Need Help With Visconti Rinascimento

[sargetalon]

Hello everyone. One of my bosses is into fountain pens, mostly Montblanc, and has decided to narrow down his collection and get rid of some of the pens that he is not using. He has given me one of those pens in order to sell on his behalf and I must admit that I am a Pelikan guy and know very little about older Viscontis. The pen is a Visconti Rinascimento Deco Fountain Pen with a 14K Fine nib. The silver is a bit tarnished and needs a polish but it's in great shape and all there including outer and inner boxes as well as accompanying literature. My research tells me this was part of a series produced in 2001 and now discontinued but I don't find much beyond that. My questions then are;

 

1) What is a fair price to ask for this pen? I don't want to take on selling something for someone else only to find that I accidentally "gave it away." There aren't many examples of past sales on eBay. The few that are there are for something like $150. This is a nice pen. Is it reasonable to ask more?

 

2) Is this a desirable pen or just an everyday, run of the mill, dime a dozen pen?

 

3) What would be the best method of polishing the silver barrel without damaging it? I do not have any silver items in my possession so do not know what the best method of care would be. Or, would it be better to leave as is and let whoever purchases it take on the polishing?

 

Any and all opinions and information welcome as I'm quite out of my depths on this one. Thanks!

 

See bad camera phone pics below (those purple splotches are a faulty camera lens)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2014 by sargetalon

[Ghost Plane]

Speerbob and Pentime/Chatterley Luxuries sell these occasionally on eBay, so their pricing is accurate. A "sunshine cloth" aka silver polishing cloth is all it needs. These are delightful writers with 14kt nibs I would consider mid range in a similar class with Waterman Carenes or nice Sheaffers. The filling system is a captured converter rather than true piston so they don't hold a huge amount of ink compared to true piston fillers but are excellent user pens as opposed to the cheaper modern stuff.