Famous people's pens

[Little Joe]

Ugh, not using my technology well... my apologies.

Edited July 4, 2012 by Little Joe

[Mags]

I have a Sheaffer Targa that is now 28 years old...a high school grad gift. 2 more years until it reaches the big 30. I also have a gold one that is 25 yrs old now with the metal barrel. It will be an antique in another 15 or 20 yrs I suppose like its owner. I recently purchased a 1952 NOS Eversharp that was resacked but otherwise original.

[LWW]

Ronald Wilson Reagan used various Parkers.

[georges zaslavsky]

was given an early 1970's mb 146 for my 28 th birthday which formerly belang to my uncle, never had any probs with it.

[Movis]

Here goes a longshot: Does anyone have an idea of what kind of pens J.R.R. Tolkien used? I'm guessing there was a good mix of dip calligraphy pens, and I know he used Koh-I-Noor pencils, but I have never heard anything about a daily writing pen.

[tonydent84]

I wonder who was the last US president to use a fountain pen when signing a bill, etc.? I know that recently Obama used a Cross Townsend rollerball. I'm not 100% sure, but I think I saw an ad by Visconti that Pres. Bush was a customer (or maybe that was another president or prime minister).

 

 

Oh, and Visconti also advertised that Clint Eastwood is a customer. Sly is a Montegrappa kinda guy.

Edited August 29, 2012 by tonydent84

[garnet]

I know of the following:-

 

Ted Hughes - Waterman Hemisphere

Sylvia Plath - Schaeffer (varoius models after she lost her favourite Imperial)

Adolf Hitler - Simplo

Hermann Hesse - dip pen and later a typewriter (?)

George Borrow - pencil

Anne Frank - a no name German pen NOT A MB? Her family were not that affluent. She talks of her pen in some detail and would undoubtedly have mentioned the name if it was a MB!

King George v - Wyvern Redwing

King George vi - Wyvern 101 (pen & pencil set in various skin finishes)

 

That's about all I know..

Edited August 29, 2012 by garnet

[jameswatts]

I was astonished to read akrishna59's conjecture that if Queen Elizabeth had been using the same Parker 51 since 1959, in his opinion an unlikely thing, it would have had most of its parts replaced. Dear God. I myself wrote with one Parker 51 for 36 years, from 1949 to 1985, when I lost it. During that time I was a student, a statistical clerk, and a writer and editor, and I wrote quite a lot by hand. If I hadn't lost the pen I would expect to be still using it today, 63 years, with probably no need for any parts to be replaced.

 

that is quite nice. you must have taken good care of it. somehow i did not know that pens lasted for so long without repair. wonder whether modern pens offer the same durability.

 

rgds.

 

krishna.

 

just out of curiosity will the members here pls. share if they have / had a pen which they have / had used for more than thirty years without undergoing any maintenance.

 

rgds.

 

krishna.

 

 

Parker 61 purchased in 72 still in use today, works great, no repairs needed.

 

Parker 51 I inherited from my father-in-law. Dates back to the 1940s. still works perfectly, with the same ink sac.

[Sasha Royale]

President Madison might have used a Parker 45.

I don't think it was a Flighter.

[crescentfiller]

I suspect Fitzgerald used a Diamond Point or a Diamond Medal--As Big As The Ritz!

 

Sorry, I couldn't resist....

[paul_barreto]

I was astonished to read akrishna59's conjecture that if Queen Elizabeth had been using the same Parker 51 since 1959, in his opinion an unlikely thing, it would have had most of its parts replaced. Dear God. I myself wrote with one Parker 51 for 36 years, from 1949 to 1985, when I lost it. During that time I was a student, a statistical clerk, and a writer and editor, and I wrote quite a lot by hand. If I hadn't lost the pen I would expect to be still using it today, 63 years, with probably no need for any parts to be replaced.

 

that is quite nice. you must have taken good care of it. somehow i did not know that pens lasted for so long without repair. wonder whether modern pens offer the same durability.

 

rgds.

 

krishna.

 

I have a friend who just turned 76 this year. He started work as an apprentice mechanic at a jet engine manufacturer and worked his entire career in their workshops and labs; an industrial environment where pens are easily lost, dropped and/or damaged. Yet he still writes with the same Parker 51 that his father gifted him on his 16th birthday. All orginal parts, which only a small dent in the cap!

Edited September 1, 2012 by paul_barreto

[N2theBreach]

President Madison might have used a Parker 45.

I don't think it was a Flighter.

 

Yes, he might have, if he was a man who was ahead of his time.

