What Was The First Fountain Pen You Owned And What Happened To It?

[hbquikcomjamesl]

My first fountain pen of any kind was a Sheaffer pointed-end cartridge-only model (blue barrel with chrome cap), and my second of any kind was the squared-off-end version, same barrel colors. (I've never owned a NoNonsense; this was the version just before that).

 

My first that would accept bulk ink was a profoundly unwanted Parker 25 (I wanted the much cheaper Osmiroid 75); after that, several Osmiroids, both the 75 and the more rugged 65, before I got my first Pelikan M200.

[The Blue Knight]

I got my hands on my Grandfather's pen when I was 12. Burgundy and gold. I killed it. I was trying to "fix" it somehow and I think pliers were involved. Years later I figured out that it must have been a PFM.

 

Herb

I'm so glad my dad never gave me his parker 61 when I was younger as I'm sure i would have recked it.

[jar]

Cranking up the Wayback machine to about 1958 or so, my first pen was a Sheaffer Cartridge Pen, clear with a fine nib. I'm sure it ended up in a wastebasket as did several of its successors, they all ended up cracked and leaking. Perhaps it earlier than 1958, I should have been old enough by then to have taken better care of them.

 

Anyway, they all looked exactly like this one, which I bought on eBay fairly recently while in a fit of nostalgia.

http://bulk-share.slickpic.com/album/share/E24TMOAzMc2T2M/3623129.0/org/p/Sheaffer_School_Pen%2C_Clear%2C_closed.jpg

 

When we packed up to move to the West Coast in 1961, none of those cheap fountain pens made the cut. I did use some Rapidograph stylographic pens while working from 1965 to about 1975; good old Higgins India ink that clogged if you looked cross-eyed at it. But it was an opaque black that copied perfectly even on the crummy copiers of the day. My work assignments changed about 1975 and I started doing most everything on keyboards and have ever since until I retired a year-and-a-half ago.

 

I didn't get interested in fountain pens again until 1995 and started helping out my Dad, who was very ill. I would sit at his desk and use his Sheaffer Targa to do his bookkeeping and pay his bills for him. It was a wonderful writer (still is) and I was hooked. He's gone now, as is Mom, but I think of him every time I pick up His Targa, or even one of the 140 plus other Targas that I now have.

 

 

 

That was the first pen I bought on my own and I still have it somewhere.

[DRWWE]

My first fountain pen was my Waterman LeMan 100, purchased while I was in medical school close to graduation. I always like nice pens and first purchased the ballpoint version of that pen and liked it so much I splurged and got the fountain pen. It was kind of a nice pen for a starter and I wound up buying some Lamy safaris to use daily. I lost the ballpoint on a business trip but still have the FP but the nib started skipping so much I stopped using it. After reading some threads on this forum I tried a few simple things with the nib (flossed the tines, gentle grinding) and now the nib writes the way it should.

[kuroba]

My first fountain pen was a random find at one of those "all for $1"-kind of stores, which mainly consisted of asian goods over here. It was a bright orange plastic pen with a clear cap and steel nib. I got it when I was 13 because one of our teachers had requested one to practice our penmanship in cursive.

 

I have no idea what happened to that pen :v It probably broke by the end of the year, or it got lost in the move we had after, but I clearly remember the day I found it, how I picked it up and bought if with my own allowance. Silly geeky I was/am.

[rhodialover]

Lamy Safari. I bought it one day thinking it would be neat to have one of these "Fountain Pens" that were different somehow from normal pens. I used it for a while, it was scratchy and flow was way to wet. I then promptly forgot about it for about a year, only to rediscover the magic that is a good FP in April of 2012.

[The Blue Knight]

Just ordered a replacement reflex, looking forward to the trip down memory lane and writing a review on it!

[Plume145]

Talk about a blast from the past. In the mid-90s, when I was 10 or so, I had a few pens marketed by Shaeffer as "calligraphy sets" (a couple of pens with interchangeable sections and stub nibs of varying broadnesses). They usually came with little booklets on how to do basic calligraphy. I begged my Dad to get me a set for Christmas after seeing them at an office supply store, because I wanted to learn to write like the people who made medieval manuscripts (turns out I didn't have the patience, but I liked the pens anyway).

 

They were cartridge pens, thick and very cylindrical in shape - no taper at all. You could stand them up on end on a desk. The package came with several colors of ink for the novice to play around with. I didn't know to flush them, so after using up a blue cartridge, I would pop in a green and watch the ink gradually change color from navy to teal to green as it worked its way through the feed. When I ran out of cartridges, there was no way to get more (pocket money was quite limited in my family), so I tried a few times to mix up food coloring and water and poured the stuff directly into the barrel. The fact that eyedropper-converted pens are some of my favorites to this day probably has something to do with that.

 

I recently found one, translucent green, in a box of junk from my mother's house. It's sitting in my desk, and I may try cleaning it out and see if it still works, for old time's sake.

OMG, that was exactly my experience with calligraphy sets at the same age! And around the same time too, hehe.

 

As for the pen, do you mean a Sheaffer No-Nonsense?

 

They're favorites of mine too - one I got from my dad was my go-to fountain pen for much of high school, and even now it's inked almost constantly :-)

[Kelly G]

My first was a Sheaffer Cartridge pen, I don't remember if it was red, blue, or green - likely blue - around 1963 or 64. I have no idea what happened to it - they were a passing fad in Jr. High. My next and perhaps properly my first was in the early 1990's, a MB 144, a gift from my wife. That pen served me well for a number of years and remains in the accumulation. I haven't written with it in years and for no reason other than I have many more pens that I like as much or more.

