 The
story begins in an anonymous hotel room, when Pentrace reader
Willis reports a pen sighting while watching the Bond movie
"Never Say Never Again" on TV. With the details
posted on the message board, our intrepid agent 007 (jeff
peirce) who was monitoring communications that night, reports
back with the information that the pen is in fact a Mont Blanc
149 (old style) with a Union Jack flag on the barrel. He is
also able to confirm that the very pen is now in the possession
of "M" (Mike Mihlberger of Office&Things).
Flying
down to "M" the following day, 007 records images
of the pen on a special disposable camera and arranges for
"Q" (jeff's son James) to digitize and compress
the images and relay them trans Atlantic to Pentrace HQ in
Ireland.
Unbeknownst
to our agents, the evil operatives if ISP were conspiring
to thwart the successful transmission of the images, but reckoned
without the resources of 007 who, having battled with the
system many times before, had arranged for duplicates to be
sent by both "Q" and agent 006 (Brian Nelson). Despite
several dastardly attempts by the evil email operatives, the
images were digitally enhanced and safely transmitted to the
web site for examination by international pen experts...
 The
movie "Never Say Never Again" was not one of the
"official" Bond movies. It wasn't directed by Cubby
Brocolli and didn't feature the famous opening theme or shooting
sequence. It saw the return of Sean Connery to the role of
Bond after many years in what was in effect a remake of "Thunderball"
with a twist. The villain was Fatima Blush (Barbara Carrera)
and it was she who met her demise on the end of a rocket propelled
by the MB 149 shooting pen, leaving only a pair of smoking
spike heels behind!
It is
unusual for a person with the refined and educated taste of
Bond to carry a fountain pen with a gaudy flag emblazoned
on it, an image more suited to a British seaside resort souvenir
shop, but the props people obviously saw nothing wrong with
redecorating the precious resin. Another Mont Blanc was employed
in the film "Octopussy", this one a Solitaire with
a listening device in the removable blind cap. The Solitaire
was filled with a concentrated mixture of nitric and hydrochloric
acids, a combination which can be approximated by mixing equal
parts of Penman Saphire and Private Reserve Tanzanite.
"M"
displays the pen Union Jack pen from time to time in his shop,
but refuses to sell it or even quote a price. He was given
it by Mont Blanc in the early days, and it is certainly a
great conversation piece. Even better is the fact that it
remains within the pen community and is not lost in some back-lot
prop store.
Many thanks
to Mike Mihlberger for allowing the pics to be taken and published
here, to James Peirce for the technical work, Brian Nelson
for the backup support and most of all to Jeff Peirce who
was both Producer and Lead Camera man.
To end on a quote
from the film:
"We're not allowed to
give endorsements."
Bond to Fatima
Blush, who insists that he put in writing that she was his
greatest lover.
Next time you're asked to check
your MB 149 at the door, you'll know why!
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