Diamonds, dragons on European pens<\/p>\n
By Ati Nurbaiti<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A pen that doesn't conk out when you're in the
\nmiddle of signing something important is all the average writer
\nwants; but when pens come beautifully engraved, in shiny cases
\nand priced at millions of rupiah, there must be something more to
\nit.<\/p>\n
These were featured in a display of French, German and Italian
\npens from the respective companies of Waterman, Mont Blanc and
\nMontegrappa. The event which began Thursday and will last through
\ntoday is held at the atrium of Plaza Indonesia.<\/p>\n
But on second thoughts, what would be the point of promoting
\nsuch expensive items to a nation notoriously lazy about letter
\nwriting? It is the keyboard that caters to us most of the day.<\/p>\n
Apart from scribbling notepads full of seminar notes, \"Our
\ntargets are executives who will mainly use them for signing,\" was
\nan apt remark by one of the marketing executives.<\/p>\n
Promotion targets are also collectors, said other marketing
\nexecutives; now this makes more sense, as carrying around a
\ndiamond-studded pen of Rp 388 million (US$175.89) may bring
\nunease instead of pride. That's right -- one pen and 4,810 tiny
\ndiamonds.<\/p>\n
This figure reflects the height of the Mont Blanc mountain
\nfrom which the German factory in Hamburg takes its name.<\/p>\n
Then, highlighting the importance of affluent Asian consumers
\nis a pen featuring a dragon figure in gold, silver and red rubies
\non a Montegrappa pen -- there are only 100 pieces of the gold
\nversion and 1,912 in silver. The design celebrates the coming
\nChinese New Year, Imlek.<\/p>\n
\"The exact price is yet to be determined but it would be at
\nleast Rp 10 million,\" said M.F. Massie of the distributor, PT Ina
\nEra Pena.<\/p>\n
Regardless of how much people use pens, it is prestige and a
\nsense of things beautiful among potential buyers that has
\nencouraged confident promotions here of various items of high
\nvalue.<\/p>\n
So confident, that part of the pens were borrowed straight
\nafter a display in Austria.<\/p>\n
A British graphologist, Ness Shirley, brings excitement to the
\nevent. She does readings on visitors' handwriting and reveals
\ninteresting points about the writers' personality.<\/p>\n
The marketing people said the main aim of the display is
\nmainly to introduce the items before eventually hooking buyers;
\nbut organizers estimate there are already around 20 collectors
\nhere.<\/p>\n
\"There are at least eight collectors here who own our pens,\"
\nsaid Emiliana Nursanti of PT Sumaco Wahana Utama, which
\nrepresents Mont Blanc here.<\/p>\n
\"A governor bought a Waterman for Rp 1.8 million,\" said
\nAgustine, Waterman's representative.<\/p>\n
The display was opened in grand fashion last Thursday by Mrs.
\nMaud Girard and Mrs. Karin Seeman, wives of the French and German
\nambassadors respectively.<\/p>\n
Shoppers watched from the upper floors, perhaps wondered what
\nthe big fuss about pens was: there was even canned applause
\ntogether with taped music blared all over the nearby department
\nstore as the diamond-studded pen was revealed by the drawing of a
\ncurtain, the \"Solitaire Royal\" pen.<\/p>\n
Nursanti of Mont Blanc, the manufacturer, said such an open
\ndisplay would not be held in other countries like Hong Kong, no
\nmatter how affluent buyers are.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong buyers are \"mature,\" she said. The last display of
\nvaluable pens in Hong Kong was held behind locked doors.<\/p>\n
\"Visitors first make an appointment to see the display, but
\nhere nobody will come if we lock the items up,\" Nursanti added.<\/p>\n
Apart from the diamonds and dragon pens, the rest of the
\ncollection, the prices which range from Rp 75,000 to Rp 30
\nmillion, are also individually exquisite which dates back to 100
\nyears ago.<\/p>\n
Teachers<\/p>\n
No less interesting is the background of the inventors: some
\nwere teachers, that rare class of people who preserve writing for
\nthe sake of writing.<\/p>\n
Some of us may still remember our first instructions in using
\nour pencils, and how we regarded our teachers' writing, our first
\nexposure to the magic of the printed word, as the best.<\/p>\n
These teachers, we are told, wanted to produce the perfect
\ntool for the art of writing. The story of Waterman is rather
\ndifferent; he was an insurance broker who lost a contract on
\naccount of the failure of his pen. In an effort to write his
\nsignature, the pen splattered ink all over the contract.<\/p>\n
Montegrappa says that pens were among the vital tools of the
\narmy in World War I as they remedied homesickness through letter
\nwriting.<\/p>\n
So, although we may have no intention of buying any of the
\npens, we may be inspired by the devotion of the craftsmen
\ndesigning a single pen which can take almost one year. We might
\nbe encouraged to improve on our scribbling, and who knows, maybe
\nwrite a few letters.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/diamonds-dragons-on-european-pens-1447893297",
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"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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