Montblanc is considered one of the most luxurious brands in the world. Especially when it comes to luxurious fountains pens. They have created pens with a price tag that exceeds a brand new Ferrari.
In many ways, pens—besides being the instruments that we use to write, communicate, take notes, etc—have become a luxurious collector’s item.
We’ve collected a list of some of the most expensive Montblanc pens ever made. Some of the pens that you will find on this list should never be used to actually write anything, much less have ink pass through them.
Montblanc’s most expensive pens all happen to be fountain pens, despite the fact that they also manufacture and sell ballpoint pens, rollerballs, fine liner pens, and even pencils. They also deal in smartwatches, fragrances, handbags, leather goods, headphones, and standard watches.
Montblanc has its hand in a small sub-section of products, all of which are manufactured and sold as extremely high-priced, luxury products. In other words, Montblanc is a luxury brand with a premium price tag on everything that they sell.
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Why Are Montblanc Products So Expensive?
Montblanc ascended to the status of “premium” retailer back in the 1950s when even English royalty sought them out for the status of writing with a Montblanc instrument. Some believe they are far overpriced despite the fact that there are equal products from competitors at much lower price points.
Prestige
Montblanc built their prestige from the ground up, beginning in the early 1900s and plateauing in the mid, 20th century and never returning back to earth. Much of the price in a Montblanc pen may be in the Montblanc name itself. As you will read below, Montblanc has carefully built up its prestige by manufacturing luxurious pens consistently for decades.
Materials and Manufacturing
Montblanc always uses the most premium and high-quality products to go into their manufacturing process. It doesn’t matter what it is and if there is a shortage of the material in question or not. Montblanc will pay a higher price for the rare material.
Of course, that level of demand towards superior product material in manufacturing will get transferred to the customer. The precision and the level of engineering that go into a Montblanc pen are unrivaled by any other company.
The level of writing expertise that goes into each pen is superb and if you created a side-by-side comparison with other competitors, it may seem like the pens are identical in features and engineering precision.
However, once you begin to break the craftsmanship down to the microscopic level, you will see the true differences in engineering.
Longevity
Another thing that Montblanc has been able to prove is that time is on their side. As countless pens fail the test of time (breaking down slowly and experiencing more malfunctions), Montblanc pens are astoundingly durable.
That’s where the microscopic inspection discovers the true difference between a Montblanc pen and the competition’s pen. The ability to endure hundreds of hours of applying the pen tip to paper is one whose value is enormous.
If you’d like to learn more about Montblanc check out our article which gives an overview of the company.
The Most Expensive Montblanc Pens
We will start with the most ludicrously expensive Montblanc pen and since it is a limited edition—the insanely high-priced ones usually are, due to rarity—you’re not likely to find another of its type.
Montblanc Boheme Royal $1,500,000
The most expensive Montblanc pen in the world is the Montblanc Boheme Royal, a pen that is covered in 1,400 of the highest-grade diamonds available. The entire skin of the pen is encrusted in diamonds.
The body beneath this layer of diamonds is pure, 18k white gold. Looking at the pen with the curvy and swirling designs of encrusted diamonds is an absolute marvel. This pen is the pinnacle of all Montblanc pens.
The Montblanc symbol is comprised of three rings made of white gold and the rings are encrusted with 19 diamonds. There are two types of Boheme Royal. The first is covered in 1400 white diamonds while the second pen consists of a mixture of white and black diamonds.
In terms of actually writing with the thing, it comes with a retractable nib and is refilled via cartridge, rather than a converter. Of course, that makes plenty of sense seeing as a converter runs the risk of getting ink on the pen and that’s just not something that you want to do when your pen costs $1,500,000.
Montblanc Mystery Masterpiece $730,000
Montblanc didn’t go it alone when it came to the construction of this pen and it is considered to be one of the single most valuable pens in the entire world. This was a centennial collaboration between Montblanc and Van Cleef & Arpels.
Both companies decided that there would be seventy precious stones that would go into the final product, however, it wouldn’t quite be that simple as the setting had to be constructed in such a way that no one could tell what the mechanism is that holds the gemstones in place.
These pens—of which there are very few—were handmade, with the base material consisting of pure, 24k white gold. There are three in total, with the 70 gemstones in the first consisting of rubies, sapphires for the second, and emeralds for the third.
Each stone setting was so precise that it took an hour and a half to complete, which comes to 105 hours of work just to get all seventy precious stones in place. Diamonds serve as accents that bring out the striking qualities of the individual stones.
This pen is an insane blend of precision and artistic mastery produced by two companies that are considered rivals in the luxury pen market. The resulting cost for one of the three Mystery Masterpiece pens is $730,000.
Montblanc Prince Rainier III Limited Edition 81 – $260,000
Released in 2007, the Prince Rainier pen retails at roughly $260,000. The pen was made in honor of Prince Rainier, who died in 2005 at the age of 81. That number also happens to be the number of Prince Rainier IIIs that Montblanc produced.
