Robert L Stevenson LE94 Fountain Pen
| Release Information | |
|---|---|
| Collection | Writers Edition |
| Year | 2023 |
| Price | $40,000 (April 2025) |
| Product Identification | |
| Medium Nib | MB129523 |
Mike's Status : Want it!
Product Features
| Cap | The cap features a solid Au750 gold grid winding around the cap, and an anchor. Underneath are various symbols from the story of 'Treasure Island', such as a treasure chest, a revolver or a pipe. The year '1888', refers to the year he set sail with his family explore the Pacific ocean. |
| Cap Top | The emblem is made of an Ag925 Sterling silver 3D skull inspired by the flag of pirates, surrounded by precious blue lacquer. The mirror-inverted quote on the cap to ring UNDER THE WIDE AND STARRY SKY is the first line of the requiem he had written for himself. |
| Clip | The shape of the clip reminds of a belaying pin that is used to secure ropes and lines of running rigging on boats. Behind the clip is a stylized compass rose, based on the compass rose in Stevenson's drawing, and some of the lines representing the different wind directions. |
| Overall Design | The overall design is inspired by a spyglass. Cap and barrel are made of Ag 925 Sterling silver with hand engravings and surrounded by a solid Au750 yellow gold grid, enhanced by lacquer inlays. Hand-engraved inlays on cap and barrel show Long John Silver as well as a his parrot Captain Flint as well as an engraved map of Treasure Island drawn by Stevenson. |
| Cone | The shape of the cone follows the overall shape of the design with the bottom reminiscent of the opening of an spyglass, and is decorated with the silhouette of the Casco – the ship on which Stevenson set sail to leave North America. |
| Nib | The Au750 solid bi-colored gold nib is decorated with the word TUSITALA. The palm leaves depict his arrival to Samoa - his beloved Pacific island. |
| Limitation | In 1994, the centenary of Stevenson‘s death, the Royal Bank of Scotland issued a one pound note commemorating the author. This special event inspired the limitation of this edition to 94 pieces. |
Marketing Verbiage
Robert Louis Stevenson, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1850, had two great desires: for freedom and for immersion in other worlds. He composed essays and travel accounts as well as his legendary adventure stories populated with striking characters whose names send a shiver down the spines of readers around the world: Long John Silver, Captain Flint, Jekyll and Hyde. The Montblanc Writers Edition Homage to Robert Louis Stevenson is dedicated to this imaginative storyteller. The novel Treasure Island inspired many design details of the edition. The overall shape of the writing instrument and the rings on the cone give the impression of a historical, extendable spyglass. One of the most dangerous figures on board the Hispaniola is Long John Silver, who is immortalized on the cap as a hand-engraved figure filled in with lacquer. Long John Silver's faithful parrot, Captain Flint, is also embedded in the grid as a hand-engraved figure covered in degrade lacquer. Around the top ring of the cap is the first line of the requiem Stevenson wrote for himself: UNDER THE WIDE AND STARRY SKY . The lettering is mirror-inverted and recalls the theme of duality in Stevenson's novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde . The yellow gold-coated clip imitates the shape of a belaying pin to which the rigging is attached on a ship like the Hispaniola. Behind the clip, as well as on the barrel of this edition, a stylized compass rose is worked into the solid Au 750 yellow gold grid. Stevenson's hand-drawn treasure map, which is the starting point and center of the entire novel, is engraved into the Ag 925 sterling silver barrel. The nib consists of two elements: the word Tusitala - a name given to Stevenson by the Samoans, which translates as “teller of stories” - and palm leaves representing Stevenson's arrival on Samoa - his beloved Pacific island.