The several thousand dollar pen

A few weeks back I was told that so and so is buying a 400 dollar pen for someone else. "Will the world never cease in wastefulness" was my first critical thought but I kept it to myself, asking instead "what made the pen so special?"

He didn't know.

After the pens arrived,( there was more than one ordered ) rather unimpressively in their satin lined boxes, I studied them carefully for a moment, then went on to thinking about the all encompassing revenge that consumed The Count of Monte Cristo, who was really just Desmond stripped of innocence and naiveness. I wondered if I would be able to sustain myself on revenge for so long. His father, did after all, hang himself out of shame. Things were different back then. Hardly any father I know would take things to that degree, and no one should expect them too! But it's not fair to say that the father is acting dramatically either; but rather, a quiet window into the culture of that time has entered our hands. Once upon a time ago; a dad would kill himself out of shame for his child. What sort of family life did this imply? I'm interrupted from pursuing this thought any further by the tablet shaped brochure handed to me of some lovely pens made by Visconti. Visconti is not the maker of the pens who claim to be worth 400 or so. These actually capture my eye. The photographs are perfection!! The line of light perfectly balanced across the barrel of the instrument, the engraved point, gold, silver, gems, murals, all handpainted and embossed with the promise of a beautiful line flowing with the ease of a sailing cloud. The pigment of the ink darker and richer than anything I've ever seen on paper. Italian school children congregate to sing over the artist's shoulder as he painstakenly dips his quill in gold and begins his work. One pen at a time. Painting can only commence after a long meditative morning.. Visconti historians seek out memorable events and create a beautiful pen to honor those events. Art, religion, music, they have it all! Some pens have nearly 2000 seperate pieces, all coming together to make a really pretty pen! I'm not serious about the singing children or some of the other stuff, but I have researched the cost of a nice brochure, and trust me, they went all out. Poets were hired to write the inspiring quotations next to the Alchemist pen. We received a book sized brochure of extremely high definition photography and printing, all featuring the photograph of a singular pen. So how much are these? I'm not sure. Just to see what would happen, I researched further and found the price could only be found by downloading a price request from their site, filling it out and sending it back. Does this mean they are willing to negotiate? Would I someday want to own a pen like this? Most of me wants to say no, of course not. Who cares. But someday.... someday would I MIND owning a beautiful pen hand made by one artisan? A perfect writing instrument embellished with real jewels? What a useless little thing, but really, I wouldn't mind at all.