The power of the pen
A stylish stylus is much more than a writing instrument - it's a status symbol for the polished executive
Whoever said the pen was mightier than the sword never envisioned keyboards or cellphone text messaging, but the point was made. And it still sticks.
Today, a good pen is often a status symbol. Executives give them to each other as gifts. Employers to employees who hit milestones at the office. Presidents and heads of state have their own pens made for correspondence and for signing legislation, and then they hand them out as treasured keepsakes.
The Globe tested four pens, with the results ranging from chic bargains to utter works of art. We tested a Parker Latitude medium ballpoint pen at $37.99 and the Fisher Space Pen Millennium Pen - the astronaut pen that writes upside-down - at $130. And we carefully handled two pricier pens - a beautiful MontBlanc Platinum-Plated Facet at $795 and a gold Cross Century Signet at $1,500.
All four wrote well. No breakages or leaking. We found the Parker Latitude pen to be a sufficient writing tool, but it lacked the styling, and status, of the other, more expensive brands.
Our favorite was the MontBlanc because as far as pens go, it's top notch: It writes and looks beautiful. We couldn't find a single thing wrong with it - well, except for the high price tag. MontBlanc has pens that cost anywhere from $350 to hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's the ultimate in luxury as far as pens go.
Billy D. Watkins, general manager of Crane & Co. at the Prudential Center who is responsible for keeping the display cases full of designer pens, also favors the MontBlanc. He said that the MontBlanc name and logo also are recognized everywhere.
"There's a lot of quality control that goes into a MontBlanc," he said. "That white star is a status symbol in the pen writing world. If you have it in your front jacket pocket, whoever you're with will look at it and see and know."
Watkins thought $1,500 was a little too expensive for the Cross pen, which is gold filled and weighs under an ounce. He noted that the price is high because the pen is the price of the gold. "Personally, I like a pen with a little bit of a heft - a nice weight to it," Watkins said. "If I had $1,500, I would probably still buy the MontBlanc."
John M. Guilfoil can be reached at jguilfoil@globe.com 