Do All Limited Edition Pens Eventually Have Value ?

[statius]

I buy the pens I like and want to use. My most recent purchase happened to be a Pelikan M205 aquamarine LE. I like it and it writes beautifully for me. It may or may not go up in value. I also bought a Mandarin Yellow VP back in the day. That pen went up in value quite a bit, and I stupidly sold it. Though I bought an Ice Green VP to replace it and love the colour and use it a lot. I don't plan on selling that one, though I don't think its gone up in value, certainly compared to the Mandarin Yellow. In short, buy what you want to use (and can comfortably afford), that's my .02.

[PS104]

In 60s I bought an MB 149 $34. So by my calculation it's risen in value by 400-500% I bought it for the feel and the writing quality. No one ever heard of LEs back-in-the-day so that wasn't even a factor. Even used it as an EDC when going to school. It's a quality pen that has stood the test of time. It's become an icon in the pen world.

On the other hand Billy Beer is a LE. I wonder how many people have cases stashed down in their cellars waiting to recoup the money they spent in it.

[praxim]

Sorry, PS104, but your description of the MB value is unclear to me. What are you saying is its value today, that pen on the second-hand market or a new MB equivalent? Discounted for inflation? You see 400-500% is only 4x-5x which over 50 years is only about 3% compound annual, probably less than inflation, hence wondering with what you were comparing and whether you had already discounted inflationary effects.

 

 

I find this discussion apposite because I have just ordered a Limited Edition for the first (and probably only) time, as a commemoration pen for an event as I mentioned elsewhere. One indication of its value is that the price to me, brand new, was about 40% of nominal RRP! Hmm, the first buyers are not doing so well.

 

Rather than imagining I have a bargain, I expect it to fall further in value before it rises at all, but I do not expect to sell so its future value is pretty immaterial to me. I will keep the packaging so my heirs and successors can maximise their payoff if they so wish.

 

Fortunately for me, I bought the pen because I liked it (after detailed comparisons), and I trust the writing and construction qualities of the brand, S T Dupont, based on experience with a couple of their "normal" pens. It is currently choofing its way over here.

[ItwasLuck]

This is such an interesting discussion. I often ponder LEs and their purpose. I think of fountain pens as utilitarian objects - created for the purpose of writing. The best pens - in my opinion - are well designed (pleasing to look at) and write well. Form and function. Sometimes it appears to me that pen designers lose all sense when it comes to LEs. Some of them look as if the designers were having a bad acid trip or were high on speed. The pens are extraordinarily ornate, even ugly. Does anybody actually use such a pen? I live in the corn belt. Folks around here wear bib overalls. I'd be laughed out of town. Were they designed as marketing devices? Possibly, those pens are made expressly for collectors, as display objects. There do seem to be companies that specialize in collectible pens. But why make a whole pen? Why not just the shell of a pen? Others, like one I have (Omas Galileo) look like regular pens, albeit in fancy packaging. The Galileo comes in a big, round slab of glass that pivots open, revealing - ta da! - a regular, old pen. The pen is in my pen case. The slab... well, it's heavy enough to be used as a door stop. And what do you do with all that packaging anyhow, which seems to be requisite for LEs? Apparently, the pen's value goes up up up if it's in its original packaging. If I kept all that stuff, I'd have to build an addition on my house. So, I will buy an LE if it's a pen I know I will use. Usually, I'll be familiar with the pen company and the quality of its nibs. And, with a few exceptions, I'll dump the packaging.

I disagree, some LEs that Visconti make actually add functionality and charm to the pen, I'll give you two examples.

 

1. HS Crystal and Florentine Hills - Both pens double the ink capacity of the normal HS and is even lighter providing better ergonomics.

2. Visconti Kakadu / Australis LE - Both pens are LEs of the large and frankly heavy Opera Master Demonstrators. But since both LE versions are made out of celluloid or aptly named acryloid (the Australis is actually made from lucite, but still applies), including the section and blind cap, they are much lighter than the regular pens. Also having a celluloid or any non-metal section instead of a metal section provides for a better grip. Slight difference between the two models, the Australis is the exact size as the regular OMD, while the Kakadu is slightly shorter. I went with the latter model.

 

As for the more expensive LE models that Visconti make, those are definitely over designed and frankly a bit garnish with too many luxury materials. However there is a method to this madness.

Many high end luxury brands make quite a bit profit from the products they sell from brand recognition alone, Rolex and Gucci (I'll add MB to the list, take a gander at the Montblanc Meisterstück Classique Special Edition Ultra Black for example which is essentially an overpriced Classique 145) are perfectly good examples of this phenomenon. These brands fully understand that they are riping off the high end consumers with over priced products where the sum of the parts do not add up even remotely close to the actual product (I'll exclude MB though because most of their pens do not apply in this scenario). So in a way to "give back" to the consumer, they garnish these products with a superfluous amount of diamonds in a failed attempt to make themselves feel better. I am of course speaking about the actual artisans making the products.

