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The Sterling Silver Collection
31/07/2010I decided to give the sterling pieces a polish this morning.
Left to right: MB Charles Dickens WE with B nib, Montegrappa Extra 1930 Turtle Brown celluloid and Ebonite feeder with M nib, MB F. Scott Fitzgerald WE with BB nib, MB LeGrand Solitaire Pin Stripe with B nib, MB Barley with B nib and a 0.035ct G VVS2 channel set diamond in its Platinum/PT950 plated clip (not Rhodium plated).
Here’s a close up of the Montegrappa. This brand is not that well known, and is quite similar to that of Patek Philippe in comparison. One could compare Montblanc to Rolex in terms of popularity.
Montegrappa’s roots are quite Italian, as is its design. The clip in particular is very similar to even some of the designs used by Visconti; the little roller is quite classically of Italian design. It also features an authentic Ebonite feeder; this is not very common among modern FPs. Of course, Richemont are the owners of the Montegrappa brand and as of late they are manufactured in the Montblanc ateliers in Germany.
I think I was one of the lucky few to pick up my MG when I did, before Richemont started to shift all their production over to MB, as there have been reports of low QC standards in their more recent models. Thankfully, the Extra 1930 is the only MG model that ever caught my eye and my piece does not have the horrifying ‘Made in Germany’ marking.
That’s as bad as Panerai’s faux history; invented for the Italian Frogmen aiding their skirmishes against allied vessels. The part Panerai conveniently leave out is that those pieces had Rolex movements, and therefore all PAMs since with ETA movements – including their so-called in house movements – are just tributes to the real deal.
Personally, I cannot stand fakes; pretending to be the real deal is…well…just as fake! I’d therefore take an in-house developed Rolex movement over anything ETA and the Swatch group has to offer…but I guess, I’ll reserve my ranting for a different post.
What I enjoy most of this sub-collection of mine, is that each nib writes quite differently. One could say that each nib has its own “soul”, thanks to the way the nibs have been ground. Some are rather stubbish B nibs – this is a particular trait of MB B nibs that always has me going back for more. The BB nib on the Fitzgerald is silky smooth as the greater surface area allows for greater lubrication by the increased ink flow.
Montblanc Charles Dickens WE FP: First for 2010…
20/01/2010This beauty arrived from Harrods on my Birthday. I cannot thank Amy enough; it fits the bill perfectly as I was looking for something ‘vintage-esq’ for my collection.
Like all WE pens, this has an aged resin star adorning the top of the sterling silver cap. This is the second largest star found in any of the Montblanc LE pens – the first being the Charlie Chaplin, limited edition of 88.
The cap is solid Ag925 sterling silver marked with the Swiss assay office hallmarks vertically below the clip. The classic St. Bernard can be seen, along with the fineness scales and StOD.
This particular pen paid a visit to the Montblanc atelier in Hamburg for a nib exchange to a B nib. I’ve currently got this inked with MB Sepia, and this particular nib has been ground to stubby perfection – bringing out the colour rather vividly on the yellowish Moleskine diary paper.
A keen eye will also notice the curved section, once again reminiscent of a ‘vintage-esq’ pen. It is very comfortable to hold and write with for extended periods. Of course, I never post my pens so the weight of the cap never comes into question.
The nib engraving comprises of an italicised ‘C’ and ‘D’, both of which have been woven and inextricably intertwined. It also features ‘2001′, the release year of this edition near the top, and the ubiquitous 4810 near the bottom of the 18k nib.
Coming back to the cap – the most striking aspect of this design – it has been designed paying hommage to the Victorian era post boxes. The barrel colour has been the subject of much debate amongst collectors and on TFPN. It changes depending on the light; at times, taking on a greeny-grey tone to a grey-blue tone. It is most definitely a colour that is an acquired taste – one that most certainly grows on you. It is also a fantastic tone that contrasts quite perfectly with the sterling silver cap, and band at the bottom near the piston screw.
One will also notice a small ring in the same tone of resin adorning the upper porting of the cap. This ring is etched ‘Montblanc’ on one side and has the pen’s edition number on the other. Considering that I was able to purchase this WE directly from Montblanc Harrods, whilst beating the 2010 price increase, I am quite thrilled with this acquisition.
