23rd Annual Readers' Choice Awards

Pen World Readers Vote for their Favorite Pens.

- Susan Browen

More than a century ago Wassily Kandinsky rocked the art world with his abstract paintings. His legacy continues with a new interpretation of his abstract ideals in Mount blanc’s Artisan Edition Homage to Wassily Kandinsky LE3, which won top honors as 2017 Pen of the Year in Pen World’s 23rd Annual Readers’ Choice competition. The Homage to Kandinsky LE 3 and its companion piece, the Yellow–Red–Blue LE 77, were created in honor of the 120th anniversary of the artist’s birth. The skeletonized abstract geometric design fashioned from 750 solid white gold is studded with diamonds, rubies, and blue and yellow sapphires and was inspired by Kandisnsky’s 1925 masterpiece, Red–Yellow–Blue. Montblanc has won 18 Readers’ Choice Awards since the contest was established in 1995, making it one of the top winners of all time. Montblanc is winner of two previous Pen of the Year awards: the Patron of Art Henry E. Steinway 888 LE in 2015 and the StarWalker in 2004.

The vote tally for Pen of the Year was especially tight this year, with two pens tying for a close second place: The Phoenix Renaissance by S.T. Dupont and Sankta Lucia by David Oscarson.