Montegrappa Extra Photo Thread

[RubenDh]

Thank you for your insight. It looks to be the equivalent of the Pelikan m600 and the bigger and more expensive m800, where there is also a difference in nib length.

Don't get me wrong - I absolutely love the Miya, and I'm sure you'll do as well. It has been a daily driver (for red inks) ever since I got it. It's always inked, along two Stipula Etrurias (ofcourse).

 

[como]

The red on the Miya is not subtle, quite flashy. I bought it to add some vibrant colour in the collection, and it stands out so much that it disrupts the "harmony". A lovely colour nevertheless. The turquoise blue and the yellow of the same pattern are also very vibrant (and I saw the orange on the recent Miya 450, also very bright). I am particularly fond of the turquoise blue.

[sansenri]

so after quite some time needing to do this, I happened to get a chance to dig out my Extra Blue and get a picture of it...

Here it is, I was almost forgetting how deep those streaks in the celluloid are...

[como]

This is really beautiful, sansenri. My wallet is a bit shy after buying a few pens this year, but at least I can still admire yours (and indeed the collective photo threads here) .

so after quite some time needing to do this, I happened to get a chance to dig out my Extra Blue and get a picture of it...

Here it is, I was almost forgetting how deep those streaks in the celluloid are...

[francoiacc]

so after quite some time needing to do this, I happened to get a chance to dig out my Extra Blue and get a picture of it...

Here it is, I was almost forgetting how deep those streaks in the celluloid are...

 

This is such a beautiful material! I have it on my Miya Argento, so beautiful.

Thank you for showing us such a beauty.

 

[sansenri]

thank you both!

these single tone celluloids used by Montegrappa are really special (the blue, turquoise, red, orange, yellow, black and parchment).

Obviously the new tortoise, bamboo etc. are wonderful too, but these seem to catch light in a particular way...

I've come across a parchment Extra which was really nice too, regretfully was making another purchase and could not afford both...

[Babangita]

Here's a few pictures of its little sister in the same material just to admire the two together...

 

 

 

 

so after quite some time needing to do this, I happened to get a chance to dig out my Extra Blue and get a picture of it...

Here it is, I was almost forgetting how deep those streaks in the celluloid are...

 

[fpupulin]

I would like to follow on the splendid photographs posted by RubenDh, sansenri and Babangita, discussing a few of my Montegrappa celluloids.

 

Here I arranged them, according to my perception, from the most blatant flamboyance to the most discreet sobriety. Admittedly, there are a couple of pens that do not belong to the Classica-Extra dynasty, but I wanted to show their color nonetheless. I had to photographing them on both a dark and a lighter background, to present their characteristics:

 

 

 

The more flamboyant celluloid of my pens is the Turquoise. My Miya Turquoise is so much chatoyant that my wife dislike her, considering this pen a bit gaudy. But I like her very much: she's so vivid and bright and extravagant and immodest, that she's for me the image of gaiety. No other celluloid can reveal with the vividness of Turquoise.

On the opposite side of the spectrum is Charcoal, the most sober of them all. A fine example of Montegrappa's tone-sur-tone celluloids, Charcoal is dark, austere, cold, almost unemotional. Compared to it, the Black and White celluloid used more recently by Montegrappa (introduced with the Extra 1930 in 2010, if I well remember) looks like a cheeky young man next to a posed and elegant gentleman with a three-piece suit...

In between the extremes are, in order: Red, a color of which I like the subtlety of the tone-sur-tone striations. My Extra (this is not a 1930) is a bright red pen but not on the side of a flaming Ferrari, but on that of an exquisite, vintage Alfa Romeo instead. Mediterranean Blue follows, a vivid color that is almost ad chatoyant as Red: an aqueous blue, made of waves and surfs, waiting for Aphrodite to emerge from its depths. Then Pearl Grey, perhaps Montegrappa's celluloid with more deepness and the most intricate pattern (and one of the rarest, as I think it has been used only for the Emblema, which was available in both Charcoal and Pearl Grey), just a bit more vivid than Shiny Lines. The latter is the only Arco celluloid in Montegrappa arsenal so far, and I found it on par to the celebrate Arco by OMAS. Turtle follows, cheerful and refined, showy, proud and aware of its Art Nouveau beauty: a feast of shades, of all synthetic materials that I know the one that most closely resembles a turtle shell ... And finally Black Bamboo, the celluloid for the true gentleman, elegant and subtle, sober but fresh and linfous, understated and eye-catching at the same time, quiet and wild, with the controlled low-contrast of the green and black and those streaks of pure light that seem to be released from within... Oh, well, I am a botanist, after all...

[como]

fpupulin: Thank you very much for the wonderful photos and text of Montegrappa pens, which I enjoyed reading and admiring. Needless to say, you have exquisite palette for colours and shades .

