Montegrappa il Millenio De Bassano Sterling Silver Fountain Pen

Bassano del Grappa is a charming little town on the river Brenta, in the center of the Veneto. The home of Montegrappa’s head quarters since its original foundationin 1912. Following the request of the Cultural Committee of the Venetian Region in 1998, the oldest Italian manufacturer of writing instruments was commissioned to manufacture a limited edition to celebrate the town’s millenary, a pen that will enter into the Bassanese history as the official pen of its 1,000th anniversary. The salient points of the Venetian city and its history decorate the body of the pen: the town’s crest is represented on the cap with the famous lions, the antique symbols of the Maritime Republic of Venice, at the back of the tower. The coat of arms is featured in low-relief engraving on the signature clip with rotating sphere, a decorative and functional element that has always signified the Montegrappa privilege. The body and the cap are decorated with bunches of grapes and grape leaves to commemorate the local wine and distillate par excellence, ?Grappa?. The portrayal of the wooden bridge on the river Brenta, a famous work by the architect Andrea Palladio, acts as a frame. The crown on the body, opposite the winged lion, faithfully represents that found on the historic town?s crest. The special resin used for the trim is inspired from the colour of the pebbles of the Brenta river and the characteristic paving of the historic Bassanese mansions. The low-relief engraving technique used to trim the commemorative fountain pen of Bassano’s Millenary is highly exclusive and demanding: the complete engraving requires 256 steps of painstaking chisel work. The fountain pen Millennio di Bassano, equipped with a piston filling system, platinum coated 18K gold nib and hand turned ebonite feeder, is manufactured in limited edition: 998 pieces for the sterling silver version. Today are expired the 98 fountain pens in gold version, and all the rollerball models (98 pieces in sterling silver and 10 in gold). These pens may be available on the collectors market.