2019 marks the 50th anniversary of NASA landing on the Moon. It represents one of mankind’s greatest achievements, defining the USA as the victor in the space race with an accomplishment to rank with Christopher Columbus discovering the New World.
Inspired by the Apollo 11 mission that delivered astronauts to the lunar surface, in a licensed collaboration with NASA, Montegrappa has reproduced the iconic Saturn V rocket, interpreted as a writing instrument. To be offered as a fountain and a rollerball pen, the Moon Landing Collection made in white pearlised resin with sterling silver trim, adorned with enamel to reproduce a three-dimensional trompe-l’œil effect of the rocket body’s First, Second and Third “stages”.
Around the First Stage are the legend “USA” the American national flag, laser-cut and enamel-filled in exquisite detail. The pen cap is structured to represent the Second Stage and the Apollo command module, with the silver “lost-wax” signature clip, cast in the form of the stairway structure supporting the rocket. Completing the realisation of a Saturn V in miniature, the blind cap is reproduced with the exhaust nozzles of the engines of the space-craft, detailed with red enamel.
Available as a rollerball or fountain pen, the latter is piston-fed, and its nib is crafted in 18k gold. By turning the bottom part of the pen barrel sideways, the Saturn V pen opens up its mid-section, to reveal its inner filling mechanism, augmented by a lunette-aperture showing the ink inside.
For the limited editions, Montegrappa has issued 363 fountain pens in resin and Sterling Silver, the number denoting Saturn V’s height in feet when standing vertically. 110 rollerball pens have been offered in resin and Sterling Silver, because the equivalent in feet of 363 ft is 110 meters. The Moon Landing Collection arrives in an enclosure in the form of an Apollo 11 capsule.
The Montegrappa Moon Landing fountain pen has a 18kt gold nib and uses a piston filling mechanism.
Italy's first pen producer, Montegrappa, began manufacturing pens in 1912 in its factory in Bassano del Grappa in Italy. Utilizing natural celluloid and precious metals, Montegrappa combines traditional methods such as die-casting with more recent innovations as low-relief engraving to form their precious art objects.
Whether Montegrappa use colors reminiscent of the master painters or ornamentation suggestive of Baroque palaces, the Italian heritage and romance is infused into each product.