One Red Fountain Pen

[JonB55198]

Hi FPN!

 

I wanted to share with you an experiment I am doing. I started with a lowly Red Celluloid Wing Sung 322 in my possession. I'm going to make a continuous chain of 'up trades' until I get a Green Pelikan M1000, which is my grail pen. That means, I'm going to trade people for a pen that is slightly better each time. It could be NOS, Vintage, Used, New, or whatever.

 

I feel this is an entertaining way of possibly obtaining the M1000 that we can all enjoy for a few reasons:

• 
   
  
• I'm curious to see how many trades it takes to get to the M1000.
  
• If I make a trade with someone, I will write up a review of whatever pen I get and post it in the "Fountain Pen Reviews" message board here on FPN.
  
• I will gain exposure to pens I have never considered before.
   
  

 

The trades will be in the "Wanted to Trade" message board in the Classified Section here on FPN. The first one has already taken place:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/188089-wtt-one-red-wing-sung-322-celluloid/page__p__1899125__fromsearch__1#entry1899125

 

I will use this post right here to aggregate the links to all of the reviews and the trades so that we can all view them in chronological order and discuss them. I hope this is an interesting journey for us all.

 

-Jonathan

[greencobra]

Go for it, good luck.

[JonB55198]

Thanks Green Cobra...

[Sleepy]

Just make sure you don't end up paying more in postage than an m1000 is worth!

[JonB55198]

That's a good point sleepy. In the beginning the relative low value of the pens makes it worthwhile to use USPS first class. At some point, I'll have to start using insured shipping methods. That might get expensive. But, if shipping is an average of ~$5 each time, and I think it will take 11 trades to get to the M1000, I might have spent $55 on shipping.

 

But, I will have had the chance to try all these new pens that i've never tried.

[Albertine]

Excellent idea.

[JonB55198]

Thanks Albertine. I hope we all have a little bit of fun with this idea.

[bgray]

Sounds cool!

[tonybelding]

I'm glad you started this thread to track your progress; I'll be watching it.

 

This also called my attention to the existence of our trade forum here on FPN. I've always been sort of vaguely aware that there was one, but I never looked into it. I've got quite a few pens here that are pretty good, nothing really wrong with them, but for one reason or another they just never "clicked" for me. I always had an idea that I'd put them on eBay or the For Sale forum eventually. . . But I never got around to it. Because you know, selling pens is boring, and I'm not hurting for the relatively small amount of money they'd bring.

 

Trading, on the other hand. . . That sounds like fun, now that I've been reminded we do, in fact, have a place for that.

[redisburning]

I dont think it's possible.

 

People do not like trading down or taking multiple pens. The reason we hear about these trading from a cell phone to a porsche is that they are trading across item types. A person who has a pocket knife may trade you a knife that is worth considerably more than your pen, and they may even know the value, but when it's a pen I dont think it's very easy to move up, especially 1:1 trading.

[mholve]

I think it's worth doing... Just to see if it can be done, and it's an interesting challenge - with the benefits you mention.

 

I agree that it may be difficult and end up taking more thn 11 trades... But see, that's the challenge right there.

[JonB55198]

I dont think it's possible...People do not like trading down or taking multiple pens. The reason we hear about these trading from a cell phone to a porsche is that they are trading across item types.

 

This a good point. But, there are other factors to consider. There are many people here who have hundreds of pens. Sometimes, they get sick of one, and just want to try a new pen they have not yet had the chance to experience. Another factor is that sometimes people just like to get behind a cause and be part of something. There is a whole sense of community about this project that makes it fun.

 

-Jonathan

[opitzs]

I think it is possible, but not in 12 trades. Forget the "sense of community", or the "cause" those are empty phrases, that mean nothing in themselves, it is what we Germans call Geschwafel, meaningless chatter.

 

If however someone looks for a pen, that is nowhere to be found at the moment and this person wants it now and you are trading for it, then there is a chance. Also, especially for pens that are vintage, everyone has a slightly different evaluation. So you might think you are trading up, while your trading partner thinks you are trading down and both are right.

