What does a manufacturer do when its sales forecasts have been overly optimistic and products need to be moved? Today, writing instrument manufacturers use classic distribution channels such as Vente Privée (e.g. Pelikan, Faber-Castell, Montegrappa, Tibaldi) or Amazon VIP (Montblanc) to clear residual stock. The situation, however, is different when it is not complete writing instruments but only individual components – caps, barrels and the like – that remain from editions that have already been discontinued. Such parts are too valuable simply to be thrown away.
It was exactly this consideration that the decision-makers at Montblanc are likely to have made in 2004. At that time, the Jungle Eyes edition (Artisan series) was taken off the market, but individual components were still available. From these arose the Montblanc Gift Collection 2004: writing instruments in which components of the discontinued Jungle Eyes were reused, though in some models with quite independent design features – and for which, in every case, additional components were specifically produced.
The Gift Collection 2004 is exceptionally rare today. Rumours suggest the production run at the time was in the very low three-digit range, which makes the pieces particularly interesting for Montblanc collectors. A dealer remarked at the time, half-jokingly, that in ten years hardly anyone would remember this edition and many would even consider it fakes because of the unusual design – a prediction regularly confirmed when the Gift Collection surfaces on the auction market.
Sample photos of the Gift Collection 2004 based on the Jungle Eyes edition can be found on the overview pages of fountainpen.de:
• fountainpen.de/artisan-jungle-eyes-mop-en.htm
• fountainpen.de/artisan-jungle-solitaire-mop-en.htm
• fountainpen.de/artisan-solitaire-platinum-doue-en.htm
Overview of all Artisan and Jungle Eyes variants: fountainpen.de/artisan-en.htm