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Recently, I posted a thread about wanting to dive in to vintage pens. I was not disappointed at the feedback. Many people came through with some very good advice, and my purchasing experience went very well. However, I posted that thread with the intent of buying several pens: an Esterbrook J, a Waterman Phileas, and the Sheaffer Snorkel (I ended up putting the idea of buying the Phileas to the side for a while). I picked up an Esterbrook LJ and a Sheaffer 440 (as requested by someone; I'm very happy with it) several days later without too much fuss. At any rate, I was still left without the Sheaffer Snorkel. Now, to some people, the Snorkel may not be very expensive, but as a high school student who has a limited amount of money at his disposal (I can only make so much as an intern), it's a bit pricey. So, naturally, I want to be cautious and make sure the pen I purchase is exactly what I want it to be before I spend the money. However, through my caution, I feel like I'm restricting myself to a certain extent. I could easily get a nice, restored Snorkel for $60-80 right now, but the pens I am looking at aren't exactly what I want. They either have the wrong nib size/style (Sheaffer fine nibs are a bit too thin for me, so I'm looking to get a medium), are in the wrong color, or have tiny surface damage that puts me off. The wear and tear doesn't affect the pen, of course, but I feel that if I am spending a good chunk of money on a pen, it should be as nice looking as possible. I have a difficult enough time making sure I don't mess up my pens on my own Am I being too unrealistic? Do you think I'm making it much more difficult to find a Snorkel by setting up all of these mental restrictions? tl;dr When making a fairly large purchase, is there such a thing as too much scrutiny? Is it better to spend the extra $20-30 dollars on a pen or wait around until you find the right one instead of getting a slightly cheaper pen that you may not be 100% content with buying? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALSO On a completely unrelated note, where would be a good place to get replacement Esterbrook nibs for vintage models? I usually have a golden rule that I never let other people try to write with my friends, but I felt very bad about saying no in a situation I found myself in yesterday. Of course, as you would expect, the person testing out the pen didn't understand the concept of a Firm Medium nib ... Needless to say, one of the tines are bent (it's technically functional, but it's obvious that there is a break, as this specific side is constantly misaligned and causes a lot of scratch if not periodically moved back in to place), and I'm looking for a new nib. Preferably something with a bit of flex so I can avoid this kind of havoc in the future. Danke, Mike.