[pajaro]

Nice weather.

[dorothynotgale]

OMG, that was exactly my experience with calligraphy sets at the same age! And around the same time too, hehe.

 

As for the pen, do you mean a Sheaffer No-Nonsense?

 

They're favorites of mine too - one I got from my dad was my go-to fountain pen for much of high school, and even now it's inked almost constantly :-)

Yes! That's it exactly! My set had the old-style section. The pens were transparent plastic in green, brown, and smoke grey, with those distinctive stainless steel ball-ended clips. I loved those things, but my teachers hated them (we were only allowed pencils in class until middle school).

[DielsAlder]

magenta lamy al star with a fine nib. it was in my car. my brother used my car. the pen wasnt in my car.

[NewFPU]

My first was a Hero 91 (looks like the Jinhao 9009). I still have it, it is a workhorse!

 

 

Myste

[shuuemura]

My first fountain pen was a Pilot Knight in blue lacquer, gifted it to my mom who is presumably still using it from time to time with the Namiki cartridges I gave to her.

 

***Edit***

Just saw it in the family home, lying on a table inked. Picked it up and wrote a few lines with it, still writes as well as I remember it doing so.

[vanyieck]

My first fountain pen was a Waterman that I found in a market in Cuidad Acuña, Mexico. It's nib was defective, so it only worked with the gold nib turned upside down. I sent it to Waterman and they replace the nib for free! I still own that pen. It's well used, well worn, but most of all, well loved.

[sethk]

My first was a Parker Vector. What happened to it? No clue. I would for it to turn up in a box of my my high school junk that is hidden somewhere at my parents'.

[Plume145]

Yes! That's it exactly! My set had the old-style section. The pens were transparent plastic in green, brown, and smoke grey, with those distinctive stainless steel ball-ended clips. I loved those things, but my teachers hated them (we were only allowed pencils in class until middle school).

Wow, you had to use pencil until you were fourteen?! That sucks! At that age you're already doing so much writing that I can't imagine using nothing but pencil day in day out - it would drive you nuts staring at the same color all the time! Not to mention the average school pencil isn't dark enough to provide the contrast you need to comfortably re-read notes and schoolwork when prepping for tests etc. Were you at least allowed to use them for schoolwork done at home, like homework and book reports, or was it all pencil all the time?

 

But the no-nonsenses are just lurrvely One of my favorite pens is a no-nonsense, the old style with the non-rubberized grip. The design is a bit of a stroke of genius - looks way fancier than it costs, a nice vintage-y look, but without the blunt utilitarianism of the lamy safari.

[vagos]

My first pen was a Hero 616 that my roommate gave me; she picked up a couple on a trip to China. It was scratchy until I separated the tines with a razor blade (I know, I know...*wince* But it worked!) Inked it with a blue-black ink (Hero's, probably) and it was great. Lovely schoolwork writer.

 

Some time later it started...leaking around the cap? When writing it was just fine, but when opening the cap I'd get a ton of splatter around the nib and grip section and I thought it was leaking, but it never leaked a drop when I was actually writing. I can't remember if this was before or after I ran out of the original ink and switched to PR Sonic Blue. Nothing I did could fix it, I thought it was leaking, and I threw it away. At the time I didn't know enough to try other fixes with it, nor it wasn't practical of me to (I was a student at the time, ballpoint-like reliability and durability, as well as the ability to be carried horizontally without pitching a fit, was of paramount importance in my pens).

 

I was likely too hasty chucking it out. I still miss it some days.

[dorothynotgale]

Wow, you had to use pencil until you were fourteen?! That sucks! At that age you're already doing so much writing that I can't imagine using nothing but pencil day in day out - it would drive you nuts staring at the same color all the time! Not to mention the average school pencil isn't dark enough to provide the contrast you need to comfortably re-read notes and schoolwork when prepping for tests etc. Were you at least allowed to use them for schoolwork done at home, like homework and book reports, or was it all pencil all the time?

 

But the no-nonsenses are just lurrvely One of my favorite pens is a no-nonsense, the old style with the non-rubberized grip. The design is a bit of a stroke of genius - looks way fancier than it costs, a nice vintage-y look, but without the blunt utilitarianism of the lamy safari.

Well, our middle school started at 6th grade, so I was 12, but yeah. Pens were completely verboten, even on homework; I think the teachers were worried about kids drawing graffiti on desks and walls, so they limited us to pencils (#2 only) because graphite rubs/washes so easily. Yet crayons were a required supply! On the other hand (haha), they did do a wonderfully severe job of training us to properly hold writing instruments, so the switch to FPs was pretty simple for me.

 

I couldn't find my No-Nonsense while digging in my desk last night, and now I have to go on a closet expedition because of this thread!

[Plume145]

Well, our middle school started at 6th grade, so I was 12, but yeah. Pens were completely verboten, even on homework; I think the teachers were worried about kids drawing graffiti on desks and walls, so they limited us to pencils (#2 only) because graphite rubs/washes so easily. Yet crayons were a required supply! On the other hand (haha), they did do a wonderfully severe job of training us to properly hold writing instruments, so the switch to FPs was pretty simple for me.

 

I couldn't find my No-Nonsense while digging in my desk last night, and now I have to go on a closet expedition because of this thread!

That IS odd. I mean, crayons are a nightmare to remove from most surfaces, especially if applied liberally, whereas fountain pens are notoriously crummy to graffiti with - the ink never stays put on most school desk surfaces, it just beads!

 

but at least 12 is a completely different proposition compared to 14. It may only be two years, but at that age that's huge