Montegrappa Game Of Thrones Targaryen Fountain Pen Review

Living in the Southeastern United States I’m about has far away from winter as possible, but knowing that Winter Is Coming and Game of Thrones Season 7 is only weeks away is keeping me cool this summer.

The other thing keeping me cool: The Montegrappa Game Of Thrones Targaryen Fountain Pen. One of the challenges in our industry is doing branded products well, and Montegrappa handled this one well.

Game of Thrones fans will recognize the four primary Houses - or families, for those not familiar with the show. Baratheon, Lannister, Stark, and Targaryen are the players, and Montegrappa has woven in their colors and sigils into a wonderful lineup of pens. We have covered the ballpoint and rollerball pens previously, and I’m up to bat with the fountain pen review.

If you ask me which House will claim the Iron Throne in the end, my money is on the Targaryen’s, or a Targaryen/Stark tag team to take down the Lannister’s and dispatch of White Walkers. The Baratheon’s are mostly dead, although their pen may be the best of the bunch.

The Targaryen’s though, that’s where it’s at. Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons would be proud to carry this pen and write the names of those she defeated in their blood.

The pen is made from metal and resin, giving is a sturdy feel, but not too heavy. The bronze section and finials give it a nice balance, and the matching colored steel nib sets it off nicely. It is a fantastic writer too. I love the lacquered red artwork and details on the pen, and the Fire and Blood emblem on the top looks like it would make a perfect wax seal.

If there is one issue with this pen it is the price. That’s what happens when you license one of the top franchises in the world. You can buy a lot of pens for $350, but if you are a Thrones fan and a pen lover this series is very well executed. Just like Ned Stark.

(Goldspot Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on June 19, 2017 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Montegrappa, Game of Thrones, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

How I Keep Track of My Pen Collection

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

When I started collecting fountain pens over five years ago, I never imagined I would own enough pens to need a system to keep track of all of them. But collecting pens is an addiction, and like any addiction, there’s always at least one more pen to buy. You start with one and wind up with one hundred.

I decided that, for insurance purposes and my need for sanity, I should come up with a way to keep my collection organized. I despise Microsoft Excel, so I knew I wouldn’t want to use it. I found a database app that works on my iPad, iPhone, and Mac called TapForms.

TapForms can manage any kind of information you want: recipes, books, home inventory, research, and cats (if you’re a cat lady). And what I love most about it is I can design each database with the layout, content, fields, and photographs I want. Right now my most used database is my fountain pen collection, but I also created a database to keep track of all my poetry for my M.A. thesis, and I started one to organize my ink.

I set up my Fountain Pen Collection Database with the information I need, and the great thing is, if I want to add more fields at any point, I can. Here’s a screen grab of the form I created:

You can see what kinds of information I find useful for each pen, including the manufacturer, color, nib type, photographs, where and when I bought the pen, repair information, and information about pens I’ve sold.

Here’s a screen grab of one of my pens catalogued in the form:

I can have the database organize the pens alphabetically by manufacturer (that’s my default), but I can also categorize pens by searching any field. For example, I can get lists of all the pens I’ve sold, all the pens with fine nibs, all the pens from a particular manufacturer, etc. Below is a partial list of pens with italic nibs in my collection:

This is a terrific tool for many reasons. First, I can keep track of all my pens. Second, I have the information I need for insurance purposes, including photos of each pen, limited edition numbers, and how much I paid for each pen. Third, if I decide to sell a pen, I already have the information about it in my listing, including whether or not I have the original packaging, what I originally paid for the pen, if it’s been repaired, etc. For example, here’s the information on one of the pens I sold.

I highly recommend TapForms if you don’t already have a method for keeping track of your pen and ink collections. You can secure the database with a password, which is especially useful if you keep it on your iPad or on a computer accessible to others.

For computers, TapForms is Mac only, but if you own an iPhone or iPad, there’s a stand-alone app. If you own both a Mac and an iPhone/iPad, you can sync your data across all devices (and you can even have it on your Apple Watch if you like).

The iPhone/iPad app is $16.99, and you can download it from the App Store here. The Mac app is $49.99, and you can purchase it directly from TapForms (or download a trial) or purchase it in the Mac App Store here.

(I purchased TapForms for Mac and iPad with my own funds.)

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, which I am very grateful for.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Susan Pigott and filed under Storage, Pen Reviews.