Was Given A Mont Blanc Pen As A Gift! What Do I Do With It?

[mtrig]

First post on this forum! Exciting.

 

I just received a very fancy looking box with a Mont Blanc Ingrid Bergmann La Donna pen inside, and am a little unsure of what to do with it.

I was aware that they are quite costly pens and I found it being sold for near $1000 on amazon.com, so I'm not sure whether I should use it or try to sell it. I don't even know if it could sell. Can people give me their own experiences of receiving (their first, not their hundredth!) something like this as a present? I.e. why would you use it? What would you use it for? Could I sell it? How do I sell it?

 

Any input of your past experiences would be very much appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Michael

[hari317]

 

can you pls post a picture of this lovely pen?

[Bo Bo Olson]

If it has never been used (inked) it is worth more.

 

First a fountain pen needs to be held differently than a ball point/roller ball/gel pen.

 

Yes, it will take you some minutes to get use to holding the fountain pen behind the big knuckle, but it is worth it. A fountain pen skates on a small puddle of ink. So it is pleasant to use.

You should hold a fountain pen very lightly, like a featherless baby bird.

Not like a ball point/roller ball/gel pen; hard enough to make bird paste.

 

If you go to the advanced search button, look up 'Classic Tripod' grip, and 'Death Grip'.

Those two threads will teach you to hold a fountain pen correctly.

 

I have a MB Virgina Woolf, others here have other limited edition MB pens. Go to the MB section and over them.

 

Someone really likes you. You sell the pen, you will waste the money on something, and forget that that person thought so much of you.

If you keep it and use it, you will always have that person in your mind.

 

Actually using a fountain pen is a lot of fun, 100's of different shades of inks, allows you to match your ink to your mood.

 

I would suggest buying the cheap Pilot pens, to get started...even though you have a Grand Pen. You don't take your Bentley into traffic at 16, you take a car with a dent or two.

 

I do suggest keeping the pen. If you don't like the cheap Pilot pens...and don't want to write with a fountain pen, you can keep your MB unused and hope it will be worth more later.

 

You don't even have to have 'good' handwriting to enjoy a fountain pen...many here don't have 'good' handwriting....it don't matter fountain pens are fun.

 

They are easy to write with, you don't have to plow the south forty with out a mule like a ball point.

Because you don't have to grab the pen like you are falling off a cliff, your handwriting will improve a bit just from lack of hard work.

No more painful dents in your finger, no more hand fatigue from gripping too hard....

 

Where is the evil smilie? This way to the garden path of writing patterns caused by nib shape and flexibility. This way to any color you like; we have it in an ink color....and many hues of the that color.

 

There is paper so sinfully good to write on, you would write your self a letter just to write on it.

 

It's your choice, sell the pen and spend it on booze or shoes; or have fun the rest of your life.

 

It's very hard to convince some one inexperienced a fountain pen is not the torture Rack of the dungeon of ball points but the surf board on Waikiki beach in Hawaii. One you pay money to avoid, the other you pay money to go to.

 

Get a pack of the cheap Pilot pens, if you like that, then use your gift.

If you still don't like writing with fountain pens, you can sell your grand gift later.

Or you could keep it safe and give it to your daughter or granddaughter as a heirloom.

[ObserveClosely]

Is this it? http://www.troisarchers.com/VISUELS/gd/1319622874-104905.jpg

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

 

Most definitely use it!

 

When I received my first fountain pen, I couldn't get to the shop that sold ink fast enough! I recall endless hours of writing; and used it the next day at school. I still use the same pen as my daily writer when in the office.

 

A nice bottle of Montblanc Royal Blue ink with some FP-friendly paper, such as Rhodia (Bloc 18), will get you off to a good start.

 

+1 for using a 'proper' grip, and definitely a light hand.

 

Whee!!!

 

Bye,

S1

Edited September 24, 2012 by Sandy1

[JLS1]

First post on this forum! Exciting.

 

I just received a very fancy looking box with a Mont Blanc Ingrid Bergmann La Donna pen inside, and am a little unsure of what to do with it.

I was aware that they are quite costly pens and I found it being sold for near $1000 on amazon.com, so I'm not sure whether I should use it or try to sell it. I don't even know if it could sell. Can people give me their own experiences of receiving (their first, not their hundredth!) something like this as a present? I.e. why would you use it? What would you use it for? Could I sell it? How do I sell it?

 

Any input of your past experiences would be very much appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Michael

 

Hi Michael,

 

First off,

 

As Bo Bo Olsen has quite nicely put it, if someone gave you such a wonderful pen, it shows the esteem they hold you in. With that said, a gift is a gift and it's up to you to decide whether you want to use it or sell it. Bo Bo is also write...errr....right in his advice that you avoid filling the pen with ink if you intend to sell it to get maximum value.

