Pens of Note - Montegrappa
 |
Pens of Note are those pens of my collection that rank as something special.
Alessandro Marzotto, in 1921, founded one of the oldest pen factories in Italy, the Manifattura Pennini d’Oro e Penne Stilografiche. During World War II, John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway bought their pens and ink the factory located in Bassano del Grappa.
Montegrappa brand was acquired red by Richemont, the Swiss luxury goods company, in November 2000. That firm also holds the brands of Cartier, Montblanc and Dunhill. |
| Pen cards available at Marcus Moments. |
I remember seeing theMontegraapa Extra in 1991 on a visit to Novelli Pens in Rome. My typical visit with Marco is ask him to show me something exciting. Well he did. For those that have been to Novelli you will know that while there are numerous counters of pens in the front section of the store, Marco always goes to the back and comes bacl with tray after tray of pens. When the Montegrappa Extra was presented I stopped looking.
The Extra is a very large pen, with an oversized nib. Even my wife was excited when she saw and wrote with the pen. As we know, that is a helpful reaction! Sometimes Marco has presented her the pen rather than directly to me ... smart man.
The Extra is based on the design of a 1938 model and has a classic appearance. The pen is big with a very large 18-karat gold nib, and an ebonite ink-feed system. The ink flows onto paper with ease. The internal piston filling system holds a good amount of ink.
The pen has a good sturdy clip and a screw on cap. The pen is celluloid with Sterling Silver trim. There are four different nib sizes available extra-fine to broad. I purchased a pen with Medium nib and with its ink flow, it works for me.
At he time of my purchase the pen came in Blue/Black or Parchment. I choose the Parchment as it would be distinctly different from my other pens. It was a good choice. This pen is one of the pens for which I receive the most comments. Now the pen is also available in a great red.. one of my favorite colours for pens!
I had a slight problem with the pen when I first purchased it. Ink from the nib would be deposited in the cap, and then work it way out of the cap along the clip. For the first few days I would clip my pen into a white shirt only to find a small dot of blue ink appear! I sent it back and they installed a plastic sheath in the cap. Works fine now. So not only was I pleased with the pen, but I was pleased with how the company responded to my problem.
With parchment toned pens be careful about ink If you leave ink in the pen, especially on the nib, and leave the pen laying around,you will get some staining inside the pen cap.
