looks like the head of a warrior, which is the representation of Mars, the God of War in ancient Roman mythology.

At the side of the cap is the SG50 logo, engraved with the words “Made in Germany”. The cap comes off by unscrewing. Look at all that metal in the photo! Doesn’t it look very attractive?! These metallic parts of the pen are done with matte chrome-plated finishing.

The nib is a stainless steel nib that comes in with F or M sizes. Somehow when I take close-up shots of nibs, they appear to be golden in colour regardless of the material. The actual nib is metallic (steel) in colour, tipped with iridium.

If you’re interested to get this pen to commemorate Singapore’s 50th birthday, you have to act fast, as there are only 98 pieces available! Why 98, you may ask? It is because Singapore’s National Day is on the 9th of August (9/8). That makes it easy to remember! It will also come with a special certificate.

You can purchase the pen from Fook Hing Trading Co. Many thanks to Fook Hing Trading Co. for letting me take photos of the pen for this blog post!

I am the founder of this website.

Chemist by day, slacker by night, fanatic of stationery all the time.

I write with my left hand, but can also do the same with my right hand – it just won’t look very pretty. onfountainpens.com