 

Since I'm sure you'll receive a lot of advice on why you would use it and what you would use it for, I'll approach the situation from the other side: how do you sell it, if you choose to do so. Depending on where you are located, you could sell it on FPN (or similar online fountain pen board), on eBay, via a professional pen seller or locally via a Craigslist/Kijiji ad.

 

- FPN: this is probably your best choice but you do need to be a member for 30 days and/or have posted 30 times to create a classified ad. The reason it's probably the best option is because your buyers/sellers are in the community and you can research them to make sure they're legit and you can also find out to a certain extent what they're motivations are: do they collect MBs (wherein your pen will be gathering dust in a safety deposit box) or do they use MBs (in which case, your pen will be used on a regular basis). The downside of using FPN is that a) it's hard to know how to price your pen for sale and the community is small and the time when you'll want to sell your pen might not coincide with the time when a potential buyer has the funds to buy your pen. IOW, you might have a substantial delay between when you post your pen for sale and when someone actually buys it...

 

-eBay: this is also a good choice to sell your pen since eBay gives you the ability to auction your pen for the highest value, as well as being able to check completed listings for sold items, so you can see at what price similar pens have sold recently. In addition, the number of people perusing eBay is much larger than the FPN community, so the likelihood of finding a buyer is much higher. eBay also provides a good set of rules for buyers and sellers to follow, and simplifies much of the transaction by providing pre-built templates and transaction processing (via PayPal). The downsides of eBay is that they take a cut of your sale price, both in terms of auction fees and for processing your transaction via PayPal, and the fee amounts correspond to the value of your sale. In addition, there have been fraudulent eBay buyers (and sellers) that abuse the system that you have to watch out for. Finally, eBay seems to favor buyers over sellers when it comes to disputes so if the transaction goes bad, you might be at the mercy of your buyer.

 

- Professional Pen Seller: there are a number of professional pen sellers (PPS) who typically run fountain pen stores that resell high-end pens like yours (look on FPN for Bryant @ Pentime, although he's certainly not the only one). The upside in this case is that you hand over your pen and the PPS handles the sale and he/she takes care all of the myriad details for you (pictures, posting, transaction processing, insurance, shipment), while the downside is obviously that the PPS takes a cut of the transaction. Since I've never dealt with PPS, I'll leave this to others to provide details, but it's an option.

 

- Local Craigslist/Kijiji ad: finally, you can try posting an ad on your local Craigslist or Kijiji sites to sell the pen locally. The upside of this is that use of these services are free, you probably won't have to worry about shipping, usually transactions are cash-only, and you can meet some interesting people. The downside of using these services is that you end up receiving a lot of SPAM emails from Nigeria about how the person wants you to ship the pen to his/her father and they'll send you the money via Western Union and/or you arrange a meeting with a prospective buyer only to get mugged. (OK, this latter point is an urban-legend, but I could see it happening) In addition, you might be posting your ad in competition with 00's of ads for fake MBs (which certainly is the case in Montreal...), so prospective buyers might discount your pen as being fake too.

 

I realize this is a long post, but I hope it helps. Let us know what you decide to do and good luck!

 

Regards,

Justin

(AKA JLS1)

 

NOTE: edited for formatting.

Edited September 24, 2012 by JLS1

[ERdept]

As any gift, well I shouldn't say it cause I figured everyone knows.

 

 

Keep it, use it, refer back to it.

 

 

I have Polo shirts that I despise, but I accepted them, thanked the person for their thoughts, and they did take time and money and did think of me.

 

 

Kept it in a drawer, and wore it occasionally when I met them.

 

 

I thought this was standard polite society's practice.

[wspohn]

Psst - there is no such thing as a "Mont Blanc" pen. Ther are however, Montblanc pens (one word). If you advertise it, make sure you use the correct name or you may be taken as peddling a fake.

[Braindrain]

First post on this forum! Exciting.

 

I just received a very fancy looking box with a Mont Blanc Ingrid Bergmann La Donna pen inside, and am a little unsure of what to do with it.

I was aware that they are quite costly pens and I found it being sold for near $1000 on amazon.com, so I'm not sure whether I should use it or try to sell it. I don't even know if it could sell. Can people give me their own experiences of receiving (their first, not their hundredth!) something like this as a present? I.e. why would you use it? What would you use it for? Could I sell it? How do I sell it?

 

Any input of your past experiences would be very much appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Michael

 

 

I'm not sure your question is because you've never used a fountain pen or you've never had such an expensive pen. If it's the former, if you're even thinking about toying around with using a FP for the 1st time, I'd suggest buying a cheapie (but decent) FP and try it on that before you ink the MB. If you decide it's not for you, you haven't lessened the value of the MB. If it's the latter, well, it's really up to you to decide if you really want it or would prefer the cash on something you'd like better.