My humble pen collection has grown in leaps and bounds in a very short period, and therefore I am considering taking a small hiatus from adding any new pieces in the near future. However, only time will tell…
2010: Leonov’s Trip to Jupiter
4/01/2010It is the year of Our Lord two thousand and ten; a time quite far from that envisioned by Clark. It seems that I’m not alone in feeling technology as we know it has moved at a snails pace.
The past two weeks involved copious amounts of champagne, wine, and scotch – six and seven course dinners and just lazying about in the Hilton. It was definitely hard work but someone had to do it :)
On a different note, this is some information I’ve been hanging onto for a while. The releases to expect from Montblanc this year include:
Patron of Arts Edition : Queen Elizabeth I
Writer’s Edition : Mark Twain
Music Edition : John Lennon
I also snapped these few photos randomly today,
Wishing you a wonderful New Year as well!
The Montblanc Thomas Mann 2009 WE in Detail
29/12/2009
I was shown one of the initial posters to this pen back in April during my visit to London and it did not completely catch my fancy, until now. Here are some details of this edition,
Launch: 2009
Limitation:
12,000 fountain pens
15,000 ballpoint pens
6,000 rollerballs
3,000 sets comprising fountain pen, ballpoint pen and mechanical pencil
- Rhodium-plated 18 K gold nib engraved with the “Buddenbrook” house
- Barrel in precious black lacquer with multilayered inlays
- Platinum-plated clip set with onyx-coloured zircon
- Ivory-coloured Montblanc emblem
Fifteen thousand fountain pens, in reality, does not make this all that limited – at least in my opinion. This is also quite evident by its list price of £545 in London.
At least in my opinion, for something to be limited it needs to be in the sub 500 production range – preferably sub 100 – such as the 75th Anniversary 149, or the Miyamoto Musashi Limited Edition 77.
I found the following snaps of the Mann on Flickr, and they are quite splendid indeed. The nib engraving of Buddenbrook house in particular are quite stunning.
Like all the WE pens, they feature the author’s signature engraved into the cap or barrel – in this case the former,
The Mann is similar to the Shaw in regards to the plating of the section rim just before the nib. I particularly do not enjoy this feature as I have seen the effects of ink corroding into such plating over a period of 10-15 years. While most collectors only store their pens for display and the eventual increase in value, I buy my pens for the pleasure of writing.
Over the past year I have been particularly interested in buying some of the older WE pens, which are getting harder and harder to find. There is no hurry to run out and get the Mann considering, that I am to date buying WE pens from MB – directly – as old as 2001 production. The Thomas Mann is definitely on my eventual ‘list’ but there are quite a few others taking precedence; hopefully, 2010 will be a good year for my humble collection.
SS Montblanc
11/12/2009
Halifax Explosion Remembered
On December 6, 1917, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the largest man-made explosion until the first atomic bomb occurred.
At 8:45 in the morning a French ammunition ship, the Mont Blanc and the Norwegian cargo ship Imo collided in the narrows of Halifax harbour. Vapors from vats of benzol, which were wrongly stored on the deck of the Mont Blanc, were set afire by sparks from the collision. The Mont Blanc was shipping large quantities of munitions to Europe as part of the war effort. She was carrying over 2700 tons of explosives, such as TNT, guncotton, and picric acid. The fire engulfed the Mont Blanc and the crew quickly abandoned ship upon the Captain’s orders. They rowed to safety in two rowboats and reached safety on the Dartmouth shore as the burning ship continued to drift toward the busy port of Halifax.
At 9:04:35, with firefighters on the scene and school children gathering to watch, a massive explosion ensued. More than 2.5 km2 of Halifax was leveled and windows were shattered as far as Truro, Nova Scotia, 100 kilometres away. An anchor from the Mont Blanc was found five kilometres from the harbour. The disaster resulted in approximately 1635 deaths (approx. 1000 died instantaneously from the blast), nine thousand injured and approximately 30 million dollars in damage. 325 acres of city was destroyed. 1500 people became homeless as a result of the devastation. The following day a blizzard hit the city, crippling recovery efforts.
