All I Want is a Pen. Is that Too Much to Ask?

I was in Office Depot a few weeks ago and couldn't help but pause in the pen section. Ashe is always complaining that we have a lot of pens in our house, but not a single one seems to work when we need it to. I agree, it's a frustrating scenario and one that seems to occur especially at those times when we really need to write something down. With years of, "Ahh! Why doesn't this pen work?!" ringing in my ears, I almost bought the first pen I saw hanging in front of me on the rack. "What?!" How can one pen cost $4.99!" I almost screamed out loud. I pulled my hand back, almost as if from a hot stove. We still don't have a working pen in the house.
Tonight, one of lead stories on a comic site that I read was about a Batman pen that has just hit the market. The maker, Montegrappa of Italy. Looking up Montegrappa online, I found that they have been making fine pens since 1912. Fine pens. There's a notion. Maybe if we bought just one fine pen instead of hundreds of, well, un-fine ones, we would have a working pen in the house when we needed it. Maybe all those fancy pen sets that fathers have been buying for their sons as graduation presents for all these years are actually money well spent. Quality over quantity, right?
Tonight, looking at that Batman pen, I was sold. It's time to buy a pen that will last a lifetime and... price is no object. $25, $75, $125 -- name the price, I'll pay it. Ahh... I see that $150 seems to be the low price point on the Montegrappa site. Okay, fine, I'll pay $150.  It's a Batman pen. It's one of the finest pen makers in the world. Quality! Hey, why not throw in some cufflinks and a watch. It turns out that the Batman pen can be bought in a limited edition set including some Bat cufflinks and a Bat watch.
Unfortunately, there's a point at which quality no longer matters and, for a pen, that point is somewhere over $2500. Yes, that's right, the pen alone costs $2600. The set with cufflinks and watch: $5000. I guess I'll just go back to the Bic pen 10-pack for $1.50. 
But, one day when price is no object, I'll find myself on the Montegrappa website once again, perhaps buying the $12,350 Alfa Romeo mechanical pencil or the $27,850 St.Andrew's Links fountain pen.