The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-08
HISTORIC PENS.
Prices Paid for Those Used by
 Famous Men.

London Globe.
 At the Dollhouse sale a few years ago
 quill pen used by the great Duke od
 Wellington was purchased for 5l-2
 guineas, very modest price. consider,
 ing the eminence of the man who used
 it. He may have penned with It, atter
 memorandum to Marshall Berestord, T
 never saw the British infantry. behave
 so we'll" document which also con.
 tains the information that "Bony Is now off to Rochefort."
 Another pen was sold on the occasion
 of the dispersal of MT. Beresford Hope effects for q pounds. The price obtaineo for the pen Is instructive tnsomuch as
 obtained on the same date for 2 pen
 holder comprising an ivory handie.
 silver holder. and quill pen ln it that
 once belonged to Sir Walter Scott. ana
 confirms the impression that he tne EsEes co,isc.
 his livelihood by its use at higher rate than that which is occasionally used py an even greater celebrity. The pen or
 the penman is evidently more "s'ynSy gact that will doubtless be written In letters
 of gold over the case Tn the museum ot the future devoted to the pens or those the best of the argument when dealing with the military censor. Although large sums, amounting in one instance to 70
 pounds. have been given Tor pens @ nsed l
 consheld, and other iterary lights. in | cluding Wordsworth. who in 1906. began
 a letter to Lady Beaumont, which, he
 stated, was the longest he eyer wrote,
 d statement that was unlikelyNto be re-
 futed. seeing that 1t was eighteen pages | in length.
 There are perhaps but few pens in ex- | istence that can vie in interest and tm- | portance with the implement with which the treaty of Paris was signed in lsbe' l at the conclusion of the Crimean war, | On this famous occasion the tourteef rlenipotentiaries assembled to sign the which was to be broken by the signato- ries ere fifteen years had elapsed. used the same pen at the special request or | their hostess. the Empress Eugenie. who Venir of sn occasion that promised to be as important as any, save perhaps the 1 incident at Runnymede, on which the | signing of documents was the sole object When His Holiness the Pope signs an | enCyclical letter or delivers a papal bull, | the implement used is a white -feathered | quill taken from the wing Of q dove. | which has now been in use such is the | care of it. for over four decades. It was | perhaps this custom that suggested to | the person designing the pen with which | the treaty of Paris was signed, a pen | that was mounted in gold and teweled
 with diamonds that 1t would be in keep l ing with the emblems of several of the | chief signatories if the quill were drawn | from the wing of a golden eagle. At all | events. the bird in question supplied the l necessary nib. The instrument used by | Queen Victoria to sign the commission | giving assent to the commonwealth bill
 was also a quill. but one culled from or l dnarV sources.
 Since signing the treaty on the conclu. | sion of the war with Spain American col lectors have been very eager to gecure 1 famous pens in order to augment those 1 they already possess. This collection in | Cludes two pens carved from the wood of | a box presented to George Washington
 which box was itself made from the lid
 of desk once the property of the cap
 tain of the Mayfower. On the occasion 1 of the signing of the diplomatic instru
 ments at Paris in 1898 the hour being S:3C D. m. and the day December
 iO rather amusing incident oc- l cured. The commissioners of botl | Spain and America expressed the wish | that the seals, out of compliment to 1 France who had shown them great cOur- i teay. should be affixed by a trlcolored | ribbon. CT search being instituted for the | same it was found that the Quai d'Orsai | did not boast an inc1 of the desired | three colors Nor was it forthcoming un- | iii 4 brilliant inspiration occurred to the l head of a department, and a messenger I was forthwith dispatched with all haste
 to d certain confectioner in the Rue 1 St. Honore, there to purchase a pound l of chocolate and stipulate that 1t should