Despite restrictions and lockdowns, quarantine orders and masking-up, it is nice to still be able to attend auctions…even if, nowadays, they have to be done at home…through a screen…and online…instead of going out in-person to view the items you want to buy.

Nevertheless, it is still possible to score some amazing stuff online – like the latest addition to my fleet of Montblanc paraphernalia!

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, then you’ll know that one of my longest-lasting loves has always been for fountain pens and fine writing accessories. It was to this collection that, just before all this virus-stuff started, I added the Montblanc inkwell, and about which I had created a post of, just a couple of months ago:

Well, today we celebrate the recent (a few weeks is ‘recent’, right?) addition of the second piece of that collection: the matching desk-pen base!

What is a ‘Desk Pen’?

A desk pen (which can be either a ballpoint or a fountain pen), is a type of writing instrument which, instead of having a cap to protect the writing point, has a base or stand, into which the pen is placed. The base is kept on the user’s desktop, where it will always be available for use at a moment’s notice. Usually, such stands and pens exist to serve decorative purposes – they show off the owner’s taste in writing instruments, as well as displaying the quality of the writing instruments which they can afford.

Desk pens have a long history, and date back as far as the 1910s and 1920s, when fountain pens were first entering the mainstream consumer consciousness. Pen companies such as Parker, Sheaffer, Wahl-Eversharp, Pelikan, etc, manufactured desk-pen sets for executive types – CEOs, business-owners, lawyers and high-flying professionals, so that they could place them on their desks in pride of place in front of their customers and clients.

100 years later, and not much has changed, really! Desk pen sets are still manufactured (although in smaller quantities, and at much higher prices), and they’re still being sold, and people still buy them for exactly the same reasons as they were purchased in the 1920s and 30s – to show off, and to have a pen conveniently at-hand whenever one was needed. You know, for signing that big fancy contract, business-deal, or legal document, and all that jazz!

The Montblanc Meisterstuck Executive Desk-Pen Set

Naturally, a company such as Montblanc has to have at least something to offer, when it comes to desk-pen sets…and so they do!…or rather, did!

Made of clear acrylic and polished, black resin, the Montblanc Meisterstuck desk-pen stand, or base, is designed to match the resin and acrylic body and the gold detailing of the similarly square-shaped Montblanc inkwell, in the same line. It’s also designed to match the classic, black and gold styling of the Montblanc Meisterstuck 149 fountain pen – which the sconce at the top of the stand is designed to hold; the sconce even has “MONTBLANC-MEISTERSTUCK-149” on the gold banding. It’s basically a 149 cap with the finial removed, and replaced with the ball-and-socket swivel joint to attach it to the heavy, acrylic base beneath it.

Maintaining an angle of 45 degrees, the stand holds the 149 up loud and proud for everybody to see. The pen can simply be rested inside the cap, and rely on gravity to hold it in place, or it can be screwed in, like an ordinary pen-cap, for added security.

Here, we see the base, along with the pen that’s designed to fit into it. It’s a convenient place for a 149-owner to park their pen on their desk, without worrying that the pen is going to roll off the side of the table when you’re not looking – while also having the pen near-at-hand when you need it, without having to dig through your briefcase, desk-drawers, or your coat or jacket pockets to find it.

One thing I didn’t know about the stand before I bid on it was the fact that while the sconce swivels around on the base from side to side, it doesn’t have a full range of movement – for example, you can’t adjust it so that it sticks straight up, nor lies down flat – it always remains at an angle of 45 degrees. While this doesn’t really bother me, it was a surprise, in as much as it would make the stand more tricky to pack or store, if for whatever reason, I ever had to put it away somewhere, or box it up. It also means that it’s more susceptible to damage. It’s a bit of a design-flaw, if you ask me, but that quibble aside, I’m still glad that it’s the latest addition to my collection of Montblancs.