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Montblanc to sell $4,400 pen made of 'miracle pine'

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Tasteless.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

"Miracle tree", so let's kill it and make money off of it... SMH!!!

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

I have one of their pens. $800 Got it as a gift. All the correct paper work with it. I want to sell it, but cannot find anyone with my same name...it is engraved!

:-(

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Only 20% of the proceeds??? Disgusting. If they were really trying to help they would offer more of the proceeds to the people who truly need it.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

No one killed it, it was dying. No sense in letting it wither to a sad unusable condition in front of the eyes of all affected citizens.

I say this is a fine idea. The tree served as inspiration as long as it could, and now it'll continue to give something to the people in the form of additional donations.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

They didn't kill it, tree was dying, and even after sinking over $1,000,000 USD. They took a negative and tried to get something positive out of it, namely about $100,000 USD for the city, of course this is after spending over a million US Dollars trying to shore up the dying tree.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Tohoku prostituted yet again.

The media value is many multiples of this $90k insult.

Enough of this cynical CSR whitewash, Montblanc et al.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Greed knows no boundaries. What will the city do with the money? Probably nothing that will really help the needy.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Good use of a iconic tree that withstood a national tragedy as a luxury memento.The sales of the pen will also benefit the local people of the locality and hence luxury put to a good cause.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Yep pretty disgusting alright! So lets see we have had a LOT of companies/events etc USING Tohoku etc for their own selfish benefit

smap, akb48, & the BIGGY the 2020 Olympics! & now stupid fountain pens WTF!

All of these either "donated" some piddly percentage of their profit or just rode the backs of the victims, unfrigging believable, meanwhile racking in $$$$ they have no shame!

2 ( +5 / -3 )

I'm still confused how Mayor Toba went from let's protect this tree to protecting this tree is too expensive to contacting Montblanc to make pens out of it? That seems like such a leap, I mean, how did Montblanc even enter as an option?

The Mayor or someone close to him must've scoured the market for who would pay the most for this tree, got as much money they could for this tree, then rationalized it by saying making the tree into pens would remind people of the disaster.

This just looks like a simple transaction where one party needed the money, Mayor Toba, and another party saw a great marketing opportunity, Montblanc.

And is with most charities, I'd love to know where that 20% will actually go.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

with just 20% of takings donated to local people.

Montblanc should be ashamed of and disgusted with themselves. I hope not one person buys this pen and Montblanc are stuck with all of them.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Only 20% ... really!? I wanted to buy a pen (not this one) and it looks like I won't. I will rather spend my money somewhere else.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Just 20% on 113 pens will translate into a very whatever sum of money :p

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I think "Miracle tree" could have been displayed at some museum in commemoration of the disaster, instead of making expensive pens....

2 ( +2 / -0 )

20% of the takings sounds like much more than made it up to the area from worldwide donations following the disaster.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Salarymen will use this to pen impress their "shi-me" Kyabajo girls!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The cost of making these one off pens is pretty low, but to only give 20% back!???? Montblanc, SHAME ON YOU!! you tight b**ds! I would have said ALL of the proceeds go to XY and Z then that would be good PR

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@Brian

You're dead right. But the counter-argument from the companies is always "So, you'd prefer it if we did nothing?"

No way to navigate this for decent human beings....

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Greed knows no boundaries. What will the city do with the money? Probably nothing that will really help the needy.

I suggest you take a trip to Rikuzentakata. The devastation started around 7 kilometres from the ocean. Very little of the town was left standing. So when the a city that lost around 15% of the total victims of the tsunami supports something then I guess you can say that it will help the needy.

Also it may be the wording.. but according to the article 20% of the TAKINGS is going to the city. NOT Profit. That would be $880. Given that it costs $4000 to make and sells for $4400 then Mont Blanc would be making a loss on this venture. Which would certainly not make it tastless or whatever others have said. But as I said this may be due to the wording.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Why don't they auction the pens? montblanc can say we want the ¥87 it cost to make them plus ¥100,000 per pen for our efforts. The remainder goes to the city for rebuilding. Auctioning may get a lot more money involved.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The cost of making a Montblanc fountain pen might surprise a number of people, Do some research on the number of steps involved in the making of a fountain pen before you assume it is "pretty low" -- it involves numerous steps done by hand not stamped out by machines by the hundreds.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Profitting from death & destruction will only bring bad luck & bad karma no matter what percentage they vow to donate to charity. It's like some company selling pieces of steel made into keychains from NYC World Trader Center buildings ruins. Would you buy that?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I say this is a fine idea. The tree served as inspiration as long as it could, and now it'll continue to give something to the people in the form of additional donations and companies should profit from a disaster that killed thousands, especially since it has nothing to do with re-contruction just trying to cash in on people feelings. I should collect peoples belongings and or debris left over from the tsunami and mount them on wooden plates with a plaque. But Ill donate 50% of all the proceeds to the victims.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Just remember that Mayor Toba, who asked Mont Blanc to do this, lost his wife in the disaster.

For those of you who think this is profiteering from the disaster, it's the husband of one of the victims and the leader of a town that was virtually wiped out who is pushing for it. And as such, I think he's in a better position than most to comment on what is appropriate or not.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Heda: "For those of you who think this is profiteering from the disaster, it's the husband of one of the victims and the leader of a town that was virtually wiped out who is pushing for it"

Tasteless is tasteless. Doesn't matter who is pushing for it. And him being the mayor of the town doesn't put him in a better position to make the comments, it puts him in a better position to profit from it -- hence we are being asked by you among others to 'not forget whom it's coming from'. If it were so selfless, he wouldn't need to be named as such. If Montblanc and the mayor were, again, being TRULY selfless the former would be asking for nothing, or MAXIMUM for the cost of making the pens, and giving them away for free -- not using a gimmick for profit.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

All pine trees are miracles.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Okisurfer:

" Miracle tree", so let's kill it and make money off of it... SMH!!! "

Did you read the article? The tree was dying anyway, and it was the city who asked MontBlanc to do this.

So what would you have preferrd? Burn the tree in a garbage incinerator? Something else?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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