Translation question. すみません、あのペンは何ですか。

Quick question, how would you translate the following?

すみません、あのペンは何ですか。

I have two versions.
First: excuse me. Is this obeje t iver there a pen?
Second: excuse me. What kind of pen is this pen over there?
I tried a word by word translation here to make あの clear. So which version is the correct one? I tend more to version 2

The first one would be something like すみません、あれはペンですか。but since they already acknowledge its a pen (あのペン) it’s not asking whether or not it is.

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So my second translation is the correct one?

I get confused cause of the 何ですか part.

何です would mean „what is it“, right? So why add the か at the end?

I would go with the second one. The か is just a question marker. You don’t always need it if you speak with a rising intonation. Here’s a link to Tae Kim on it if you want to read more:
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/question#Questions_in_polite_form

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Thank you for the help.

I don’t really see why someone would ask “what is that pen over there?” But that’s what the Japanese says.

It‘s from an card by the jalup beginners course. There are no translation for the whole sentence, only for the new word, grammar point or whatever is introduced on that card. So it‘s always a bit like a riddle, which actually is a nice thing, cause one invest more time thinking about the given sentence from the beginning.
I had some problems with this sentence, though, because of the 何ですか part. Didn‘t saw this construct before

Generally speaking, if you are writing in polite Japanese (as implied by the use of です) you should mark all questions with か, even if they include question words that make their meaning unambiguous without it.

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I will keep that in mind. Thank you

あのペンはなんですか
what’s up with that pen?

あのペンは speaking of that pen over there
なんですか what is it? what’s going on? what’s up? what about it?

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