This is one of the few pens that Montblanc has designed over the years that has a skeletal design, which means that you can see beneath the body of the pen to other layers or inner working s beneath.
The entire pen is lined in 18k white gold and integrated into the lines are hand-carved rubies and diamonds. Each pen comes with over 90 diamonds and roughly half that amount in rubies.
The entire pen is coated in a layer of ivory and capped in the topaz rose. Of course, the $260,000 isn’t a set price for this rare pen. As most of them were auctioned off, it’s actually more of a representation of its value in terms of gemstones and precious metals.
Some of the pens were auctioned off for a higher price than the above-mentioned one. Like most of the limited edition pens crafted by Montblanc, the nib is entirely constructed of 18k gold.
Montblanc Limited Edition Boheme Papillion Pen – $200,000
It’s not really the pen so much as the fact that it is absolutely covered in diamonds; fourteen hundred to be exact and that’s not including the sapphires or the fact that the pens are manufactured in pure white, yellow, or rose gold.
The cap of the pen contains a Montblanc star diamond and there were only a few of these made, so the rarity factor kicks in as well, sending this pen to a staggering $200,000. The Boheme Papillion pen is not even the pinnacle of the Montblanc luxury pens, which is probably the most surprising fact.
The diamonds are not just arranged in lines that travel the length or circumference of the pen, they are placed so that they form the shapes of butterflies all across the body of the pen. It has a retractable nib that is constructed of 18k gold, easily the cheapest piece on the entire pen.
Despite the fact that this is a collector’s item that is only available to the more affluent class of pen connoisseurs, it is a legitimate, fully-functioning pen. Whether or not the buyer would dare to put any ink in it or not is not for us to say, but it will indeed write.
There are six different pens in the Boheme Papillion line and each one is slightly different than the next, though no less valuable for the changes. The differences are primarily in stone arrangements and the type of gold that they are made of.
The most recognizable one doesn’t feature any sapphires, though three others do. The rose, white, and yellow gold variants have over 7 carats worth of diamonds embedded in the surface. The other three are studded with half the amount of diamonds but over 4 carats’ worth of sapphires instead.
A Few More Reasonably Priced Montblanc Pens
Montblanc has created many pens to fill the gap between the $260,000 pen above and the ones feature below. But we wanted to highlight some of the expensive pens that are more affordable. Even though they still have prices tags in the thousands of dollars.
Montblanc Meisterstuck Solitaire Blue Hour Skeleton Fountain Pen $7,500
Montblanc went truly unique with this design and, like Prince Rainier III, it is a skeletal pen with the stainless steel body coated in platinum and wrapped around a deep, blue center that presents a striking, camouflage pattern contrast.
The nib is 18k gold and it’s stationary, not retractable, and plated in rhodium. It’s a piston fountain pen and something truly special to behold. Unlike the above-mentioned pens, the Blue Hour Skeleton is a much more manageable $7,500.
The brushed platinum look is incredible and it is certainly unique, although you can find the Montblanc Meisterstuck Solitaire Blue Hour for $350, it’s definitely not the same pen design structure, although it’s technically the same pen.
The Meisterstück 90 Years Skeleton – $9,600
Montblanc is really on a roll with the skeleton designs in the last few years. The 90 Years Skeleton is similar to the blue hour in the patterning on the outside plating but different in almost every other way.
The outer material is ruthenium-plated and midnight black in color, although it retains a nice level of reflective, brushed gloss. The cap is also skeletonized to match the pattern of the barrel.
The nib is a striking contrast to the rest of the pen, as it is constructed of 18k red-gold material. All of the plates, rings, and fittings are also ruthenium-plated so the entire pen is like a dark web from someone’s spidery nightmare.
The packaging mirrors the pen’s aesthetic and is almost as darkly beautiful as the writing instrument within.
Montblanc Fountain Pen Patron of Art Hommage Scipione Borghese – $2,640
Sure, it’s quite a mouthful, but this $2,640 pen is anything but. It was designed in honor of a 16th-century cardinal by the name of Scipione Borghese, who made several, notable contributions to the arts.
The uniqueness of this pen is in its granite barrel but, of course, it had to be granite because it was one of the things that Scipione loved to see in works of art. The pen is also almost entirely made of brass and coated in ruthenium.
The nib, as almost all nibs are in Montblanc pens, is manufactured in 18k gold, with its own engravings and inscriptions. The pen was designed to bring to mind cathedrals and, as a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, Scipione ensured that many cathedrals dotted across Europe held works of art.
Some of those cathedrals hold the same works of art that Scipione commissioned even today. Although it’s not the most expensive Montblanc pen on the list, it is one of the few pens that Montblanc created to honor a person, as most of their pens pay homage to a time period or significant places.
If you want a nice fountain pen without the price tag, check out our best fountain pens for under $50.
Final Thoughts
These are the most expensive pens in Montblanc’s lineups and some of them are amongst the ranks of the most expensive pants in the world. These pens are legacies in their own right and the fact that they are produced by Montblanc isn’t surprising in the least.