If not for the efforts of neighboring Provinces, the Boston Red Cross and the Massachusetts Public Safety Committee the devastation would have escalated further. Each year, Nova Scotia donates a giant evergreen to the people of Boston as a thank you for their assistance following the Halifax Explosion.
New Signature Design
10/12/2009I never really spent much time or gave much thought to my signature, and over the past two – three months, have been throwing various ideas back and forth on a new signature.
What I wanted from it was quite obviously my ability to be able to reproduce it legibly and have some flourishes to make it harder to be be forged.
This is what I’ve been able to come up with so far,
I tend to normally write my ‘d’ in the traditional fashion, whilst starting from its “belly”, and then working my way up; however, I found the method above not only flows nicely into the flourished tail of the ‘a’ but is also easier to actually write. It looks a bit like an abused ‘partial derivative’ symbol hehe!
Last evening, I went through most of the MBs in my pen box and the one nib to offer the natural line variance you can see above, was quite surprisingly from the Shaw. While I was testing my ideas in a moleskine, the Fitzgerald put down a really thick line, with almost no variance – at least on this paper. Something with ridges, like the Verge de France, G. Lalo paper should bring out its characteristics and I plan to perform a few more tests today.
November update…
5/11/2009Over the years, my blog has been more about my interests rather than what I’ve been up to per say. These days I keep myself quite busy by not only taking up a research projects (real work) but also teaching youngsters in the more interesting GCSE/IGCSE subjects.
Not only does it keep me busy but it is quite rewarding, personally. However, this is has put some of my projects such as the arms installation of my PG Strike on hold.
Movie Update
Today I got the chance to watch District 9 for the second time. During the initial moments a thought occurred to both myself and my cousin – could the Prawns have been humans a while back? It seems like far too much of a coincidence that Wikus perfectly under went metamorphosis into a Prawn and that the human DNA could be re-written into that of a Prawn so easily. But that is just a thought.
Inky Thoughts
With 2010 right around the corner, and not many pages left in my Moleskine 12 month Notebook diary left, I’ve been giving its successor some thought.
This is the Panoramic diary from Moleskine, a new product for 2010 in a soft flexible cover.
I’ve put this on reserve as well as one in the older format in case I am not impressed in person. However, the new format seems like it would be more productive and I can easily organise my actual “notes” into another dedicated ’skine.
Along the same topic, I have drastically restructured operation of my fountain pen collection. Both my Father’s Parker Duofold Centennial and the Waterman Edson have been flushed and put away in the top layer of the pen box. Right now, six FPs are in the top layer: Mozart FP in Gold, 146 in Plat, CdA Leman, Pelikan M1000, Parker Duofold, and the Edson.
In my display cabinet I have the Montblanc ink well back on display (no longer in use, per say) along with the Leonardo sketch pen and Mozart mechanical pencil in Platinum trim. I found I was wasting more ink the long run with the ink well and that over a long period the ink would be dehydrated. It is far more fresher straight out of the bottle.
Another interesting point is that I’ve discovered that modern bottles of Montblanc ink have a sticker right underneath them with the expiry date; all of mine have a 2013 date of expiration and should be well depleted by then.
I also ended up flushing the 149 with the OBB nib and refilled it with MB blue-black. The double-broad nib is unique enough to give inks a different tone, as it spreads the ink over a larger surface area. For example, MB racing green appears to be a far more khaki like olive-green rather than the deep black-green it normally appears to be when written with the 149 B or M nibs.
I also found this great image on flickr, from a fellow TFPN member.
I am completely loving the blue-black in my OBB and look forward to many more months of writing with it.
Family
One of my Uncles was gifted a grand piano by my Aunt for his Birthday, just yesterday, and I am really looking forward to witnessing him play. It is really quite a splendid gift for someone with a special touch.
Reflecting on the Diplomats…
30/10/2009This is the bold nibbed 149 I picked up during my trip this year to Singapore. They kindly accommodated a rush on their free engraving service.
It current sits on my desk, in the left-hand pen stand as it is essentially my ‘go-to’ pen. Not only is it comfortable to write with for many hours, but it is also a great signature nib if one needs it to be.
A close up of the wonderful bold nib is shown below,
My collection of four Diplomats now in F, M, B, and OBB nibs,
