87 replies to this topic

[mirosc]

Monte-trash-a.

[europen]

Seems to be a bit of false pretention in this thread. These are gorgeous pens, gorgeous ads. Amazing innovations in design. Where other pen companies resort to cost-cutting, Montegrappa can afford to indulge.  

[Astron]

This angel pen is worse than ugly.

[katerchen]

What is this I don't even

[Arkamas]

Not enough angels....

[Astron]

An abomination. And that is me saying this as an atheist.

[ethernautrix]

Just stumbled across this.

 

 

I'm speechless.

 

Looks like a marketing ploy. Everyone knows (or ought to) that guardian angels come dressed up as simple urushi Nakaya Piccolos, duh.

[ethernautrix]

While you might not like the pens, if you stopped and looked at the workmanship and craftsmanship you would likely agree that it is superb.

 

Not all tastes are the same.  Bubba Watson was wearing a watch at the masters that I would not wear even if it were free and I was at a convention of blind folk but it sells for a very high sum. I will acknowledge that the technology of the watch is amazing but it is still butt ugly.

 

Few companies do better engraving and casting in precious metals with greater detail than Montegrappa and while you might not like some of their efforts it is hard to deny the quality.

 

 

I do like the angels saving each other -- a kindv angel ladder climbing up the facade of Bath Abbey.

[inkstainedruth]

Seems to be a bit of false pretention in this thread. These are gorgeous pens, gorgeous ads. Amazing innovations in design. Where other pen companies resort to cost-cutting, Montegrappa can afford to indulge.  

 

Gorgeous?  Uh, no.  Clearly in the eye of the beholder.  And MY eye sez "Butt freaking ugly" and "tasteless bling"....    

Apparently the Powers that Be (and I *don't* mean the "powers" of Christian angelology) at Montgrappa believe that "More is More!"  

They're wrong.  And to advertise the pen, watch and cufflinks with an animated *comic book*?  The mind boggles....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Trom]

That these are limited editions, says it all.....

[Astron]

Should be limited to zero.

[s_t_e_v_e]

I guess those who find it ugly should stop thinking about it and look away. This thread has nothing but senseless bashing. What's the point? Just don't buy it, it's easy as that. Maybe these elaborate designs and marketing makes Montegrappa a lot of money, which will eventually go towards making other pens in their lineup. I'm sure the craftsmanship and materials on the Guardian Angel Collection would be exquisite. To me it looks like the work on Milan Duomo's main door, stunning details that are beautifully done. Just got this out of the Wikipedia article about the Milan Duomo:
 

 

The American writer and journalist Mark Twain visited Milan in the summer of 1867. He dedicated chapter 18 of Innocents Abroad to the Milan Cathedral, including many physical and historical details, and a now uncommon visit to the roof. He describes the Duomo as follows:

What a wonder it is! So grand, so solemn, so vast! And yet so delicate, so airy, so graceful! A very world of solid weight, and yet it seems ...a delusion of frostwork that might vanish with a breath!... The central one of its five great doors is bordered with a bas-relief of birds and fruits and beasts and insects, which have been so ingeniously carved out of the marble that they seem like living creatures-- and the figures are so numerous and the design so complex, that one might study it a week without exhausting its interest...everywhere that a niche or a perch can be found about the enormous building, from summit to base, there is a marble statue, and every statue is a study in itself...Away above, on the lofty roof, rank on rank of carved and fretted spires spring high in the air, and through their rich tracery one sees the sky beyond. ... (Up on) the roof...springing from its broad marble flagstones, were the long files of spires, looking very tall close at hand, but diminishing in the distance...We could see, now, that the statue on the top of each was the size of a large man, though they all looked like dolls from the street... They say that the Cathedral of Milan is second only to St. Peter's at Rome. I cannot understand how it can be second to anything made by human hands.

Oscar Wilde visited Milan in June 1875. In a letter to his mother he wrote: "The Cathedral is an awful failure. Outside the design is monstrous and inartistic. The over-elaborated details stuck high up where no one can see them; everything is vile in it; it is, however, imposing and gigantic as a failure, through its great size and elaborate execution."

