Your Very First Pen?

[lisadan]

My first FP was a Parker 45 Olive Green with F or XF nib which I received for my 13th birthday, almost 40 years ago. Came as a set of FP and BP. I still have both and use them occasionally.

[ISW_Kaputnik]

First fountain pen, a Parker IM.

First reasonably good fountain pen would probably have been my Lamy AL-Star.

First pen of any kind, some cheap ballpoint in the 1960s, no doubt.

Edited April 22, 2014 by ISW_Kaputnik

[Opooh]

In the early sixties a Le Tigre pistonfiller, which was a Conway Stewart made for the Benelux.

[Zinonas]

A cheap black stypen cartridge pen. I still remember how I loved the smooth writing experience it gave, comparing it with the way my bic ballpoints wrote. I think I got it in 1986. Until then I didn't even know fountain pens existed. I managed to destroy it jamming a cartridge in the cap some years (and many pages) later. I managed to purchase the exact same model three days ago!

[dgturner]

My first fountain pen was Waterman Phileas purchased sometime in the early 2000's. It has been a trip down the slippery slope ever since.

[DaveBj]

Another Schaeffer school pen here, way back when. Then decades without until I got the Sailor 21 (still in rotation) while I was stationed in Japan in the mid-'70s.

[Shel]

Like others probably a Sheaffer school pen; followed many years later with a Waterman Hemisphere FP/MP set from my sister when I graduated either under grad or law school, with my name on it (still have the pen, and use it); and another long hiatus, followed by a Rotring 600, after a friend showed me his - similar to a crack dealer. Up to about 25 now, maybe more, almost all in rotation - won't buy it just to look at it.

Shel

[fledermaus89]

The first I bought was a Jotter; I also had Phileas and some other random cheap stuff before I got a Parker Latitude. But it's the Pelikan M200 that I consider the pen that initiated the long-lasting enthusiasm in fountain pens; otherwise it would have gone down as one of my countless short-lived hobbies.

[abritdownunder]

The very first fountain pen I owned was way back when I was 11. I had just started secondary school and my English master told me that my writing was terrible. He suggested that I use a fountain pen. I went out and bought a Parker Jotter from WH Smiths. It was a cartridge pen but I soon got a converter and bottle of black Parker ink. I used that pen throughout my secondary school life, and became very fond of that little pen. Even today I have a Jotter in my collection (sadly not the same one) and still have a soft spot for it.

 

For many years after leaving school, through University and then on to work, I forgot all about fountain pens. It's only been in the last year or two that I've given any thought to fountain pens and it was only January of this year that I came back to the fold. In January I bought a Montblanc 149 and from that moment I was [doomed] hooked!

[kulindi]

I think the first pen that I owned (bought for me by my parents) was a Sheaffer circa 1959. I had previously used dip pens provided by the school. Loved that Sheaffer, unfortunately it got broken in my inside school blazer pocket whilst I was climbing a fence...

[Runnin_Ute]

LIke a few others I had a Sheaffer as a kid. But that only lasted a few days before my parents confiscated and tossed it because of the mess it made. I was probably in the 8-12 age range. Fast forward roughly 30 years to the late 1990's. I was getting the Levenger catalog in the mail and saw the Lamy Al Star - bought it still have it 15+ years later. My second was a Waterman Phileas a year or so later. Wonderful pen, but I won't pay what they are now going for. I lost mine in January. I don't have that one which had a very nice fine nib, but right after I arrived here at FPN I found one like new in the Classifieds with a medium for under $50. My original had better nib, but I am not complaining......

[Beckwith]

The first fountain pen I ever had was a Pelikan P56 Future, which my father bought for me. We got it in Paris when my family and I were on vacation there. I was about ten. I enjoyed it a lot, but it wasn't until many years later that I really got into fountain pens.

 

I picked up the P56 over the summer, and it's actually a pretty good writer given that it has a steel nib. I just wish it didn't have those holes in the side so I could convert it to an eye dropper.

[Edwaroth]

My first fp was a Sheaffer school pen...1959. My first modern fp was a Nemosine Singularity I bought a year and a half back. From there I moved right into a Pelikan Souveran M400. I still use the Nemosine daily.

[PolishSoldier]

Well seems like Sheaffer school pen was, maybe still is, very popular in US schools

[dooooooor]

Mine was a Pilot Petit1, got into FPs fairly recently. I actually found it today and used it for a bit. Really smooth with a nice Japanese F/Western EF line, and really cheap too.

Edited April 23, 2014 by dooooooor

[Oggie]

The first I used was my father's Parker 51. Since I was young and left-handed, it wasn't a good experience. The first I bought with my money was an orange Lamy Safari.

[JulesSilvan]

My first decent pen was a Parker Vector rollerball with flags all over the barrel. That was when I was still in primary school and the Vector was THE pen that kids aspired to have, it was expensive to us and pretty much the bee's knees.

 

My first fountain pen came a few years ago - an orange Pelikano with a fine nib which wrote more like a medium/broad. Still have it but it doesn't get used.

[Sridhar]

my first pen when I was 10 or 11 I think was a Camllin (fairly popular brand in India). But I think I went through about 5 to 6 pens a year till I was 15, essentially on account of my carelessness and misuse. The pen brands used by me were Camlin, Swan, Titus, and Hero.

[a.zy.lee]

My first fountain pen was a Tesco brand fountain pen. It was absolutely horrible. That was my first time using a fountain pen so I thought all fountain pens were horrible. Few years later, I got a Lamy Safari, which was my first not-horrible fountain pen

[wesley.mijngheer]

My first one was a Parker Vector when I was about 7. In school we had to learn to write with fountain pens before we were allowed to switch to ballpoints.
About 3 years ago I bought a new Vector on a whim after a 14 year FP hiatus. Then, a year later I got myself a Faber Castell Ambition and that's when the collecting really started.

In the early sixties a Le Tigre pistonfiller, which was a Conway Stewart made for the Benelux.

I love my Le Tigre pistonfiller, got a NOS 486 a couple of months ago that I use as good as daily. ( and to think I got it just to have a Le Tigre to put in my Le Tigre pen holder )