Montegrappa Limited Edition Animelia Fountain Pen

This magnificent achievement begins with the artist's design, reduced exactly to the finished size. The design is then transferred onto tracing paper that is fixed onto the smooth body of the pen. The barrel is covered with a thin layer of gesso powder, which receives the lines when the design is traced once more. The craftsman then outlines the design with a metal point to delicately engrave the surface. The final engraving is made with the burin, wielded either by the hand alone or with the aid of a hammer. Finally, details are filled with gold, enhancing the work's value and elegance by providing a contrast between the various elements of the design. With Animalia, Montegrappa has permitted a depth of expression never previously achieved, giving the craftsman the dignity of a sculptor who has created a low-relief image from a decorative element. Animalia is produced in numbered and limited edition of 1,100 fountain pens in sterling silver (approx the number of endangered mammalian species in the world), 300 rollerball pens in sterling silver (approx the number of endangered reptile species in the world), 100 fountain pens and 100 rollerball pens in 18K gold (approx the number of endangered animal species in Italy). Each 18K gold nib in the collection is engraved with the design of a tiger, repeating the miracle of an engraving that is remarkably profound and complex, even by the standards of Montegrappa.

Straddling land and sea, and undaunted by either, the seagull synthesizes the nature of both elements. To travelers, it announces the proximity of the coast and anticipates the vastness of the open ocean. According to a legend of the Lilloer Indians of North America, the seagull was originally the proprietor of daylight, which it jealously kept in a box for its exclusive use. It was the raven that, by a trick, succeeded in breaking ipen the box for the benefit of humanity.

Nevertheless, the eagle has a dark, nocturnal aspect, associated with its rapacity and excessive self-glorification. It represents the sudden seduction, the passion that consumes the spirit. As a bird of prey, it may seize its victim with its claws and carry it to places from which it cannot escape, standing as a symbol of inflexible and all-devouring power.

According to a belief rooted in humankind's collective memory, the horse, like the serpent, is simultaneously bearer of life and death, linked both to fire - the destroyer and victor - and to water, which nourishes or drowns. The horse has a particular role. It is the vehicle, the vessel, connected indissolubly to man. By day it gallops blindly and it is the rider who directs its pure energy towards the destination, while at night, when it is the man who cannot see, the horse becomes clairvoyant and guides him. Harnessed to the chariot of the Sun, the white horse becomes the image of perfect beauty, capable still of linking day to night, life to death and action to passion in uninterrupted cycle.

The big cats have always fascinated man with their combination of strength and beauty, elegance and aggression. The tiger evokes powerful, ferocious regality. Dionysus transformed himself into a tiger to snatch the Nymphp Alphesiboea from the bank of a river that then took the name Tigris. In China the tiger was an animal of the North, associated with the winter solstice whose baleful influences it devoured, and honoured as the mount of an Immortal because of its legendary longevity.

Beautiful, fast and cruel, the tiger stimulates fascination and alarm at the same time. Large and powerful, it symbolizes instinct and anger, in contrast with the lion, the king of the beasts, which represents sovereignty, the strength of divine energy and even justice, like the lions next to Solomon's throne. In Egypt, lions were linked to the sun and always shown in pairs, back to back, to represent the two horizons and the course of the sun across the arch of the sky.

Associated with water and transfiguration, the dolphin has been a symbol of wisdom and navigation down the ages. Its image was carved at the feet of Apollo at Delphi, the sacred region that may itself be named for the dolphin, since the creature is symbolic of divination and prudence. Combined with its exceptional speed, these qualities make it the master navigator. A legend of ancient Greece tells how Dionysus was captured by pirates and bound to the mast of his ship. He slowed the vessel by covering it with wreaths of vines while causing the sounds of invisible flutes to be heard. The pirates were seized with madness and threw themselves into the sea, where they were transformed into dolphins. This explains why dolphins - the repentant pirates - are friends of man and strive to help sailors.

To terrify the pirates and induce them to plunge into the sea, Dionysus transformed the oars of his ship into serpents. This too is an animal with clear symbolism: in their hunting language, the Pygmies represent it as a line on the ground. The serpent is a living line, capable of becoming animated and of transforming itself. Quick as a flsh, it emerges from a crevice or fissure to spit forth death or to grant continuing life before returning to invisibility. It is enigmatic and secret; neither its decisions nor its metamorphoses can be foreseen. It expresses aggression and strength and, at the same time, it demonstrates circularity and the eternal return.

A special edition of Animalia dedicated to the Peace Parks Foundation, a successful foundation of private individuals with the invaluable cooperation of several African governments, which is committed to setting up transfrontier conservation areas, also known as “peace parks”. Montegrappa, a member of the Peace Parks Foundation, aims to increase awareness of the concept of peace parks through this Limited Edition, a writing instrument inspired by the animal world which is represented along the pen body by the use of a special, exclusive technique, burin engraving. Animalia for Peace Parks Foundation is produced in a series limited to 450 fountain pens in sterling silver with precious turquoise celluloid detailing.