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The spirit of the age of the mightiest rulers of France and the architectural beauty of centuries come together in what is arguably the greatest museum in the world: the Louvre, built at theend of the 12th century as a royal fortress on the banks of the Seine. By the time of the French king and patron of the arts Francis I., the Louvre was already home to an extensive art collection. In 1515, he commissioned the rebuilding of the Louvre into a grand royal residence and almost every one of his successors continued his work in the Renaissance and Classical Baroque styles. In 1682, the work came to an abrupt end when the court was suddenly moved to Versailles, and it was to be more than 120 years before Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte resumed the building work.

In 1793, the National Assembly decreed that the royal treasures should be made accessible to the public for the first time. The removal of the French government to the Elysée Palace in 1873 finally ended the Louvre’s role as the centre of political power in France, and it became the most famous gallery of art and culture of our time The “Grands Projets” initiative begun by President Mitterrand in the early 1980s was intended to give Paris a more modern face and to take the capital into the 21st century. Alongside the Grande Arche in the district of La Défense and the new National Library, the Louvre is far and away the greatest testament to Mitterrand’s bold plan. As the result of his vision of a “Grand Louvre”, what had been a classic art gallery has become a completely new “universal lyceum”.

The reconstruction of the Richelieu wing saw its exhibition space doubled in size to 60,000 square metres, and a modern conference and shopping complex was created beneath the Place du Carrousel. From then on, the new underground entrance hall of the Louvre would be covered by a glass pyramid 22 metres high, a structure which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2009. Controversially disputed by Parisians at its official opening in 1989, the pyramid – designed by visionary architect Ieoh Ming Pei – with its 793 glass segments soon became the new symbol of the “Grand Louvre”. Every year, more than 8 million visitors pass through its glass doors to marvel at major works of art from ancient times, theRenaissance and the modern era, including the Venus de Milo, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”,the Winged Victory of Samothrace and AlbrechtDürer’s self-portrait. However, it is also the Louvre building itself whose magic attracts people from all over the world: a present-day witness, carved in stone, of times long past; a cultural monument that intertwines the beauty of centuries-old buildings with the visionary architecture of modernity.

            Click to enlarge, thank you.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the iconic symbol of the Louvre, the glass pyramid by stellar architect Ieoh Ming Pei, Montblanc is honouring the famous museum in the heart of Paris with a precious skeleton fountain pen made of 750 solid white gold. The design entrances the beholder with its unique interplay of elements from both classical and modern architecture; the filigree skeleton cap reflects the glass segments of the breathtaking pyramid. The barrel, the rings and the top of the cap are decorated with patterns from the Renaissance and Classical Baroque. The name of the edition is engraved on the rhodium-plated 18 K gold nib,accompanied by designs modelled on motifs taken from the Louvre’s outer façade. The shape of the black hematite on the clip echoes the pyramid, and the Montblanc emblem in mother-of-pearl rounds off a unique Limited Edition that expresses in every detail the allure of the most magnificent museum in the world: the Musée du Louvre.

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if you are a fountain pen writer, you know for a fact that your pen is a very personal and intimate object and that you would not lend it too anyone.
Our Penandco team has come up with the most daring idea ever...............
To create your own bespoke and therefore unique fountain pen
not only by resorting to exclusive quality craftsmanship but also and above all by taking your wishes into account.

Concept

Everything is possible, you have “carte blanche”: you can choose engraved initials, write text, have an engraved drawing, sign, pattern…no limit to your creativity! We would like to emphasize the fact that the pen will be created according to your wishes. It will be a unique pen, a genuine bespoke creation. You can therefore design the pen of your dreams or offer an exclusive and unique gift for any special occasion that should be remembered (18th or 21st birthday, wedding, any anniversary / celebration, bar-mitzvah , retirement, contest award, token of friendship…). Once you have the idea of the kind of pen you wish, all you have to do is to contact us and our calligraphers will come up with suggestions to make your project come true.

Here is an example, made for one of our customer about Noa and Jonas.

Fine quality work

You can choose between an entirely solid silver engraved pen and a partly solid silver engraved pen – in this case, only the cap will be engraved. Right after the work of the calligrapher, a second craftsman will now carry on the work by etching the pen in order to obtain the desired drawing. This engraving technique has existed for centuries and numerous painters used it. The pen and/or its cap in solid silver are entirely covered with a protective coating material that the artist will then engrave with patience, without touching or damaging the metal. He will then use nitric acid to bring out and engrave the patterns or the drawing in the silver. Several days of work are required in order to obtain such a result. We consequently recommend that you take the design, engraving and shipping delays into consideration when you wish to make an order and encourage you to contact us for further information.