 

 

Two polar opposite views and as the saying goes... Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

For what it's worth, most people in the world would consider a $50 fountain pen ridiculous, outrageous and over-elaborate. We're all outliers here ready to spend hundreds on a single pen that most people in the world wouldn't care about.

[inkstainedruth]

For what it's worth, most people in the world would consider a $50 fountain pen ridiculous, outrageous and over-elaborate. 

 

True.  Yesterday I had to get one of our cars back from the body shop down the hill from me, and I signed the check with the Dark Lilac Safari, and Noodler's Island Blue Black.  The guy in the place asked if it was an "old" pen.  "Uh, no, this model pen came out in the 1980s, and this color got released last year...."  I told him I had more expensive pens, but also a lot cheaper ones (wonder what he would have thought of the NOS Parker Vector I got on eBay a few weeks ago (it was from 1993, and still in the original blister pack along with a cartridge of Quink Washable Blue  ).  I had picked up a few spare twist converters and had installed it in the pen instead; and right now the pen is sporting Akkerman #10.  I paid $10.50 plus shipping, plus the cost of the converter....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Big_Kahuna]

 

Looks like a marketing ploy. Everyone knows (or ought to) that guardian angels come dressed up as simple urushi Nakaya Piccolos, duh.

   

[ClockworkCollector]

Well hold on to your wigs and saddle your pigs! Check this one out: https://www.youtube....h?v=p4XpwLHPlhw

And yet another featured on Bulgarian TV (Why do I find myself humming the song from the Tinman in Oz "If I Only Had A Brain"?: https://www.youtube....h?v=sjhh7GfGMgQ

Say what you will about the Angel pen, but as a Warhammer fan I think the Chaos one is very cool, if a bit over the top. The commercials are bad though and I think that may sour some on the pens themselves.

[AD43]

ALright.ZAT Waz Norval! MOngrappas a tonne of badly designed, overpriced pens!

[inkstainedruth]

Say what you will about the Angel pen, but as a Warhammer fan I think the Chaos one is very cool, if a bit over the top. The commercials are bad though and I think that may sour some on the pens themselves.

 

I've never seen any of the commercials.  Just photos of the pen.  That was bad enough....

Although some pirate pen I saw was possibly worse.  And this cheap Chinese snake pen that isellpens.com used to have on their website ; a guy in my local pen club got one and the thing was almost the diameter of a quarter!  And it it was really super heavy, too, to hold.  I said "What POSSESSED you?" and got told "Uh, it seemed like a good idea at the time...."  Okay, admittedly his hands are a lot larger than mine, but still.  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[AD43]

This is pathetic montegrappa, if you want your pens to sell become cheaper, no one buys dead ugly pens for that price!

[Astron]

Some people do. Especially if it's really expensive. There are many people who enjoy tasteless bling.

[fpupulin]

... Maybe these elaborate designs and marketing makes Montegrappa a lot of money, which will eventually go towards making other pens in their lineup. I'm sure the craftsmanship and materials on the Guardian Angel Collection would be exquisite. To me it looks like the work on Milan Duomo's main door, stunning details that are beautifully done...

 

I could not have said it better!

 

Maybe some of Montegrappa's designs are targeted to special groups, or to people who otherwise would perhaps be indifferent to writing instruments. Of course, nobody is obliged to like all of Montegrappa's production, but I see no reasons to deprecate and tease the people who like these elaborate designs.

 

While some great Italian brands of pens have disappeared or sail in difficult waters, Montegrappa continues to provide beautiful pens and materials and, I would say, pens for all tastes. Not only the now traditional Extra 1930 and Miya, but also the more recent Extra Otto and Passion (to name but a few) are pens rather classic, to the delight of many collectors with more sober tastes. And we can not not exclude that some of the pens by the most showy designs would contribute, in terms of sales figures, to keep alive also other, more traditional lines that most of the members of this forum seem to prefer.