Montegrappa - Fortuna - Silver Mule (ISFORBBS) ''NO RESERVE PRICE'' - Ballpoint pen

More than a century after the beginning of its journey, Montegrappa is still constantly passionate about the intimate, almost magical relationship between paper and the human mind. Few things are as enigmatic as a blank sheet of paper, an object that has a small value but holds a precious promise in its soul. Many of us are familiar with that feeling of alchemy you get when ideas flow freely, those magical moments when pen and paper give us rewards as precious as gold. How such riches are obtained is, of course, another matter, something the understanding of which is reserved for the few connoisseurs and above all for the artisans who dedicate their lives to the most extraordinary writing instruments in the world. Montegrappa's centennial experience in the service of men of power, visionaries and passionate writers has taught us that the hand is able to express virtuous work when entrusted with a pen capable of enhancing its qualities. Here in Bassano del Grappa, in the oldest fountain pen factory in Italy, numerous models were designed which have since become standards in the culture of luxury writing. Tradition and obsequious respect for high craftsmanship are at the heart of every product we send around the world; but it is the zeal for culture, contemporary design and advanced technology that has always defined our soul. In constantly exploring the boundaries of our craft we enhance this alchemical potential by fusing the ancient principles of the art of writing together with the new ideas that make them ever more fascinating. The results are spectacular: after all, leaving a mark is the ambition of anyone who owns a Montegrappa pen. We who appreciate words know the satisfaction that comes from engaging faithfully and with sophistication on paper. In writing – as in design – elegance is not a particular style or way of being, but the art of knowing which ideas to discard and which to keep. Nobel laureate Ernest Hemingway described his dry and brutally effective style as follows: “All you have to do is write a true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know. Hemingway wrote using some of the first pens produced by Montegrappa during the First World War. Stationed in the barracks of the American Red Cross, the young writer, so sensitive to what he saw happening around him, found himself living in Bassano del Grappa on the same estate as the historic Montegrappa headquarters. In 1917 portable pens represented a sensational technological innovation, the tool that allowed the vital bond between soldiers at the front and their families torn apart by the conflict. We can only wonder what Ernest Hemingway would do today in this digital age where the excessive profusion of words has rendered them meaningless. Contemporary society claims the absolute value of time, instruments created to count time govern astronomical affairs and instruments designed to make time count are increasingly rare. It is said that pens are used less and less these days. What is certain is that, wherever they are used, pens have an extra value. Montegrappa writing instruments are not intended to represent a nostalgic link with the past, far from it: they are made to give knowledgeable and insightful writers the magical and modern luxury of slowing down time.