[tenney]

I agree that one way to get used to a fountain pen is to use a cheaper one first, but... don't worry about it. You will be able to get used to it quite quickly. However, if you're anywhere near a Montblanc Boutique (those are company stores located in many cities around the world), you can just go in there and ask them to show you how to use and take care of your pen. They will be happy to give you some instructions and assistance.

 

if you're not sure about using fountain pens at all, you can easily keep the pen in its original box for a couple of years until you decide. Who knows, it might go up in value later if you decide to sell it unused.

 

It is a lovely pen.

[Chris]

Funny that the label on the ink bottle says MONT BLANC with the second part of the word under the first; there is plenty of label room to write MONTBLANC (their capitals - I'm not shouting ) Does this mean Montblanc tolerate mont blanc, in whatever case?

 

Chris

[Ernst Bitterman]

Funny that the label on the ink bottle says MONT BLANC with the second part of the word under the first; there is plenty of label room to write MONTBLANC (their capitals - I'm not shouting ) Does this mean Montblanc tolerate mont blanc, in whatever case?

 

Chris

 

I was going to observe that about the ink bottles as well. I suppose the concern is that if we all say "Mont Blanc", the pens might get confused with the mountain....

[wspohn]

The company, Montblanc International GmbH, uses a trade mark, the white star, as well as the name of the company broken into two words with one over the other. That latter no doubt contributes to the confusion.

[Bo Bo Olson]

My old Mount ^ Blanc...^=a mountain between the words.

I'm sure they patented the words as well as they could, out side where the mountain is.

[mtrig]

Wow, this is quite an overwhelming response, thanks to everyone! I really appreciate you taking the time to help.

I have actually used a fountain pain in the past. Though I never really got on with them. This is actually slightly irrelevant, as the pen is actually (and disappointingly, perhaps to a lot of you) the ballpoint pen version. I should have mentioned this in the post, but I forgot that the pen comes in a ballpoint pen version as well as a fountain pen version.

I do hope this doesn't mean I'm on the wrong site! I do realise the name is 'fountainpennetwork.com'! Please let me know if it's otherwise! haha

 

On the issue of it being a gift, I should add that it was a very unexpected gift from someone who I barely know but advised on which University to apply to and how to go about it. It's a slightly odd situation and I would feel a bit bad selling the pen, but at the same time, I wouldn't feel terrible. Also, I don't feel like I'd do the pen justice really.

[Koyote]

Just consider that you may see this person again, perhaps even in a work setting. He/she will be expecting you to wield your fancy pen. Can't do that if you have sold it.

[lovemy51]

hi and welcome. i couldn't keep a pen that looks like that -just not for me, but being a gift...

 

... man, that thing is way too girly for me!

[novarider]

Someone you barely know gave you a $1000 pen? Introduce us I could use a friend like that! Lol

[Chrissy]

Wow, this is quite an overwhelming response, thanks to everyone! I really appreciate you taking the time to help.

I have actually used a fountain pain in the past. Though I never really got on with them. This is actually slightly irrelevant, as the pen is actually (and disappointingly, perhaps to a lot of you) the ballpoint pen version. I should have mentioned this in the post, but I forgot that the pen comes in a ballpoint pen version as well as a fountain pen version.

I do hope this doesn't mean I'm on the wrong site! I do realise the name is 'fountainpennetwork.com'! Please let me know if it's otherwise! haha

 

On the issue of it being a gift, I should add that it was a very unexpected gift from someone who I barely know but advised on which University to apply to and how to go about it. It's a slightly odd situation and I would feel a bit bad selling the pen, but at the same time, I wouldn't feel terrible. Also, I don't feel like I'd do the pen justice really.

Everyone on here can give you advice based on what they might do. At the end of the day the decision is yours. Keep it and use it or sell it and buy something that you want instead. It's entirely up to you

[Pickwick]

Wow, this is quite an overwhelming response, thanks to everyone! I really appreciate you taking the time to help.

I have actually used a fountain pain in the past. Though I never really got on with them. This is actually slightly irrelevant, as the pen is actually (and disappointingly, perhaps to a lot of you) the ballpoint pen version. I should have mentioned this in the post, but I forgot that the pen comes in a ballpoint pen version as well as a fountain pen version.

I do hope this doesn't mean I'm on the wrong site! I do realise the name is 'fountainpennetwork.com'! Please let me know if it's otherwise! haha

 

On the issue of it being a gift, I should add that it was a very unexpected gift from someone who I barely know but advised on which University to apply to and how to go about it. It's a slightly odd situation and I would feel a bit bad selling the pen, but at the same time, I wouldn't feel terrible. Also, I don't feel like I'd do the pen justice really.

 

Reading some of these comments, along with others in the past regarding gifts, I get the impression people are so unfeeling toward a person wishing to give to another what must have taken them time and effort along with their resources. And the receiver not showing any real gratitude for such an unexpected gift, just dismissive of no consequence.

 

It makes me feel very sad.