Limited Edition Mystery Masterpiece: just nine made, at $730,000 each.
The Limited Edition Mystery Masterpiece, a joint creation between Montblanc and Van Cleef & Arpels is certainly the most expensive, and probably the ugliest pen in the world.
Both French companies celebrated their centennials in 2006 and the pen is meant to showcase each company’s area of expertise. There are three variations, set either with rubies, sapphires or emeralds, and accented by diamonds. There are three versions of each pen for a total of nine.
Each pen has 840 diamonds and over 20 carats of gemstones set in a Van Cleef & Arpels patented “Mystery Setting” that conceals the stone settings. A grove is made on the cutlet, the bottom facet of the stone, which is then slid onto the threads of the lattice design so that the stones can be held in place side by side without any visible support. The Mystery sells for $730,000.
To put that in perspective:
The price of a single Mystery pen would also pay for the construction of 430 entire classrooms in Africa, or safe water for 40,000 people, or 230,000 trees.