 

But the differences should be small.

 

And never forget: You might encounter a pen on the way, that is superior in all aspects, what will you do then?

 

I wish you the best of luck and am curious to see, if you can reach your Pelikan 1000.

[Albertine]

Well the trade the OP makes reference to - the One Red Paper Clip trade - didn't he go from a paper clip to a house in 14 trades? I figure if you can go from office supply to real estate in 14, you should be able to go from cheap Chinese pen to Pelikan 1000 in as many or fewer

[Albertine]

NB: the guy a few posts above makes a good point with trading across item types. I think you could create similar types of value with, for example, particularly rare and desirable nib types.

 

OP: do you intend to fiddle with the nibs at all, or the condition? Will you polish or repair or regrind?

Edited March 11, 2011 by Albertine

[davidw]

good luck. but the market may be harder starting with only a chinese pen though.

[impossiblebird]

Well the trade the OP makes reference to - the One Red Paper Clip trade - didn't he go from a paper clip to a house in 14 trades? I figure if you can go from office supply to real estate in 14, you should be able to go from cheap Chinese pen to Pelikan 1000 in as many or fewer

I wouldn't hold my breath. The first 12 trades only got Kyle MacDonald up to a snowglobe. The last two trades depended on the participation of swappers with some pretty specific publicity requirements:

 

#13: a Hollywood director, Corbin Bernsen, who "collects snowglobes, and wanted this one so much that he offered a paid, credited, speaking role in his next film Donna on Demand" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5167388.stm . Its role in OneRedPaperclip is possibly the best publicity his film's received.

 

#14: the residents of a small town (pop.1,140) called Kipling, Saskatchewan http://www.townofkipling.ca/siteengine/activepage.asp , who decided one of them should play the part, in exchange for "one serviced residential lot conveniently located near our commercial district", plus perks: http://educationaltechnology.ca/couros/548

 

I don't know how the house was paid for; the mayor's inital proposals were that the film role should be allocated by raffle, or by audition, with participants making donations for the right to enter; they went for auditions in the end, and I believe the lucky winner got to play a stalker in a monkey mask. Proceeds from the auditioners' contributions were to be split between Kipling & District Parks & Recreation and a charity of Kyle's choice.

 

Kipling now holds the Guinness world record for the largest paperclip, as of January 25, 2008 anyway, and an annual Red Paperclip Festival. All in all, the house has probably paid for itself by now.

 

I am curious, though, to see how you get on; also, to see whether you find something along the way that you prefer to the Pel1000.

Edited March 11, 2011 by impossiblebird

[JonB55198]

OP: do you intend to fiddle with the nibs at all, or the condition? Will you polish or repair or regrind?

 

I hadn't thought about that. My experience with repairs and restoration is small. However, i do own a loupe and can try simple things like aligning the tines or smoothing the nib. But, I wouldn't try anything major as I'd be afraid to destroy the pen.

[tonybelding]

I'm guardedly optimistic. This is FPN, it's a hobby community, it's not an episode of The Price is Right. If all of us were concerned only about money, money, money, then we presumably wouldn't be buying so many pens in the first place. They're a lousy investment, you know.

 

I do have some thoughts that might be helpful. . .

 

The more unusual the pen, the more leeway you should have in potentially trading up. Modern, current production pens are the worst, because brand new ones are available online from retailers, and you have to compete against that. But if you have something to trade that doesn't pop up for sale every day, then it's less of a dollar calculation and more a matter of simply finding somebody who wants it.

 

The flip side is that it may take longer to find somebody who is looking for that oddball pen most people haven't heard of. That's where the reviews should be really helpful.

[ajpal87]

Good luck on your pen journey. I think that it is doable, but may take some time and quite a few trades. And just to echo what tonybelding said, definitely focus on trying to trade for unique, older pen and nib combos which are not as easily obtainable. Good luck and I will be keeping a tab to see how well it goes.