Do All Limited Edition Pens Eventually Have Value ?

[ForeverStained]

I was thinking about limited edition pens the other day when i saw a Montblanc Dumas pen going for THOUSANDS of dollars. I had one once when they first came out and the damned thing leaked ALL over the place.

and it was brand new. I paid $400 for it but i think i only got half of that when i sold it.

for some reason.... the place i bought it would not take it back. after that ... i never bought another Montblanc.

 

but now.... i see how its shot up in price.... pity i didnt just put it away.

 

so that got me to thinkin.... do ALL limited edition pens eventually go way up in value ? just because they are limited?

or have some just been of no interest to collectors?

 

if so.... which ones?

[GabrielleDuVent]

It's probably a safe bet that over time, all limited edition pens go up in value. Even empty ink bottles go up in value as soon as they are no longer produced.

 

It's the same with everything else, not just pens. A perfume that is no longer in production can triple, quadruple in price over a span of a year. Quite a few collectors pride themselves in having a complete collection, so there is a good chance any limited edition will go up in price sooner or later.

[langere]

Yes, that is true, but it is still a crapshoot - It is not clear that most prices, even with a Limited Edition (and there are many versions of that - dozens to thousands produced) will do better than inflation. In other words, you can feel good that you did not try to "invest" in fountain pens (other than for pleasure of using them), because there are many much better ways of making money...

 

Erick

[ForeverStained]

HA ! no way would i even think about investing in fountain pens for anything more than pleasure. lol

i just got to thinking about that Dumas pen and what a poorly made thing it was and now its going for LOADS of money.

 

i love fountain pens.... but for me... its just for fun.

[langere]

I think that is exactly the right attitude! Keep enjoying!

 

Erick

[Opooh]

What I would say to you, read the book of Benjamin Franklin: The intelligent investor ( by the way Conid has a LE called Benjamin Franklin ). The man says buy low, sell high. His book was Warren Buffet's bible.

Concerning fountain pens especially the LE, same principle and patience, every limited wil one day or another be worth x times the price you bought it, if of course there has been taken care of and you kept the case and everything else that was delivered at the purchase.

I give you some examples'

- my MB Hemingway was recently rehauld at the factory, 50 euro, ok but well worth it.

- I have already one Omas LE Maserati, at this moment I am still loosing money on it, would I sell it.( which I don't, because Ilike it too much ). Recently I had the occasion to buy a second one, mint and boxed at half price, so at this moment I own 0,18 % of the total production of 1200 and time is on my side.

However keep in mind that the fountain pen world is a small world, like every collectorsworld.

[ForeverStained]

For me... the only reason to buy ANY pen is because i love the look of it and the way it writes.

That Dumas pen i had was attractive because of the cracked ice look of the resin. i was VERY disappointed when

it began leaking all over the place.

 

but... like i said before.... if i had put it away.... i could have had ALOT of other pens now for what i would be selling it for.

at the time i was angry.... and just wanted it gone.

 

i'll be a little wiser next time. back then... it never occured to me to keep it.

i cant call myself a collector because i hardly have any pens.... and i love using what i have.

 

so yeah... thats it i am not a collector.... i am an enthusiastic user. LOL

pens are fun.... from the time i was a kid using my dads Parker 51..... i have always loved them.

[GabrielleDuVent]

For me... the only reason to buy ANY pen is because i love the look of it and the way it writes.

That Dumas pen i had was attractive because of the cracked ice look of the resin. i was VERY disappointed when

it began leaking all over the place.

 

but... like i said before.... if i had put it away.... i could have had ALOT of other pens now for what i would be selling it for.

at the time i was angry.... and just wanted it gone.

 

i'll be a little wiser next time. back then... it never occured to me to keep it.

i cant call myself a collector because i hardly have any pens.... and i love using what i have.

 

so yeah... thats it i am not a collector.... i am an enthusiastic user. LOL

pens are fun.... from the time i was a kid using my dads Parker 51..... i have always loved them.

 

I think that's why we make a differentiation on here between collector and accumulator. The former just collects them, usage isn't really an issue; the latter just uses pens, and suddenly he finds himself having dozens, accumulated over the years. I am an accumulator. I use my pens, and don't find much meaning in an unused pen, and vaguely give unused pens a personality that is rife with existential crises: "I was born as a pen, yet I have not been used. For what purpose was I born to this world?"