The pen: A Parker 51

The pen:a Parker 51 fountain-pen, with new writing pieces from the 50ies (such as the nib for example) A few lines about this mythical Parker fountain pen, a MUST for pen collectors. At the beginning of the 30ies, due the economic crisis, the competition among pen manufacturers was getting tougher and tougher. Parker had the idea to focus on technological advantage, first launching to market a revolutionary ink that would dry instantaneously, the Quinck (for quick ink)…At that time PCs did not exist and the use of fountain pens was as compulsory as the use of blotting papers. To pursue innovation in writing instruments, the company invested nearly a million dollar to create the Parker 51 pen, a revolutionary pen, the shape and concept of which required almost 23 different pieces, 238 operations in the assembly line – that included 42 manual ones. Its design was very innovative for a 1940 pen. Parker was indeed greatly inspired by aviation: the Lucite, a highly shock resistant material used to manufacture the pen, was also used for some mechanical pieces of aircrafts. Its half-protected/covered nib was especially designed for a longer moisturised use and for an immediate writing. Kenneth Parker, a great advertising man employed by the company, had the idea to name the pen by looking at a “U.S. 51” signpost/board through the window of his office.

1. In 1939, when the concept is ready, the company celebrates its 50th anniversary.
2. Using a number for the name does not jeopardize the branding of the company.
3. It can be used worldwide.

This model was first tested in Venezuela and in Colombia in extremely severe conditions of heat and moisture. The use of people and VIPs such as Harry Truman, Byron Nelson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Norman Rockwell, was instrumental/helped/played a key role in the rapid soaring of the sales. In 1940, when the pen was launched on the market, success was immediate; especially as Parker organised sales challenges where its top salesmen could even win Cadillac cars! Since its launch on the market, this fountain pen has gone through numerous changes (such as: different filling techniques, use of gold, steel, silver…)

To start your pen...just contact us

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In 2009 we are really happy again to come back to this nice event in Köln. We will travel over there this coming Saturday with our friend Carlos Sanchez Alamo and we will try to let you know better. We will bring us a camera, a netbook ...in order to share with you in live this event ( if we can catch a mobile network over there !)

Beside interviews,comments and pictures, we will try also to propose rare vintage german pens.

Do not hesitate to post comments before or during the event. Thank you in advance ! You can click on each picture to get a full size picture

Hello again from Köln. Great news, we have found network here and we will try to post pictures of this event. For the moment, the pen show will be open in 10 mn so we have to wait a little in the pub ( nice place to wait around friends and meals ). We have already found friends from Pentrace and FPN. Here are the fist pictures of the surroundings. The pen show takes place near a tennis courts place, in a rowing club near the Rhin.

For 2009, 60 sellers mainly coming from european countries were there ( from Spain, Italy,France,UK...) with about 100 pens each...so...6000 vintage pens ! This pen show started about 20 years ago with 10/15 sellers at that time.For us the pleasure was really the same as for the previous years for many reasons. The first one is about the place, not too small, not too big..and with a pub where you can drink, eat and of course talk about pens. The second one is about the real friendly relationships with the sellers, even if you are not an expert in vintage german pens..you will always find people over there to explain you all you want to know about those pens. The third one is the huge choice of pens, not only Montblanc, Pelikan but also many others manufacturers such as Matador, Kaweco,Luxor,Fend,Geha,Markant,Soennecken...........

__We will put the pictures and comments during this week, do not hesitate to contact us about mistakes (sorry for the english ones ! ) or if you want us to add certain comments. Thanks for your help__

Pelikan 100N Lizard pattern 1938__

Some Montblanc safeties from the 20's

Montblanc Octogonal safety 1930's

Montblanc piston fillers from the 40's and 50's. At that time, Montblanc manufactured a piston filling system working like a periscope increasing significantly the ink capacity.

In 1913, Simplo Filler Pen Co. opened its subsidiary Excelsior.The purpose of Excelsior was to manufactured Simplo pens under different retailers names such as this Reflex .

Beside Montblanc and Pelikan, Köln pen show was a very great place to enjoy other georgeous pen such as this Kaweco Overlay ( Italian style ? )

The Montblanc 139 is a very nice vintage model with its clip and silvered rings.

From 1947 up to 1957, some Montblanc pens were produced in Denmark ( most of the parts were made in Germany )

First of all, i would like to thank Kevin Moore,from FPN for his review about this great pen and to have allowed us to publish it there also Do not hesitate to click on each picture to get a huge large close view.

The Pilot MYU was a classic pen of the 1970s, and it still looks ahead of its time. Modern Japanese pens tend to be conservative in design, but the M90 revives the MYU series, and harks back to a time when Japanese design was at the cutting edge. The M90 is a limited edition of 9000, and was released to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the company.

There has been some controversy over a couple of aspects of the new design, based on the early, very low resolution images of the pen, but seeing it live, they are really not a problem. There is a clutch ring at the join of the section and barrel, which provides an excellent and positive grip on the cap when posted. Visually, this is hidden by the cap, and since this is a pocket pen, it is designed to be used posted. To my mind, this design reduces the idea of a pen down to its essence, providing a sleek shape with no distractions. The model name is discreetly placed at the top of the cap, and the company name is embossed in very small letters on the back side of the cap, near the rim.