 

They go out of their way pouring heart and soul into making something that usually ends up being overdesigned and gaudy in some if not most cases depending on the consumer's individual preferences. Also these artisans have complete creative freedom when it comes to such high price point items where the labor costs and material costs will be comparably low to the actual MSRP of the product. This is why we end up with LEs that seem gaudy at first glance but if you own one of these products you'll understand the subtle intricacies of the material and design revealing a lot about the artisan himself/herself. Remember they are just given a broad concept but the artist has complete control over the design and the use of any materials because these products are absurdly expensive that the company simply doesn't care about the added expense, they are making enough profit as if. So the artist will naturally make a product that they personally like and this in no shape or form may express your own predilection.

 

However there are some positive points. One of Visconti's, I know I am speaking a lot about Visconti but they are such great examples of a company that make both superfluous and functional limited edition pens, beliefs that is literally an icon/symbol of the brand is their use of the unique Visconti clips. As we all know, the clips symbolizes a bridge and is inspired by the Ponte Vecchio Bridge in Florence, Italy which also so happens to be Mr. Del Vecchio's hometown.

 

The bridge symbolizes the union between people and nations, and overall has quite peaceful connotations to it's meaning both literally and symbolically. Just take a look at the Visconti Summit Nato-Russia pen that was used to mark officially the end of the cold war in 2002, signed by President Bush. Visconti have in many ways tried to bridge the gaps between communities and nations. I'll give an example to explain this thought. Visconti, is an Italian company, so they should mainly be promoting themselves as in their own Italian culture. They do this very well (ie. every Visconti to date, more specific ones such as HS Florentine Hills LE), almost too well, think Italian cars unreliability but gorgeous looks? Yeah same with Visconti Pens of recent years, beautiful and elegant yet troubled by Q/C issues in recent years (Pre-Palladium Visconti pens has excellent build quality and no real Q/C problems). Yet they make various extremely limited edition pens with jaw-dropping price tags to boot that are inspired by many different nations. I'll focus on two (rather four) of these bespoke limited edition pens, the ones based on Israel and on Palestine (Visconti as a brand expresses unity and peace, so they can't directly base one of their pens on an "unofficial" state/nation. Israel however, is "officially" recognized as it's own nation.

 

As we all know, there has been fighting in Jerusalem for decades and decades, between the Jewish and Muslim people. So what does Visconti do? Whether intentionally or un-intentionally the idea is quite fascinating and I might be stretching my imagination here to great extremes here but nonetheless.

 

Visconti make four extremely high end limited edition pens based on Israel and Makkah/Medina, or more broadly Judaism and Islam, as seen below in these gorgeous pictures. And even one based on Al-Aqsa Masjid (mosque) in Jerusalem where it was believed that the prophet Muhammed (SWAT) was directed by Allah (God) to face the Ka'bbah [Muslim's most holiest mosque, where every muslim faces towards when they (me included) pray no matter where they (we) are], now the fighting has mainly occurred because the Israelis believe that this holy land (deemed holy among both sides) to be theirs by right and vice-versa. I'd like everyone to emphasize on Visconti's pen that is based on Jurusalem because this is the place that is being fought over between the Israelis and Palestinians to this very day and unfortunately will continue to go on and on. Now more specifically, the mosque known as Al-Aqsa, deemed the 3rd most holiest mosque to the Muslims, and also deemed holy to the Jewish people, is a symbol to both religions. But why did Visconti give the nod to the Muslims over the Jewish people? Note Visconti's own website hints at the mosque's relevance ie. where Allah commanded the prophet Muhammed to face the Ka'bbah.

 

Why did Visconti do this? I understand many might argue that, "hey dude it's just a pen", it very well is but it's the sort of pens that only the extremely powerful, influential, and rich privileged buy, and before purchase, the pens are of course advertised where the person trying to sell the item in question will outline the inspiration behind the pen. So while Visconti make pens based on the Crusaders, the Muslims, and the Jews why is it that when given the choice for Juruselem, instead of ignoring it (along with all it's controversy) and focusing on another landmark, why did they go through all the trouble to make the pen and base it specifically out of the Muslim's perspective of the mosque. Some might say it's to satisfy the high end luxurious markets in the Middle East, but this pen could have been easily avoided because the Arabian people already have two pens based on their religion (Visconti Mecca and Medina LEs) whereas the Jewish people only have one (Visconti 12 Tribes of Israel LE). And 3 technically if you consider the pen in question to be based on the Muslim's perspective, which it most definitely is. Not just that but they could have chosen any other mosque/landmark but why did they choose the most controversial one? Is it because of it's beauty, or it's relevance, or maybe to promote peace as a whole by focusing on the oppressed Palestinian people, now that would be an interesting question to ask Dante Del Vecchio himself.

 

Some truly Limited Edition pens sure have a high level of mystique behind their inception/creation!

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/bM4ej1H.jpg

 

]http://imgur.com/a/qR0Ti

 

http://imgur.com/a/nKQfk

 

http://imgur.com/a/84Rch

 

http://imgur.com/a/Ab8H6

Edited November 14, 2016 by ItwasLuck