MontBlanc John Lennon Pen

[Lion]

Today, I'm going to look at the new special edition John Lennon fountain pen at Paradise Pen Co. I'm just going to look because they will not discount the pen and I can get it on line for at least 20%off and no sales tax. But this will be the first time I can actually hold the pen and check it out since I'm definitely in the market for one. I also have a pen dealer looking for me to see if she can get it at a greater discount!!!

[Damage Inc.]

It'll be curious to see what you find. FWIW, Fountain Pen Hospital shows the LE (silver) @ $3040 and the black resin fountain pen @ $830.

Don't know if you already had this info or not...so sorry for the repeat if you do.

Good luck!

[dddrees]

I checked out the black resin fountain pen a coupleof weeks ago, pretty sharp looking pen.

[Lion]

Vic, Thanx for the information but I did already check with FPH. I looked at the Special Edition John Lennon FP(made of black resin)today. It felt great in the hand, looked fantastic and Yes, I do want one and will have it before the end of the year!!!

[Damage Inc.]

Originally Posted by Lion

Vic, Thanx for the information but I did already check with FPH. I looked at the Special Edition John Lennon FP(made of black resin)today. It felt great in the hand, looked fantastic and Yes, I do want one and will have it before the end of the year!!!

[ducatidoc]

Not being cute here, but does anyone know if John Lennon used Montblanc pens ?

[Damage Inc.]

Originally Posted by ducatidoc

Not being cute here, but does anyone know if John Lennon used Montblanc pens ?

No idea...but then again I also don't know if Mark Twain/Thomas Mann/etc. used MB either.

[ducatidoc]

I'm just used to his estate authorizing things like reissue guitars and such that he actually used during his life

[Lion]

Originally Posted by ducatidoc

I'm just used to his estate authorizing things like reissue guitars and such that he actually used during his life

Yoko Ono approved of these pens by MontBlanc and as for the writing instruments that he used...I'm not sure what he liked to use!!!

[Lol-x]

Interesting isn't it how a persons name after they are gone is like a trade mark where intellectual property attaches to the name.

A poor quality product associated with a famous name may well tarnish the reputation of that famous figure, even after they are long gone.

I'm sure the LE John Lennon Montblancs would have been pens John Lennon would have been proud to have named after him.

[rpryan55]

Originally Posted by Lol-x

Interesting isn't it how a persons name after they are gone is like a trade mark where intellectual property attaches to the name.

A poor quality product associated with a famous name may well tarnish the reputation of that famous figure, even after they are long gone.

I'm sure the LE John Lennon Montblancs would have been pens John Lennon would have been proud to have named after him.

Well said.

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by Lion

Vic, Thanx for the information but I did already check with FPH. I looked at the Special Edition John Lennon FP(made of black resin)today. It felt great in the hand, looked fantastic and Yes, I do want one and will have it before the end of the year!!!

Cool, keep us posted. I thought it was a pretty neat looking pen actually.

[Subdialler]

I do hope you get the deal you want and enjoy the pen.

The shop owner needs to trade at a profit, and by offering the premises, his face to face service, and provide the facility for you to 'hold' one of these pens is all factored into his pricings, no wonder he's unable to offer big discounts.

Sadly for him, you want retailer/dealer service and Internet prices.

If it was your pen shop, how would you feel??

[RolexABC]

Fair point Subdialler

But it's right to expect someone to pay more for something that they can get cheaper elsewhere

Now a days; most shop keepers are relying on traditional, impulsive or lastminute buyers. These are the only buyers who will pay the higher prices.

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by RolexABC

Fair point Subdialler

But it's right to expect someone to pay more for something that they can get cheaper elsewhere

Now a days; most shop keepers are relying on traditional, impulsive or lastminute buyers. These are the only buyers who will pay the higher prices.

I actually got lucky the other day. My local pen store had their pens on sale for %20 percent off. So I recieved all the personalized service and was able to purchase it at a good price.

[Lion]

Originally Posted by Subdialler

I do hope you get the deal you want and enjoy the pen.