[unclebrat]

My mother purchased her Parker 51 set in 1948 and gave it to me in 1971. It has been used every week from its original purchase. No repairs. No replacements. None needed.

 

BRS

[OcalaFlGuy]

Aboard the USS Missouri, Tokyo Harbor, 1945, the instrument of surrender was signed. One written

account tells that General MacArthur signed with multiple pens. The first seven or eight were

black pens, which he distributed to attending witnesses. Last, he took from his pocket, his

wife's red Parker Duofold fountain pen, and finished the signing.

 

There is a photo in the Parker forum. I also read that Mrs MacArthur's Duofold was subsequently

lost, and the Parker Pen Company presented her with a commemorative replacement.

 

Thank you for starting this topic. I have enjoyed reading all of it.

 

 

Which took place 67 years ago yesterday.

 

 

I think I remember reading somewhere that former Supreme Court Justice David Souter used fountain pens.

 

Yes, Esterbrooks, I believe.

 

A Black Estie J to be specific, which, considering the topic of the correspondence here, I like to believe he used to sign it. (I still say if that nib's NOT a relief then it needs some help...)

 

 

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[SUNIL GARG]

I was astonished to read akrishna59's conjecture that if Queen Elizabeth had been using the same Parker 51 since 1959, in his opinion an unlikely thing, it would have had most of its parts replaced. Dear God. I myself wrote with one Parker 51 for 36 years, from 1949 to 1985, when I lost it. During that time I was a student, a statistical clerk, and a writer and editor, and I wrote quite a lot by hand. If I hadn't lost the pen I would expect to be still using it today, 63 years, with probably no need for any parts to be replaced.

 

Wonderful, incredible! I myself, still have an inked Parker-25 bought in 1976. Though I have not used it

much for notes as that was done in BPs, a Sheaffer Targa(my favorite),Camlin Premier & Mont Blanc 144.

Most of the time it has been filled with a Turquoise Ink of various makes- Parker Quink, Chelpark, Lamy &

presently in Sheaffer Skrip(the best Turquoise).

IMHO present day pens are of very high quality. From Lamy Safari to Mont Blanc, the difference is not much.

Omas, Sailor,Pilot etc., etc., constantly fight to get me, not forgetting Parker,Waterman & of course

Sheaffer.

[silverfish]

I have a Parker 51 in mint condition which I had as a student in about 1956 - so it would be about 56 years old. It has never been repaired and works perfectly. A very smooth writer.

 

I have other vintage pens from the 30's 40's and 50's which may have had replacement sacs and have been cleaned and adjusted - but little more. All bar one write and work perfectly. These include Sheaffer, Conway Stewart and others.

 

I hope my modern pens will still work and write well in another 50 years! (Not that I will be around to know ...)

Edited September 24, 2012 by silverfish

[andru]

H.P. Lovecraft used a minimalist BHR Waterman's without gold bands. link

Edited September 25, 2012 by andru

[Florida Blue]

I wonder who was the last US president to use a fountain pen when signing a bill, etc.? I know that recently Obama used a Cross Townsend rollerball. I'm not 100% sure, but I think I saw an ad by Visconti that Pres. Bush was a customer (or maybe that was another president or prime minister).

 

 

Oh, and Visconti also advertised that Clint Eastwood is a customer. Sly is a Montegrappa kinda guy.

 

I think maybe Lyndon B. Johnson was the last US President to sign a bill with a fountain pen. He used Parker 45s and Esterbrook Safari's.

 

I do know that George W. Bush also used a Cross Townsend rollerball as his official bill signing pen. They were navy blue with gold plated trim. Barack Obama's Townsends are black with chrome plated trim.

[RockFL]

Not a historically famous person, but the actor Max Greenfield (he plays 'Schmidt' on the FOX series New Girl) is featured in this month's Newsweek magazine recommending gifts for guys. The article is also available online.

 

One of the gifts is a Visconti fountain pen. Another younger person who is interested in fine writing instruments.

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/galleries/2012/09/23/want-max-greenfield-s-gifts-for-guys.html#c9c05922-56a4-4388-be70-05a776ff3547

[Saintpaulia]

On one post of the previous thread cited (above-very far above) I read this:

"In fact there seems to be a fair amount of information on which pen was used by one or another famous writer. We have some reason to believe Patrick O'Brian used a Parker 21, and I suspect that this was not a Super 21. At the time he would have bought that pen, he and his wife were quite poor, and it makes sense that he would have bought a 21 rather than one of the more expensive Parkers".

 

Does anyone have any idea at all as to the source for this claim? O'Brian is my favorite author and so anything about him that I did not know is golden.