The M90 comes in a commemorative box, with a screed of Japanese marketing, the usual guarantee cards, and a cartridge of ink. One of the punishments for learning Japanese is that you can read the marketing bumph. There was a CON-20 converter, as well. None of Pilot's larger converters will fit, so the CON-70 is not an option, alas. The CON-20 is a fairly tight fit in the M-90. Some people have been surprised by this: some firmness may be necessary to fully insert the converter.

The nib itself is quite stiff. Mine is a fine point, and as you'd expect from Pilot, it runs finer than most fine points from western manufacturers. The writing in the photos was written with this pen, using Mont Blanc blue ink. Another writing sample below:

I paid $112.68 for this pen through Ujuku. It's a good price for the pen, but they currently have a long waiting list. The M90 is a limited edition of 9000, but it's hard to obtain at the moment. I'm hopeful that Pilot gets a good response to this limited edition, and sees an opportunity to release another MYU-style pen in the not-too-distant future.

Conclusion Most commemorative pens are expensive, over-decorated, and doomed to a life in a display cabinet. Pilot released a couple of those for the 90th anniversary, but this is the one that people will remember. To their very great credit, the M90 is a resonably priced version of one of their iconic pens: an excellent way to commemorate their 90th anniversary. There is a long wait for this pen, but the wait is worth it.

© Copyright, all rights reserved. Used with permission of Kevin Moore.

Click on the picture.

Visconti has always been very attentive in giving importance with its creations to aspects and themes that have impact, change or describe our life: this Limited Edition fountain pen collection is dedicated to all religions of the world and the name chosen to describe it is (not by chance) MYSTIC PENS.

The Bible, the most read and printed book of the world will give the start to this collection with two editions that reflect the two great religions linked to it: The Christian and the Judaic.

THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE

This pen is turned into single resin ivory (coloured) bars and the cap has the same dimensions of the pen shaft. This choice reminds us to the partition in Old Testament (the pen body) and New Testament (the cap). In the shaft our artist has represented the story of the Old Testament according to its most significant scenes: Adam and Eve, Noah’s Arch, David and Goliath, Abraham and Isaac, Moses and the Decalogue, while on the cap we find scenes of Jesus’ life: His Birth, His Baptism, the Last Supper, and the Ascent to Heaven. The head and blind cap, with their 10 lateral facets, remind us of the Decalogue- their form and the engraving in Hebrew on the blind cap recall the two stone tablets. The Holy Graal is hidden inside the blind cap and has the function of activating the Power Filler.

Painting Technique: entirely made in Florence and inspired by Dürer’s xylographies, it’s a PAINTED SCRIMSHAW which has never been performed before on a pen and it’s very rare on other objects being a very difficult technique. According to this technique, resin is drypoint engraved, and then filled in with calcography ink and finally coloured, thanks to the fine artwork of CLAUDIO MAZZI.

Limited Edition to 999 pens in vermeil silver (black painted scrimshaw) Limited Edition to 199 rollers in vermeil silver (black painted scrimshaw) Limited Edition to 99 pens in antique 750 gold (painted sepia scrimshaw) Material : Ivory coloured resin Pen Nib: 18 kt 750 with ivory feeder Filling System : Power Filler Artwork : Scrimshaw painted by Claudio Mazzi

THE JEWISH BIBLE

The basic characteristics of this pen are naturally identical to the Christian Bible pen: the materials, the metals employed and the engraving of the Decalogue in Hebrew on the blind cap are the same. The Christian edition is more Renaissance- related according to its painted designs, while the Jewish edition has a more ancient shape, in a way more solemn, in one word, more orthodox. Here we have matched the vermeil gold to the sepia colour, the antique gold to platinum and silver to classical grey lead. The engraving technique is a typical SCRIMSHAW- firstly, the resin is dry engraved and the spaces are filled by calligraphy ink. After the drying phase the exceeding ink is removed with a very fine glass paper and then hand polished. The entire work is entirely done internally by our best engravers. In the shaft our artists have represented the story of the Old Testament with its most significant images: Adam and Eve, Noah’s Arch, David and Goliath, Abraham and Isaac, Moses and the Decalogue, while on the cap we have represented the prayer in front of the Wailing Wall, a very important spiritual moment. The Temple, is so sacred to the Jewish people, is hidden inside the pen. You can find it by unscrewing the blind cap and it has the function of activating the filling system.

Limited Edition to 999 fountain pens in sterling silver (black scrimshaw) Limited Edition to 199 rollers in sterling silver (black scrimshaw) Limited Edition to 99 fountain pens in antique gold 750 (sepia scrimshaw) Material : Ivory coloured resin Pen Nib: 18 kt 750 with ivory feeder Filling System : Power Filler Artwork : Classical Scrimshaw

The interview is available on Penandco site

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The Heart of Texas Pen Club was founded this year. It meets bi-monthly in Ft. Worth TX USA.

Our mailing address is, for the moment, my email: paulbloch@sbcglobal.net