Interesting but sad story. I had a Voltaire fountain, pen and ball pain which were in need of some repairs, so took it to an authorized Mont Blank dealer in Asheville, North Carolina, which they claim sent it to mont Blanc and they were cleaned and sent back to the store and some employee apparently stole them, though now I am suspecting it was the actual manager. In any event, I contacted the regional manager for the store and they could not find two new Voltaires, and offered me to choose whatever equivalent in price, limited edition, I wanted from their existing stock . So I chose the Honorè de Balzac , since my original .com were engraved, I asked them to have them engraved at Montblanc so they sent them back to Montblanc and when they returned them to me with the engraving they tell me that they cannot find the cases but that is not a big deal because I’ve got the Pens. It was useless to explain to these diots that the original cases are important for collectors and add significant value to the pens . Anyways, it was that or not so I took the pens without the boxes obviously and later found out that the manager at the local store had been stealing, and had been fired. She was the main person that I dealt with. Heard that the regional manager did questioned her not in a very nice way about how she managed to lose a couple of pens worth a few thousand dollars when she supposedly had them in her office desk or safe. That’s not the reason she was fired, but probably contributed to it . In the meantime, I have two boxless Balzacs , though I’m not planning to sell them unless I get an “offer I can’t refuse” as per Vito Corleone’s famous words in the Godfather ! They are a little on the big side for daily use though plus don’t want them to deteriorate, so most of the time resting peacefully in my pen box