Pens of Note

Montegrappa Espressione

Montegrappa released the Espressione line in 2000, just after the company transferred from the Aquila Family to the Richemont Group. The marketing of the Espression was: the expression of yourself. Nice! 

My Espressione pens are part of this original line. The pens were made from thin sheets of celluloid, wrapped around a rod and bonded with a chemical process. It is said that using the sheets versus a rod allows for better control of the celluloid designs and also has less waste in the process.  The pens have .925 sterling silver trim - yes you have to polish the sterling, but that is part of the pleasure of owning a pen like this. To  complete the writing process, the pens were fitted with an ebonite feed to support the 18 kt gold rhodium-plated size 6 nib.

It is a nice big pen to hold, completely round in shape. The  pen is about 138 mm (5 inches)  in length when capped, and has a girth of  1/2 inch in diameter - kind of like the Montblanc 149 feel. The section diameter is about 10 mm.  A  feature I like has the cap screw onto the top of the body with soft metal threads. This allows you to securely post the cap. Posted, the pen stretches out to about 158 mm.   Screwing on the cap eliminates worries about the end of the cap marking the beautiful celluloid body. The cap has a raised 1912 motif, so this always stands out as a classic Montegrappa pen. 

The pen used a dependable cartridge/converter ink fill system.

My first pen was in Blue Pearl which has subtle tones of blues that so nicely catch light. I say first, as I liked the pen so much I also had to have it in Pasion Red and Smoke Black. What a trio!

In 2009 when Montegrappa moved back to ownership by the Aquila Family. They continued with the first version until around 2012. A second version, the New Espressione was released. This pen has an octagonal design in terms of the cap band. A feature that I appreciate as those pens are less prone to roll of your desk. Another difference is the cap is topped with a flat rather than raised logo. This version has a look aligned with the NetoUno collection.  But the biggest difference is the second version was made with a resin body and fitted with a steel nib. The line continued production until around 2016/17.