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HYPOTHETICAL: You, a multi-billionaire and pen fan, have just become, via purchase, the sole owner of the Sheaffer Pen Company and all its property, including patents and archives. Your goal is to offer the best and most interesting lineup of models you can while, at the same time, making at least a small profit. You are not limited by history in what your pen lineup can be. For example, if you wish, you can offer the PFM/Legacy in a new color/pattern with a flexible nib and with a filling system never offered in a PFM/Legacy or even in any Sheaffer. Tell us what models the new Sheaffer Pen Co. would offer for sale, and describe the relevant details of each model that you'd have the new Sheaffer Pen Co. sell. Provide any details about whatever appeals to you in this regard, such as marketing strategy, pricing (in whichever currency you choose), and anything else you wish. Would you stagger the introduction of your models or put them all out at once? No limits here. Have at it and have fun. 😍

HYPOTHETICAL: You, a multi-billionaire and pen fan, have just become, via purchase, the sole owner of the Parker Pen Company and all its property, including patents and the Archives. Your goal is to offer the best and most interesting lineup of models you can while, at the same time, making at least a small profit. You are not limited by history in what your pen lineup can be. For example, if you wish, you can offer the Duofold in a new color/pattern with a flexible nib and with a filling system never offered in a Duofold or even in any Parker. As another example, you can bring back the double-jeweled Parker 51 Vacumatic if you wish. Tell us what models the new Parker Pen Co. would offer for sale, and describe the relevant details of each model that you'd have the new Parker Pen Co. sell. Provide any details about whatever appeals to you in this regard, such as marketing strategy, pricing (in whichever currency you choose), and anything else you wish. Would you stagger the introduction of your models or put them all out at once? No limits here. Have at it and have fun. 😍

This is more an example of the strange things my mind comes up with late at night... I don't expect the thread to live very long. I'm pretty sure most of us are familiar with how Colorverse creates series with six boxed sets, each set having a large "snail" and a small "snail" of ink, often different colors or if the same color the smaller one may be a glitter ink. My mind came up with a Hasbro licensed series: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic -- The Mane 6 {You can understand why I say "five years too late" as the series finale was last fall, and that was season 9, so going back 5 years would put one into season 4, middle of the run} I see the large snail as being the primary character color (with one exception) and the small bottle being the eye color {character | large | small -- generic colors, I'm not going to try to pick out existing inks for formal names} Applejack | muted Orange | GreenPinkie Pie | Pink | CyanFluttershy | muted Yellow (avoid highlighter shade) | Cyan-GreenRainbow Dash | bluish Cyan | MagentaRarity | Violet (I don't think a nano-particle titanium white pigment ink would fly, so this is the mane color) | BlueTwilight Sparkle | floral Lavender | deep Lavender (maybe with glitter) My first nightmare thoughts had been for body color / mane color -- but Applejack's straw yellow would be practically unseeable, we'd have had two shades of pink for Pinkie, along with a third pink for Fluttershy, two shades of violet for Rarity (maybe glitter for the mane highlight shade), and since we don't have inks that separate into a spectrum Rainbow Dash would likely require a pale yellow-green with a rainbow of glitter particles, Twilight would get the magenta skunk stripe. Probably wouldn't have been a high seller -- the show's target demographic is likely still using crayons.

In the world of fountain pens, there are forgettable pens and famous pens…. and then there are the icons. Those are the pens that have a wide appeal and a cult like following. You may love them or not, but there is no denying their impact and the passion they generate amongst devotees. One of these icons is the Parker “51”. There is an abundance of information about these great pens, and I will make no attempt to repeat all the details. I will simply point out that there are two primary filling systems used in the life of the pen – the vacuumatic plunger filler and the aerometric filler. The vac filler was the first system used and I draw this distinction because the pen I am reviewing uses this method. Sometimes iconic pens inspire tributes or fantasy versions where people create a pen they want to see, but it never came from the factory. When this is done with the intention to add character or widen the scope of a pen, I think it has the potential to be a thing of beauty. (When it is done to deceive or to make a pen that is represented as a rare factory original, I find this despicable and blight on our hobby.) There are many folks who have created so called fantasy “51” pens including Ariel Kullock, Paul Rossi, Ralph Prather, and Brad Torelli. Each has their strengths and their products cover a wide range of prices, depending on materials, hours invested, and parts used. While I admire the work or all four men, the pens that appeal the most to me in general are those by Brad Torelli. Although he is a master of many pen skills, plastics are the area of expertise he focused on for this pen. He essentially took standard “51” vac parts and crafted a new barrel, hood and blind cap. In addition, he put new jewels on the top and bottom of the pen to make is a “double jewel” or DJ version of the pen. This particular pen is a demonstrator in a lovely transparent brown, almost the color of a refreshing root beer. I find the color pairs well with the gold cap. The transparency also gives one a real appreciation for the mechanics of these pens. Manually creating a vacuum to pull ink through the collector and breather tube in order to fill the ink chamber – simple but effective. One of the best things about Brad’s pens is the warranty. He likes to say he offers a lifetime guarantee on his work and his materials. The part that always amuses me is that he means his lifetime. I have no desire to publicly share his current age, but he has joked that he probably has 20 good years ahead and then maybe another 5 or 10 so so years (so get that warranty work done!). In all seriousness, I have personal experience with him standing behind his work and going above and beyond what any large manufacturer would do in support of their pens. Besides the giant pain in the rear it is to clean a “51” vac, the other issue for me personally is the limited range of nib widths available. To remedy this I turned to a custom retipped nib from Greg Minuskin. Greg sells a lot of “51” nibs that he retips and stubs in various widths. The one I picked was a fairly broad 1.3MM tip and Brad mounted in into his pen for me. Now I have a demo pen with a tip that is wide enough to suit my preferences. I’ll close by saying that if, like me, you found the Parker “51” a little lacking from the factory the good news is there are artists who can make your desires a reality. I have a soft spot for demo pens, wide stubs, and pens hand made by artisans. This pen met all these criteria in one slim, iconic form factor.