 

But there are "collector" of pens too, and that's fine, and they're the ones who like these LEs most of the time. I have a LE - which I won't use because the nib is M and I don't want to grind it down - but I used it for a good few years until a pen with an F nib came along. And when I feel I need an M nib (signatures, for instance), I'll pull that pen out.

[publishing guy]

I agree that the reason to buy pens is to write with them. Almost nothing that is MANUFACTURED to be collectible is guaranteed to grow in value. Value is a product of both supply and DEMAND. There are a lot of limited edition pens you can buy right now for less than the original retail. Age usually lowers supply. But not if all the buyers save their purchases as investments. Someday -- repeat someday -- like 200 years from now, all those many limited editions being produced may increase to great value. But it is no more guaranteed than Beany Babies or plates with Elvis painted on them.

[Opooh]

I think that's why we make a differentiation on here between collector and accumulator. The former just collects them, usage isn't really an issue; the latter just uses pens, and suddenly he finds himself having dozens, accumulated over the years. I am an accumulator. I use my pens, and don't find much meaning in an unused pen, and vaguely give unused pens a personality that is rife with existential crises: "I was born as a pen, yet I have not been used. For what purpose was I born to this world?"

 

But there are "collector" of pens too, and that's fine, and they're the ones who like these LEs most of the time. I have a LE - which I won't use because the nib is M and I don't want to grind it down - but I used it for a good few years until a pen with an F nib came along. And when I feel I need an M nib (signatures, for instance), I'll pull that pen out.

Right, but there are also collectors who are accumulators. Most of my pens are LE, 40 of them are in rotation ( 4 pens a week ), the rest is on hold. I explain, most of them are only used once every 5 years, but I never came up in my mind to sell one of them. So when once every 5 years I would like to use the Cartier Pascha or the Shaeffer Balance oversize I just have to ink it and start writing. The investment side of my collection is only concerning my children.

[Runnin_Ute]

I look at my pens like my watches: nice, but not horribly expensive items that I enjoy. I can't very well enjoy them just letting them sit in a box someplace and never wearing or writing with them (aka using). A watch unless it is made of solid gold isn't going to appreciate - even if it says Rolex or some other high end brand.

 

Generally speaking, watches and pens will depreciate - at a greater percentage than a car does when first driven off the lot.

 

I have at least one LE watch - #2421/3900 I don't expect it to ever increase in value from the price I paid. I could probably get more for either my Waltham pocket watch (c. 1908) or my Hamilton Thin o Matic (late 1960's to early 1970's) neither of which will likely bring $1000. The Hamilton runs well and accurate, the Waltham runs but is not accurate with any reliability.

 

Again things like watches and pens are NOT reliable investment vehicles.

[olivier78860]

The principle of a limited edition is to artificially create rarity, which is supposed to mean high value.

But in the fountain pens market, the "limited edition" factor in itself isn't rare.

 

There are different levels of limitation.

For the extremely rare pens (from one or up to a few dozen), it will completely depend on the perception of the brand, because the price is not "real", and of the people who know it.

For the moderately rare pens (a few hundred copies), the pen has a reselling potential if it went sold out fast. Otherwise, don't expect anybody before your grandchildren's generation to make money by reselling it.

For the larger series, it all depends on the company's marketing (Montblanc being the "school case", with 20000 copies for some pens, which isn't limited at all).

 

There are also many other factors. A solid gold pen with diamonds will cost a lot, but will it achieve the "desired" status which would make its price increase (or at least maintain) ?

A more simpler pen, without a number, but very rare to find (ancient vintage pens) will achieve a relatively good premium, that more modern pens won't over the course of time.

 

Examples of limited editions that gained value a lot : Montblanc Hemingway, S.T. Dupont Samouraï, Waterman Sérénité Maki-e

Examples of limited editions that didn't gain any value or won't maintain it in the future (in my opnion): S.T. Dupont 1001 Nights, or the Tournaire editions, Montblanc Collodi or Einstein, most Visconti or Montegrappa pens.

 

This is all my opinion, and the limited edition business has become a marketing niche, with prices that are not sane for most models.

At least, a few years ago, they weren't too expensive (I got a MB Poe for 430€ in 2004, now its market value is around $1200 when there are 21000 of them. Quite a mystery to me.)