[camoandconcrete]

After following this thread for a while and wanting an Extra for years I finally added one when I saw Chatterley had them with resin sections. Its a beautiful pen and one Im enjoying very much so far. The nib is a little dry writing compared to the Auroras and Pelikans I usually use so I will have to tinker with it a bit.

 

I think I might pick up the red and green ones next...

 

[Arcadian]

Yeee! I just pulled the trigger on a Black Bamboo from Chatterley Luxuries! It was a real stroke of luck, too. It was on close-out, so I got it for 795 USD, which strikes me as a friggin' steal, pardon my french! Now for the unbearably long wait…

 

- P.

[dms525]

After following this thread for a while and wanting an Extra for years I finally added one when I saw Chatterley had them with resin sections. Its a beautiful pen and one Im enjoying very much so far. The nib is a little dry writing compared to the Auroras and Pelikans I usually use so I will have to tinker with it a bit.

 

I think I might pick up the red and green ones next...

D05EE538-E238-4C55-9CFA-87C23076D5D5.jpeg

 

A549D28B-9735-4A84-B4CD-C21F90BF9F6E.jpeg

 

Gorgeous pen! If that is the Chatterley/Montegrappa Extra "Hawaii," I just bought the last one. I'm excited to have gotten it.

 

You get a large number of enabler points, c.andc..

 

David

[WLSpec]

These pens are absolutely beautiful! Out of my price range for now, but I will keep an eye on them

Edited July 1, 2020 by WLSpec

[camoandconcrete]

Yeee! I just pulled the trigger on a Black Bamboo from Chatterley Luxuries! It was a real stroke of luck, too. It was on close-out, so I got it for 795 USD, which strikes me as a friggin' steal, pardon my french! Now for the unbearably long wait

 

 

- P.

Congrats! Those were pretty tempting when I saw them go live on the site. I hope you enjoy it.

 

Gorgeous pen! If that is the Chatterley/Montegrappa Extra "Hawaii," I just bought the last one. I'm excited to have gotten it.

 

You get a large number of enabler points, c.andc..

 

David

Thank you, its one of the Colori Extras and not the Hawaii; that was going to be my next one...

 

Please post pics when it arrives as there arent too many photos of that finish floating around.

[dms525]

Congrats! Those were pretty tempting when I saw them go live on the site. I hope you enjoy it.

 

Thank you, its one of the Colori Extras and not the Hawaii; that was going to be my next one...

 

Please post pics when it arrives as there arent too many photos of that finish floating around.

 

As I have a couple times before, I had Bryant send the pen to Michael Masuyama. He will grind the B nib to my usual crisp cursive italic. Michael knows my preferred grind well and does a splendid job, but this will be my first #8 nib, so I'm not sure exactly what to expect. I hope it writes as nicely as it looks.

 

I'm not sure Michael's current expedited time, but I think I'll have it within a couple weeks. I'll surely post photos here when I do.

 

David

[dms525]

My Montegrappa Extra Hawaii arrived from Michael Masuyama a couple days ago. The material is very attractive. (I like and have a lot of blue pens!) It appears to be the same material as Leonardo Officina Italiana used in their "Blue Hawaii" and "Dark Hawaii" pens.

 

This is my first Montegrappa with a No. 8 nib. It is surprisingly springy. It feels similar to the Pelikan M1000 nib to me. I'm still not sure how much I like it, but it's still breaking me in. Anyway, we used to say "It's not real" until the pictures are posted, so here are some:

 

 

 

Enjoy!

 

David

[ArchiMark]

Beautiful pen, David.

 

I love the shape and feel of the Montegrappa Extra pens in my hand and writing with their #8 nibs with the bit of give to them.

 

Enjoy,

 

Mark

[fpupulin]

It is a truly beautiful pen in that color, David!

 

I also very much like, as ArchiMark wrote, the shape, feel, and weight of the Extra, and its springy #8 nib.

 

Anybody knows what the drawing on the nib shown by David refers to? Is it the heraldry representation of a mountain? Monte Grappa perhaps?

[dms525]

Mark, Franco - I do agree about the size and shape of the pen. It is visually pleasing and very comfortable to hold.

 

Montegrappa has such a variety of nib engravings. All of them are attractive to my eye. Some are traditional, for example, Greek Key designs. The ones that look like a tortoise shell to me are very nice, but I don't know if they have any specific meaning.

 

David

[fpupulin]

It is interesting that I am never been drawn toward many of the limited edition pens that use highly elaborated nib design, but I never asked myself why. Recently I spent quite a time trying to find the reason, and finally I discovered that I am a guy for symmetrical nib design.

 

All my pens, no exceptions, have a nib symmetrically engraved, which can be divided specularly along its longitudinal axis. Most are very standard design for fountain pen nibs, but a few are more sophisticated, among them those of Montegrappa, of which I have the classical Greek fret and the filigree designs.

 

But my most beautiful nib, incomparably more splendid than any other, is that of the Montblanc LE Alexandre Dumas, with the engraving of a perfectly symmetrical, royal fleur-de-lys.