Montblanc Rouge Et Noir Coral

Sometime in 2019 I accidentally stumbled upon this pen in a high end watch shop in Sunway Pyramid . I was mesmerized with such a stunning beauty from a pen. Being a Montblanc I dare not ask anything. So upon reaching home I googled to learn more about the pen. Prices for a used unit was in the region of RM3,000+. 

On my second trip to the same shop, I queried further and found out they only had the ballpoint version retailing at RM2,400+. 

After many months of searching, I found a local reseller willing to let go a new fountain pen at RM2,600. But I did not purchase as we could not agree on a price. 

Finally last week my wife went to high end brand retailer who had a MCO sale and she informed me that their are Montblanc pens. I send her a few pictures of pens I’m looking for, not expecting much. She informed me they had the Rouge Et Noir Coral (only one piece) and also the M edition. So I grabbed the Rouge Et Noir Coral first. 

I have always wanted to own a Montblanc pen, way back in the early 2000’s but it was simply out of reach. It was the ultimate status symbol. With the price always being illusive, I simply thought I may never own one. 

The Rouge Et Noir was released in 2016 as part of their Heritage collection. 

The original Rouge Et Noir was Montblanc first fountain pen and was released more than 100 years ago in 1906. It was inspired by the novel Le Rouge Et Le Noir by Stendhal. Loosely translated from French as the Red and the Black. Figboot on pens in his YouTube channel 4 years ago informed that there was one for sale in eBay for USD$16,000.

Such a beautiful gorgeous pen, the Rouch Et Noir Coral. A sight to behold 

The position of the Montblanc logo on the cap may not to everyone’s taste but it pays homage to the original emblem 

The Montblanc snow cap emblem is rather big for the size of the pen but it pays homage to the original Rouge Et Noir

The snake clip is truly unique and it has a bit of a curvature to give it a more naturalistic image.The eyes are green spinel stones 

The nib is 14 carat 2 tone gold. Very smooth nib and does not skip at all, which was a bonus point in my book. The snake head is clearly visible on the nib and the line to the feed looks like a snake flickering its tongue. This pen is a piston filler. It gives such a satisfaction unscrewing the cap. You can tell it is precision engineering

Bleach Nirvana

15th May 2020 Julain’s Auction announced that up for auction from19th July 2020 would be Kurt Cobain’s 1959 Martin D-18E guitar used in Nirvana’s 18 November 1993 MTV Unplugged in New York performance. 

That performance would be one of their most defining and went down in history as one of the greatest live performances of all time. 

Cuts of the album would go on becoming iconic, celebrated and defining versions of their songs, winning best Grammy Awards performance for Alternative Music in 1996. 

Kurt purchased the guitar at Voltage Guitars in Los Angles. 

The hammer dropped for a solid tune of USD$6.1 million, breaking the previous record held by a 1970 black Fender Stratocaster belonging to Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, which sold for USD$3.95 million. 

This brought renewed interest in the troubled and tragic life of Kurt Cobain. 

Nirvana burst into the scene with Nevermind selling an unprecedented number of records at that time for a grunge band. The total records sold todate is in the region of 30 million copies. 

But Nirvana broke into the scene with their first album Bleach in 1989. The thirty hours of recording by Jack Endino cost the band USD$606.17 and was paid by Jason Everman. a guitarist who was impressed by Nirvana's demo with Dale Crover, Everman was credited as a guitarist on the album sleeve and is the other guitarist on the cover of the album, even though he did not perform on the album. 

The album cover was photographed by Kurt’s then-girlfriend Tracy Marander during a concert at the Reko Muse art gallery in Olympia, Washington 1 April 1989.  The album's working initially called Too Many Humans was renamed Bleach after Cobain found an AIDS prevention poster while Nirvana was driving through San Francisco. The poster advised heroin addicts to bleach their needles before use, featuring the slogan "Bleach Your Works".

The layout was created by Lisa Orth through a reversed-out process as if it were a film negativ, in her office The Rocket. Lisa asked The Rocket’s typesetter, Grant Alden, to set the band’s name in whatever already installed in their typesetting machine. And thus Nirvana’s logo was born, mostly by accident using Onxy. 

The original by Tracy. Featuring Kurt, Novaselic, Channing and Everman 

Transformation to black and white inverted

Finally the negative effect

Penmanship in the 21st Century

During my student days in Sekolah Tengku Abdul Rahman 2 (STAR 2) and secondary schooling in English College (Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar), Johor Bahru, my handwriting was literally like chicken scribbling. It still is now. Albeit a better version.

I took calligraphy in school but never took it passionately. I always envied my friend who had immaculate handwriting. His handwriting in his homework book was like typewritten, all font was perfectly shaped and symmetrical. His calligraphy was literally the bomb and out of this world. It was like scriptures from the heavens. Ridzuan was his name, if I’m not mistaken. A small handsome nearly organized and friendly dude.

In the age of the keyboard warriors, one may think that the age of beautifully handwritten notes are lone gone. You are forgiven. I don’t blame you. But if you take a little time and search internet. You will be amazed that there is a huge movement out there keeping the art of penmanship alive. Each handwriting style is unique to that particular individual. Like your signature, it identify you and is unique to you. You might say it is you thumbprint. 

Jake Weidmann, Peter Deligdisch (Peter Draws), David Parker (Figboot), Brian Goulet (Houlet Pen Company), Neil deGrass Tyson, Stephen Brown (Sbrebrown), Matt Armstrong, Michael Waltinger (Scrively) and Amanda Rach Lee, to name a few. Their passion simply inspires you.   

Here are some of my arsenal. From the left, a Waterman pen, Faber Castell mechanical pencil 0.7, Faber Castell Blitz RT ball pen pearl white, custom pen by Tuan Ab Majid Bujang, Faber Castell Blitz RT pen gunmetal, Selangor Pewter keris letter opener and Faber Castell metal pencil sharpener.     

Lamy 2000, Lamy Tourmaline (belongs to my son) and Onishi Seisakusho Sakura (belongs to my daughter)

My Brassware EDC, Thomas Tool Brass pen, Kaweco Brass Sport Fountain Pen with Raw Bronze Clip, Kaweco SKETCH UP Brass 5.6, Liverby TTLB X Rainier Brass mechanical lead pencil holder, Traveller’s Company Brass Pencil case and Ruler. Although heavier than other types of material but they are a beauty in their own right and will achieve natural patina in due time

The beautiful case the Thomas Tool Brass pen comes in wonderfully inscribed. The inscription by Terry Pratchett is typed at the bottom of this article

Last but definitely not least, Hasbro Black Series Lord Vader with Faber Castell WRITink black fountain pen. It has a wonderful thumbprint logo barrel of the pen. It peels though. Don’t know if it happens to all WRITink pen or only mine due to manufacturing defect. It is definitely well looked after, never dropped and when not in use it’s housed properly  

The final arsenal which is ever expanding is the Tumasek Pewter Arowana Note Holder and Letter Opener    

The pen is mightier than sword if the sword is very shorty and the pen is very sharp Terry Pratchett