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FP_GaF
March 5th, 2013, 09:23 AM
I thought I might share this little story of a great find with all my fellow pen brothers and sisters here in the FPG forum: Another year, another purchase from "the drawer". Back home on holiday I went to my favourite pen store in my home town to take a look at their pens on sale which they keep in a special drawer. Lo and behold, after 15 minutes of rummaging through countless rows of roller ball and ballpoint pens I spotted something that looked like a fountain pen.

Well, to make a long story short what I held in my trembling hands was a genuine Montegrappa Espressione. But not just any Espressione. This was the old model. More straight, no octagonal accents, sterling silver section and cap band and a platinum plated 18ct #6 size (update: could be a #5 actually, really hard to tell; somewhere between TWSBI Diamond 540 and VAC700 size) gold nib. And best of all this beauty joined the ranks of my fountain pens at 50% of its original store price!

And here she is:

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/06/ta3anena.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/06/syquba6e.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/03/06/usebatym.jpg

What a lucky beggar I am!

Update: just took a few pictures with my phone. Will try to post better pictures when I have access to a decent camera

KrazyIvan
March 5th, 2013, 09:26 AM
Congrats! We need pictures. :)

FP_GaF
March 5th, 2013, 09:35 AM
Congrats! We need pictures. :)

Patience my young padawan! Patience. ;)

KrazyIvan
March 5th, 2013, 09:38 AM
Patience is for a Jedi. Sith on the other hand... :D

Oh wow, that's a looker. A lot more understated than what I usually picture Montegrappa to be.

FP_GaF
March 5th, 2013, 09:45 AM
My thoughts precisely! Not only is this a tastefully and well designed pen from Montegrappa it's manufature is flawless as far as I can tell. Even has a signed quality control certificate from the factory in the small booklet that came with it. I think the pen is from the early 2000s. What a surprise and joy!

fountainpenkid
March 5th, 2013, 01:45 PM
That is a great deal! Enjoy!

snedwos
March 5th, 2013, 02:48 PM
Patience is for a Jedi. Sith on the other hand... :D

Oh wow, that's a looker. A lot more understated than what I usually picture Montegrappa to be.

I think it shows remarkable patience, to lie in hiding for 2000 years, watching, waiting, biding their time for the right moment to strike, and then to rise as the supreme masters of the Galaxy. And they'd have got away with it too, iff it wasn't for those pesky rebel kids!

Robert
March 5th, 2013, 04:27 PM
Very elegant, lovely pen, FP_Gaf. I picked up my first Montegrappa a couple of weeks ago on eBay - - a really nice 1930 Extra in tortoise brown. What a smooth writer! Enjoy you new acquisition.

bulbboy
March 5th, 2013, 09:16 PM
Very nice!!!

jar
March 6th, 2013, 06:28 AM
Take a look and see what the guild stamp on the Sterling Silver parts might be. If it is *1055VI it was made in the old Aquila era; *1140MI would be a Richemont era pen and *2670VI would be a current Aquila era pen.

I love my old style Espressione pens and have several of them including a brown one with this superb Mottishaw stub nib.



http://www.fototime.com/EA3F272A165F3DD/large.jpg

FP_GaF
March 6th, 2013, 09:36 AM
Take a look and see what the guild stamp on the Sterling Silver parts might be. If it is *1055VI it was made in the old Aquila era; *1140MI would be a Richemont era pen and *2670VI would be a current Aquila era pen.

[/CENTER]

Thanks for this information.

I read it as a Richemont era pen. That seems to tie in with my estimated year of production in the early 2000s if I understand things correctly. Is that when Montegrappa was owned by Montblanc? And can you point me to a source with more on the history of this brand, please?

Oh boy, what a nice looking nib!

jar
March 6th, 2013, 10:51 AM
Thanks for this information.

I read it as a Richemont era pen. That seems to tie in with my estimated year of production in the early 2000s if I understand things correctly. Is that when Montegrappa was owned by Montblanc? And can you point me to a source with more on the history of this brand, please?

Oh boy, what a nice looking nib!

Yeah, it's a nice nib.

As to history, here is a review (http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/223854-modern-montegrappa-regular-edition-pens/page__view__findpost__p__2378107) that I did over at FPN of the relatively modern Montegrappas and the company.

Tracy Lee
March 6th, 2013, 03:05 PM
Appropriate amounts of OOOOOing and AAAHHHing here at my house. Nice addition to your family. :thumbup::thumbup:

manoeuver
March 6th, 2013, 04:57 PM
oh, yum.


hi Jar.

FP_GaF
March 6th, 2013, 10:00 PM
Thank you so much jar. Great article(s) you wrote on FPN.

jar
July 13th, 2013, 09:54 AM
Since then I have put together a website (http://montegrappa-history.com/)that I hope will answer some folks questions about Montegrappa and Montegrappa pens. Take a look at it and see what you might want next.

Fawkes
July 22nd, 2013, 11:28 PM
My Espressione is one of my favorite Montegrappas. Its one of the old styles in red. Im not a fan of the new style, it looks cheap to me and Im sick of Montegrappa charging prices for steel nibs that a few years ago they charged for gold nibs.

