I’ll be honest; I like the Montblanc Writers Editions and am always on the lookout for ones that I’m missing (at the right price.)  Hopefully I’ll be able to add this one at some point.

Here’s Nancy Olsen’s description of the pen:

As is usual with Montblanc’s Writers Editions, the pen pays visual homage to the object of its affection in a variety of ways. In this case, the Writers Edition William Shakespeare’s black and white color combination was designed to recall the flags that were raised above the famous Globe Theater depending on the genre of the play being staged: white denoted comedy and black was the signal for tragedy.

The black cap of the pen, in further tribute to this performance space, is in an octagonal shape – a first for Montblanc – reminiscent of the theater’s eight-sided interior configuration.

Apparently the cap design required an uneasy pairing of tasks: keeping its multiple edges crisp and defined, while achieving a high polish on the resin.

This technological and manufacturing feat was realized at the hands of the Montblanc artisans at the Hamburg atelier, where the pen was conceived and produced.

The cap crown is shaped like the ringed roof of the Globe theater, where many of Shakespeare’s plays were originally performed, and it features the famous Montblanc emblem at its center.

The golden ring at the clip’s gripping point is supposed to remind us of the earring Shakespeare wore on his left ear in the well-known “Chandos” portrait created in the early 1600s.

Finally, a golden rendering of Shakespeare’s signature sweeps across one of the cap’s facets.

The white resin barrel of the pen is engraved with a feather-like pattern that represents the quill Shakespeare used to pen his works, and a wide golden ring just below is embossed with symbols of seven of his most famous plays.

A Pen By Any Other Name: Montblanc’s Writers Edition William Shakespeare