Based in German city called Hamburg, Mont Blanc’s worldwide recognized “White Star” logo is a well-known maker of luxurious writing instruments and fashion accessories. The company was founded at the very beginning of the XXth century by three men: a banker, a stationer and an engineer. They joined together to make a better use of their talents and resources to produce affordable writing pens of high quality stabdards.

The company was initially named the “Simplo Filler Pen Co.” The name allegedly implied “simple” to refer to the craftsmanship of products. The very first pen that Simplo Filler manufactured in 1909 was the “Rouge Et Noir” and it is to this day highly chased by avid collectors throughout the world. In 1910 the company launched their second pen design called the Mont Blanc, which was subsequently to become the name for the company that managed to survive despite the many challenges of the global market trends.

The Simplo Company was able to achieve some measure of success in spite of the challenges of World War One and the company’s founder being forced to leave the country to avoid criminal charges relating to the theft of company funds. Fast forward to 1977 when the company was acquired by Dunhill, at which time some fundamental marketing changes were made, including the complete elimination of their line of lower priced pens (which assumingly allowed the manufacturer to reserve the share of the market of fine writing instruments).

Today Mont Blanc is owned and operated by the “Richmond Group”, which is the parent company of easily recognized names in luxury accessories such as Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels. In fact, Montblanc now produces all of the components for Cartier pens. Mont Blanc is now a producer of highly coveted limited edition pens, which are confined to production numbers of tens of thousands.

Mont Blanc pens are known primarily for their highest quality, specially crafted nibs and they still make available classic fountain pens. Of course however, they also feature an extensive line of high end ball point pens and mechanical pencils as well which are sometimes included as part of pen sets.

Mont Blanc pens are highly collectible and many of their antique classic series have proven to be more then worthy investments to make the collectors drooling. Mont Blanc has also pioneered the development of a technology that they refer to as “precious resin”. Mont Blanc pens made from this material have a unique sheen to them.

What started out as a small group of men has now grown into a business enterprise that owns and operates hundreds boutiques worldwide. Also, at the same time their simple and functional writing products have developed into fine high quality accessories which are coveted by collectors around the globe.

The Limited Edition Mystery Masterpiece, a joint creation between Montblanc and Van Cleef & Arpels, is one amazing pen. Both companies celebrated their centennials in 2006 and the pen is meant to showcase each company’s area of expertise. There are three variations, set either with sapphires, rubies, or emeralds, and accented by diamonds. There are measly nine pens in total. Each pen has 840 diamonds and more than 20 carats of gemstones. The Mystery sells for $730,000, making it the most expensive writing instrument ever created by Mont Blanc.