Premium for Pen #001?

[VacNut]

Modern pen companies have realized that they can make more money if they serialize pen editions, i.e. pen number 100/1999. It is similar to prints from famous artists. 
 

Would anyone pay a premium for pen #1 of a given series? The pen is in every way identical to every other pen in the edition, except for the serial number. 
If you are willing to pay a premium, would it be 10%, 15% or ?.

I am not convinced it should carry a premium, since the pens are essentially all made at the same time, unlike automobiles. They were just imprinted at different times.

[DrPlush]

This doesn’t help if your question is specifically intended to be about Parkers, but I’m chiming in because I recently saw a listing for a LE Aurora from a Taiwanese store where the #88 pen (a lucky number) was more expensive than the rest. It had already sold when I saw it. Personally, I wouldn’t pay more for #1 but I would probably pay slightly more (10% maybe? It’s hard to say because I probably care more about the actual amount than the percentage) to get a number I really liked. I’m usually buying special pens to commemorate some event or milestone, so sometimes I’d probably be willing to pay a premium to get a number that relates. Also I just don’t like odd numbers 😅

[VacNut]

Thx. I wasn’t limiting my question to Parker. The more I think about it the more I realize it isn’t really worth the additional expense. Maybe 10% max.

 

I would consider a special serial number as just icing on the cake.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I only have one LE with numbers but a 2006 MB Virginia Woolf had 16,000 so wasn't very limited................and I got it on sale years later at my B&M.

 

MY Hunter Toledo was made in only in 1991, no number and only  in that year....but I didn't know anything when I won an live auction for it. The other pens I didn't even look at outside the W.Germany 800

I was blinded.

The other pens were all top of the line with 18K nibs also.

 

If one was buying it as a never used investment that low number might make sense.

 

But for a pen you will want to use, I'd not pay more for a lower number. When selling a used pen, even if a low number....it is a used pen.

I had to go look at my Woolf, and find out my number was in the middle of the 16,000 range, which didn't impress me then or now...just it was a very unusual pretty pen.

Pictures with permission of Pentime...

And I do love the my eyes only nib bling.

[SwordsMightBeMightier]

I think ultimately it depends on the product you’re buying and if there is a serious community of collectors around this product/s. In this case pens where certain brands, like Parker, that have been around for 130+ years and have a significant level of collector interest, I think there is a well deserved premium for certain numbers. 
 

There are certain numbers like 8 which is lucky in Chinese culture and as such the pen 888/1000 would likely collect more at auction than 777/1000 or even 889/1000. That kind of premium certainly exists and is up to the individual buyer/seller whether they think that matters.

 

Then there are the first of the various limited editions that I think absolutely matter. In this case it might be as much about the provenance of the pen as it is the number itself. Presumably all of these limited editions, have people who want them and if we are to assume that #1 in any edition would go to people of significance (either employees of the company or possibly people for whom the pen may have been created in the first place) then I think this certainly matters and is worth a premium to serious collectors. How much that premium should be I suppose depends. I think if any buyer was buying the LE mandarin Duofold and they had the choice between 1/10,000 and 7,181/10,000 they’re choosing #1 all day long. Take the Snakes from Parker for example. There is a premium on having twins of the silver and the gold. Personally I think people ask too much for this but it’s definitely there.

 

I think if any collector had the opportunity to get #1 of any LE pen there would be a 25% premium. And if that #1 was attached to some sort of provenance of significance then it would fetch even more.

[Bo Bo Olson]

But of the second 50, or third 100? of say 1000 pens.

The 1000 pens alone would be a investment (when so many LE's are in the 5,000 or more range)..........if never used and kept for 20 years.

 

€750 is what my Virginia Woolf cost with out the sale down price of 450.....a price to me so high, I couldn't buy a pen, ink nor paper for some 9 months.They were being sold for the same on Ebay.

 

After 17 or 18 years NOS got back up to €750...............had you bought a MB Virginia Woolf in the first year and never opened it....after only 20 or so years it had reached original selling price that you paid for it.

 

Whoops, you made a mistake and inked that now old used pen......

 

I do have the box and the rest of the new packaging, , so could make a winning at selling it for up to €750, having paid 450 for it.

I won't, I like the for my eyes only nib bling.

 

I suggest buying a pretty pen, with a nib you like and write with it....leave it's worth until you sell off to go in an Old Folks Prison.

 

Gold coins and gold bars are solid investment items....always worth a couple dozen eggs.

[VacNut]

I didn’t consider provenance, but I think that only goes so far. All the pens in a limited edition are presumably made at the same time from the same batch of parts. Number one in the series is identical to the last pen. It just so happens to be stamped first. 
That said, if No 1 was never have distributed, maybe there is something to being the first.

[Targa]

Worth is simply what someone will pay.  Take these NFTs, which I believe means I ain’t got No F-ing Time for this.

Clearly SN 1 of 100 is no better or worse made (9one hopes) than 100 of 100.  And who knows?  Maybe the last one fetches.more than the first?  Just buy a pen you will use and enjoy.

 

 

[TheRedBeard]

Off-topic, nothing related to pens, but...

Around end of 90s or early in 2000/2001 there was a SIM-card for sale in a small shop in Knightsbridge, London with a mobile number looking like 078 8888 8888. The price rag was £12,000... It is true story, I saw it wit my own eyes that time...

The card+number was purchased by a wealthy Saudi guy within a few months...

 

Regarding pens: well... it may sound silly, but I can'r rule out that if I have enough money in my pocket I would easily pay a premium on, say Parker 105 with SN 001 or modern Duofold Lucky Eight with SN 0888 or 3888  

 

[VacNut]

On 10/28/2023 at 12:30 PM, TheRedBeard said:

Off-topic, nothing related to pens, but...

Around end of 90s or early in 2000/2001 there was a SIM-card for sale in a small shop in Knightsbridge, London with a mobile number looking like 078 8888 8888. The price rag was £12,000... It is true story, I saw it wit my own eyes that time...

The card+number was purchased by a wealthy Saudi guy within a few months...

 

Regarding pens: well... it may sound silly, but I can'r rule out that if I have enough money in my pocket I would easily pay a premium on, say Parker 105 with SN 001 or modern Duofold Lucky Eight with SN 0888 or 3888  

 

There really isn’t any intrinsic value with the serial numbers other than personal superstition. I think I will make an offer on the pen, since the pen was never offered for sale. It will cost me an additional 20%