The shop owner needs to trade at a profit, and by offering the premises, his face to face service, and provide the facility for you to 'hold' one of these pens is all factored into his pricings, no wonder he's unable to offer big discounts.

Sadly for him, you want retailer/dealer service and Internet prices.

If it was your pen shop, how would you feel??

I understand your point of view but at one of the shops I deal with an employee told me they get 35% off when purchasing a MontBlanc pen so there is a lot of profit to be made as that store still makes money on the employee purchases!!!
This particular store just had a sale where the regular MontBlanc's were 20% off of retail but the writer's series and other speciialty MB pens were not on sale!!!

[rpryan55]

Originally Posted by Subdialler

If it was your pen shop, how would you feel??

Not to be a jerk here, but I'd feel like I needed a new business model. Price drives the market in most cases - retailers that complain about the internet or think that their mere physical presence is worth paying more for are well behind the times we live in.

Welcome to the future.

[Lion]

Update on my quest for the John Lennon Special Edition fountain pen. My pen dealer friend has tracked one down and is shipping it to me for the price of $675.00USD. I should receive it within ten days and now I'm excited!!!

[Numismatist]

Originally Posted by Lol-x

Interesting isn't it how a persons name after they are gone is like a trade mark where intellectual property attaches to the name.

A poor quality product associated with a famous name may well tarnish the reputation of that famous figure, even after they are long gone.

I'm sure the LE John Lennon Montblancs would have been pens John Lennon would have been proud to have named after him.

I wonder how much of the price goes to Yoko Ono?!

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by Numismatist

I wonder how much of the price goes to Yoko Ono?!

At least according to the following article at least some of the profits go to charity.

With new John Lennon commemorative instruments, the German pen maker is embracing big ideas, and putting to the test that maxim that “the pen is mightier than the sword”

It’s hard to reconcile values of a humongous luxury goods company with the ideals of the free-spirited 1960s, but Montblanc may lie somewhere in that cross-section. The German company (yes, it’s Hamburg-based, and neither Swiss nor French—perhaps a second misconception) has just rolled out a John Lennon commemorative pen for what would have been the deceased singer-songwriter’s 70th birthday on October 9. “In this masterpiece,” touts a press release, “Montblanc has captured Lennon’s incredible soul and philosophy.” How many global corporations advertise their products as synonymous with “independent minds,” “intellectual mood of an era,” and “social, ideological and artistic change”? It’s of course fitting for a maker of pens, which writers, philosophers, and lyricists use.


Last week, Lutz Bethge, the tall, genteel CEO of Montblanc, came to New York to laud the pen and celebrate Fashion’s Night Out, in which the company participated. It was an eerie coincidence that Lennon’s assassin, Mark David Chapman, became eligible for parole that very day and was immediately denied. At the showroom on Madison Avenue (one of its 31 American stores, with two in Manhattan), an array of pens and other Montblanc instruments sparkled behind glass cases. There, Bethge succinctly explained the company’s philosophy.

“We like to celebrate the great patrons of the art,” he said, as he went over each edition of the Lennon pen: a standard special edition with a gold nib that retails for $900; a “1940” edition, symbolizing the year of Lennon’s birth, engraved with the release date of “Imagine” (2/10/1971); and then the most special of the specials—one of the 70 extant limited edition “70s” in the world. The 70 is composed of white gold and set with sapphires and diamonds, putting the price at a breathtaking $27,000. Those proceeds help support the John Lennon educational tour bus, a nonprofit.

Lennon is not the only pen honoree: Montblanc has created ones for Lorenzo de Medici, J.P. Morgan, and Mark Twain. Betghe himself prefers Montblanc’s relatively affordable (around $300) Meisterstuck, German for “masterpiece,” and pulled a perfectly used one from his breast pocket to show.

[Damage Inc.]

Originally Posted by Lion

Update on my quest for the John Lennon Special Edition fountain pen. My pen dealer friend has tracked one down and is shipping it to me for the price of $675.00USD. I should receive it within ten days and now I'm excited!!!

That's a killer price Leo, congrats!

[Lion]

Vic, thank you I'm looking forward to the new FP. And please, before anyone asks me if I can get another one...this is a special favor from a friend and can happen only once!!!