 

I think the limited edition factor only has a meaning when limited editions are actually hard to find (physically, not because of their market price), and the numbering on pens has become the main excuse to multiply the fair price by 3 or 4 for most nowadays pens.

Edited June 22, 2013 by olivier78860

[BrandonA]

Almost nothing that is MANUFACTURED to be collectible is guaranteed to grow in value. Value is a product of both supply and DEMAND. There are a lot of limited edition pens you can buy right now for less than the original retail. Age usually lowers supply. But not if all the buyers save their purchases as investments. Someday -- repeat someday -- like 200 years from now, all those many limited editions being produced may increase to great value.

 

Well put.

 

It is impossible to tell how value will change overtime, if someone could the last thing they'd do is tell people, instead they'd simply invest all their own money and buy as many of the items as possible. Just look at the MB Hemingway for example, if you'd bought 10 of these in 1992 you would have made a huge profit if you sold them all now and could have bought a brand new car.

 

I think the potential negative for Montblanc is that they are releasing so many different limited or special edition pens that in 10 or 15 years people will have a huge number of pens to choice from when buying one. I think this will affect future resale price. If you want a POA or WE pen there are over 60 to chose from, in 15 years time if they continue to release annually there will be over 100 + nearly 20 great character pens. This huge selection will mean that only the best pens can compete and demand and price for some will drop even if their supply remains the same.

 

The good thing about the Montblanc pens is that not only do they limit the number of pens they release they also made a specific number of replacement parts for those pens. Therefore overtime these will run out and it will no longer be possible to repair the pens with original parts. You can still get nibs though for pens released >15 years ago so this is a long way off. If though you can keep your pen original and others are lost, broken, become franken pens due to modern replacement parts then your pen might increase in value.

 

I bought my pens because I like them and I wanted a collection. I didn't necessarily buy them to use nor for making a profit. I bought them due to simply wanting them. I know though that should I fall upon hard times I could some to pay the mortgage and buy food.

[MartinCB]

From what I see the pens that appear to be gaining the most value, in percentage terms, are the Lamy Safari annual colours. On Ebay pens made just two or three years ago are selling for up to ten times their original price.

[whitedot]

It's probably a safe bet that over time, all limited edition pens go up in value. Even empty ink bottles go up in value as soon as they are no longer produced.

 

It's the same with everything else, not just pens. A perfume that is no longer in production can triple, quadruple in price over a span of a year. Quite a few collectors pride themselves in having a complete collection, so there is a good chance any limited edition will go up in price sooner or later.

 

Of course not. All FPs are or will be limited in quantity. In this sense, all FPs are LEs. For prices to hike, whatever the quantity, demand must outstrip supply.

 

 

Further:

 

The effect of LE is diluted when a penmaker produces 90% of their FPs in small quantities, and stamps LE on them. A certain Italian brand is very LE happy. (c.f. Brandon's post on MBs.)

 

RRP isn't always sustainable. Cross released a 150th Anniversary LE. "Does it hold up to its retail price? No. It's not difficult to see these turn up now and then at 1/3 to 1/2 the list price. The value probably is hurt by Cross mostly selling in the low to middle fine pen market, and the name can't carry a US $1,000 pen." - Penhero.com.

Edited June 22, 2013 by whitedot

[ForeverStained]

WOW ! so many opinions ! i love this site. thanks so much for posting everyone.... it makes great reading.

[Edwaroth]

Only if there's a buyer willing to pay more than you did.

[penmanila]

heck, no--how could all LEs possibly rise in value, given the proliferation of "LEs", many of them clearly just marketing ploys (and of course they all are) than pieces with truly classic appeal (admittedly a difficult thing to determine)?

 

i'd like to know which LEs, specifically, have appreciated significantly over the years. i can be fairly sure of only two at this point--the MB agatha christie and the MB hemingway.

Edited June 23, 2013 by penmanila

[RLTodd]

Like Rolex watches there is a secondary market to support price on Montblanc L.E.s

As long as the secondary market holds up, prices will probably continue to rise.

 

But, it is a speculation, not an investment.

[elysee]

The price for anything depends on when the item is available, who wants the item, and what (s)he is willing to pay to purchase the item -- supply and demand.