The High Artistry
Today we will be looking at the Montblanc World of Cinema High Artistry Limited Edition 74. This limited edition features two pieces: “A Story of the Wild West” and “A Legend of Martial Arts.”
The History:
To understand these pieces, we need to start where cinema began. In 1895, the first cinematograph was created by Auguste and Louis Lumière. This technology was revolutionary at the time, bringing life into still images with a flowing sequence. By the 1920s, the silent film industry had reached its peak. Although these colorless images told stories without dialogue, they didn’t need it—the images did all the talking where words couldn’t. In the 1930s, the cinema industry had a breakthrough with the three-color Technicolor process. This allowed filmmakers to use color, which brought even more emotion into films and filled the screen with bright, vibrant hues.
Now back to the pens.
Let us start off with the Montblanc High Artistry “A Story of the Wild West” Limited Edition 74. First of all, we need to emphasize how heavy this piece truly is. The composition of the piece is solid AG 925 and AU 750, featuring a rather large smoky quartz over the mother-of-pearl Montblanc star. There are two separate turquoise stones on the piece: one embedded into the end of the cone, and one inlaid into the barrel like a button. Engraved into the barrel and cap, you will see quite a few details, such as the bald eagle at the lower end of the barrel and the cowboy on the gold medallion on the top. On the forepart of the pen, right before the nib, you will see an old cinema tape wrapping around until it points to the cinema camera engraved onto the 149 nib. On the other side of the barrel, you have a cowboy’s spur, which was used to nudge the horse while riding. Montblanc made this piece with a working spur held down by two diamonds. While this piece has a lot of the Wild West, you also have symbols of the Golden Age of Hollywood. For instance, the Montblanc name is not straight like on other pieces; it has the curve of the Hollywood sign. Even the clip is an old cinema camera. This clip is not like any other you have seen; most clips from Montblanc are always brass and coated, even in High Artistry pieces, but here it is solid gold. This is normally a durability decision; however, due to the size and heft this time, it was able to be made of gold. Like the spur, you also have diamonds holding it down.
A Legend of Martial Arts
Like its counterpart, this piece is also made of AG 925 and AU 750, featuring a smoky quartz over the mother-of-pearl Montblanc star. What you will see different in this piece is a red garnet at the end of the cone. In the engravings on the barrel and cap, you shall find a story known to most: the tiger and the dragon. In this piece, you will find them in the midst of battle. Inlaid onto this piece, you have a rose gold medallion depicting a tree from the story, while also having engravings of fire throughout. As before, the clip is solid gold and in the shape of a cinema camera, but what is different are the stones: it uses garnets to hold it down rather than diamonds. This decision was most likely to keep with the theme of the piece.
While both are extremely rare, I would believe that most people who buy this stunning piece would buy both, as it is hard to believe you can have one without the other. Something to note is that both pieces are hand-engraved and take quite some time to produce, something very few craftsmen could ever do, and very few are still around today.