Anyway, its a beautiful pen and Im glad you like it so much.

JazzDoc
October 7th, 2013, 10:18 PM
Since then I have put together a website (http://montegrappa-history.com/)that I hope will answer some folks questions about Montegrappa and Montegrappa pens. Take a look at it and see what you might want next.

Superb, jar! Thanks for that - terrific resource.

I just acquired a red Emblema with a Mottishaw stub (fashioned from a B nib), and a yellow Symphony with an EF nib. Exciting.

arthurdent
December 26th, 2013, 12:36 PM
I own a similar Espressione in black and love the look of it.
Also own one of the blue new Esperessiones.
And recently bought a Fortuna with rose gold trim.

I find their steel nibs quite acceptable - if a little fine. All three of my pens are medium nibs but all write closer to a fine.
The Fortuna slips very nicely into my Filofax (whereas flat ended pens don't).

Inkheart
December 29th, 2013, 05:36 PM
Thought I'd share my first Montegrappa, just acquired a few weeks ago. It will not be my last! While initially not impressed, I'm finding the more I write with it, the better it performs. I am very, very pleased - a great addition to a collection largely comprised of Visconti's. :)

Simon Pen-Pusher
December 29th, 2013, 06:04 PM
My first Montegrappa was the Extra 1930; BUT, my second was the Espressione Duetto.

The Espressione is a lovely design. I have the Espressione Duetto - in red (a bit more like a ruby colour really). The solid sterling silver cap is a work of art! It was paired with the ballpoint version. So, I grabbed the opportunity at a wonderful price.

Like FP I came by mine by chance - new old stock. The sterling silver was in need of a good careful clean, which I enjoyed doing. They came up magnificently without a single sign of a buff mark!

I am not a fan of ballpoint pens at all. BUT, today there are some fantastic gel formulas and I have played with the Parker 0.7 gel and the Monteverde ceramic gel in my Duetto ballpoint - both are very good indeed.

Both pens are gorgeous to the eye and excellent in the hand. I am still intrigued with the ergonomic design at the grip section - relatively narrow, but well supported by the breadth of the barrel immediately above it.

The Espressione Duetto nib (medium) is just fantastic. The ink-flow is perfect and the pen makes an excellent day-to-day work-horse.

Personally I am sure that the 3 Italian masters make the finest overall collections of gold nibs available today - Montegrappa, OMAS and Visconti. BUT, that does not suggest that there are not individually brilliant gold nibs right up there in that category.

What I enjoy most from the Montegrappa nibs I have experienced is that beautiful "buttery soft performance right out of the box.

Here is a photo taken soon after the clean for those who crave pen photos.
Simon.

I find that most photos of the Duetto versions fail to show the warmth of the sterling silver - making it look like steel. I think this does quite a good job.

8147
I can't find my image of the pair together, so attached a small one of the ballpoint version that is from a Montegrappa ad. I'll dig around and find my own of the pair together.
8148

Bogon07
January 1st, 2014, 03:12 PM
Simon Pen-Pusher the ruby red of the fountain pen is very attractive and goes exceptionally well with the silver trim.

It appears the cap screws onto the back of the barrel when posting ?

KrazyIvan
January 1st, 2014, 03:56 PM
I got to see this one up close yesterday and it really caught my eye in blue. My newly discovered local pen shop has layaway options so even though I'm not planning on spending on pens, it is a very good option.

jar
January 1st, 2014, 04:07 PM
My first Montegrappa was the Extra 1930; BUT, my second was the Espressione Duetto.

The Espressione is a lovely design. I have the Espressione Duetto - in red (a bit more like a ruby colour really). The solid sterling silver cap is a work of art! It was paired with the ballpoint version. So, I grabbed the opportunity at a wonderful price.

Like FP I came by mine by chance - new old stock. The sterling silver was in need of a good careful clean, which I enjoyed doing. They came up magnificently without a single sign of a buff mark!

I am not a fan of ballpoint pens at all. BUT, today there are some fantastic gel formulas and I have played with the Parker 0.7 gel and the Monteverde ceramic gel in my Duetto ballpoint - both are very good indeed.

Both pens are gorgeous to the eye and excellent in the hand. I am still intrigued with the ergonomic design at the grip section - relatively narrow, but well supported by the breadth of the barrel immediately above it.

The Espressione Duetto nib (medium) is just fantastic. The ink-flow is perfect and the pen makes an excellent day-to-day work-horse.

Personally I am sure that the 3 Italian masters make the finest overall collections of gold nibs available today - Montegrappa, OMAS and Visconti. BUT, that does not suggest that there are not individually brilliant gold nibs right up there in that category.

What I enjoy most from the Montegrappa nibs I have experienced is that beautiful "buttery soft performance right out of the box.

Here is a photo taken soon after the clean for those who crave pen photos.
Simon.

I find that most photos of the Duetto versions fail to show the warmth of the sterling silver - making it look like steel. I think this does quite a good job.

8147
I can't find my image of the pair together, so attached a small one of the ballpoint version that is from a Montegrappa ad. I'll dig around and find my own of the pair together.
8148

Simon, is that a picture of YOUR Espressione red duetto fountain pen or mine?