$500 ballpoint is latest trend

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jun 17, 2003 by Lauren Lipton The Wall Street Journal

When Rick Schwartz signs a check or a tax return, he uses a rollerball pen.

But it's not a $2 plastic job from the pharmacy. Schwartz's pen, made of multicolored Italian resin and sterling silver, costs $575, and it's just one in the collection the Calabasas, Calif., lawyer keeps on his desk. "Any pen less than $500 is a piece of junk," he says.

Remember when a $40 Cross was enough? These days, the trendy way to sign the check is to pull a pricey pen (read: $200 and up for a "middle-of-the-road" model) out of your breast pocket. High-end makers like Cartier, Parker and Montegrappa say sales of fancy everyday pens like ballpoints and rollerballs are up 20 percent or more. At big pen catalog Colorado Pen Direct, rollerballs now account for half of all pen sales, up from 20 percent in 1999.

Indeed, for a growing number of people, a pricey pen has become just another must-have accessory, like a Patek Philippe watch or a pair of antique cufflinks. And while many men especially might hesitate to shell out thousands on jewelry for themselves, a luxe pen "completes their look," says Susan Saideman, president of Parker Pens.

Of course, high-end pens still make up just a fraction of the writing-instrument industry, which is dominated by disposables. And while pricey pens have been around for years, in the past, the big sellers were fountain pens. But the newly popular pens appeal to folks who'd find signing a school permission slip with a fountain pen overly formal -- not to mention messy. "When a rollerball is purchased, I know for a fact it's being used," says David Oscarson, a St. Louis, Mo., pen designer.

That's despite the price -- which can run $3,700 and up for one of Oscarson's rhodium and enamel limited editions. Then there's Montblanc's $95,000 Meisterstuck Royal Classique, a gold ballpoint set with 4,810 pave diamonds. And while the insides of pricey pens are pretty much the same as those of the ones they give away at the bank, for that amount of money luxury makers will replace damaged or worn parts, as needed, for the life of your pen.

If you can bring yourself to use it, that is. For the inaugural signings of her first novel, "The Lake of Dead Languages," writer Carol Goodman used the Montblanc ballpoint she'd inherited from her father. But the thought of losing it made her too nervous. These days, it's cheap felt-tips in public, while the Montblanc sits at home. "I use it to sign the plumber's work orders," she says.