Yes, Bentley will sell you a $1,000 pen

Tuesday, 2 July 2019

You can either have a classy fountain pen or a gauche and tasteless ballpoint. There's only $150 between them, but both have significant knurling.

To mark Bentley's 100th anniversary on July 10 the company has teamed up with Graf von Faber-Castell to introduce a new way to spend lots of money to appear pretentious and out of touch with reality - a NZ$1,000 pen.

Two special editions will be launched for the anniversary year, each one limited to only 100 pieces: The 'Mulsanne W.O. Edition by Mulliner', reminiscent of the last car designed by WO Bentley, and the 'Continental GT Number 9 Edition by Mulliner', inspired by Bentley's history in classic motor racing and the famous winning No. 9 Blower.

To take your mind off the fact that we are talking about a $1,000 pen, here is a brilliant video of 2003 Le mans winner Tom Kristensen thrashing a 1930 Blower Bentley around Silverstone with a huge, cheesy grin on his face, because it is awesome.

Said to be inspired by 'an incredible century of fine British craftsmanship' the 'Limited Edition Centenary' pens comes in three forms - the NZ$850 ballpoint, the NZ$925 rollerpoint and the NZ$1,000 fountain pen.

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Every Bentley built in 2019 will feature a special 'Centenary Specification' pack, including unique Centenary Gold badging, distinctive seat embroidery, unique tread-plates and other special details which identify each car as part of the celebrations. But no pen. That's extra, Sir.

Graf von Faber-Castell says the 'delicate gold details' found on Centenary Specification cars have also inspired the special edition pen collection. But you'll have to look close, because it's still only a pen.

The range come in a 'sophisticated black colour, reminiscent of sports cars of the past' and all metal parts, the barrel and the nib of the fountain pen, have an anthracite-coloured PVD coating made of titanium.

Yet, despite that, it's still only a pen.

Additional Bentley elements such as Bentley's characteristic diamond-quilt pattern on the metal barrel, the distinctive knurling (it's not a Bentley without knurling) and the Bentley 'B' at the top of the cap surrounded by a golden anniversary ring, are featured in the design of the 'writing instruments'. Yeah. they're pens.

If you were thinking of nabbing one of these superb writing instruments (expensive pens), then you are in luck, because they are available now. Just bear in mind that it's just a pen that you are spending $1,000 on.

Of course, while $1,000 is a ridiculous amount of money for a pen, it is by no means the most ridiculous amount of money asked for a pen.

While most high-end makers sell a number of pens that sit in the tens of thousands of dollars price range, there are some that go far above and beyond - Mont Blanc offer the Boehme Royal Pen for a mere US$1.5 million, while Tibaldi made that look positively cheap with its one-off Fulgor Nocturnus that sold at auction in 2010 for US$8 million.