What pen is your Holy Grail?

[PAKMAN]

Pelikan M800 Blue Ocean for me!

[Richard F]

Tibaldi Bononia:

 

[Kelly G]

My Grail pens are those not yet in my possession and I have two in mind.

 

One is the Pelikan M900 Toledo. I should have found a way to buy that one a dozen years ago when it was within better reach.

 

The second is in process. A custom Hakumin Urushi Kobo by Ernest Shin and Brian Gray. The pen is based on an extended Mina with Shiro-tamenuri and maki-e elements from my ideas and Ernest's designs. My only problem is staying patient with the process - we are a couple of months in and likely many more to go; I try to not think about it too much!

[FOUR X FOUR]

I don't lust after ANY pens. I buy what I like within my means.

 

David

You probably don't season your food

[FOUR X FOUR]

This is mine. The S.T. Dupont Versailles. I know it is not most peoples' choice because it is gaudy but I think it is unusual and beautiful.

 

ETA: As usual I don't own the photo, copyright noted in pic.

This is the type of pen that others don't like like until they hold it

[uemuraw]

I'm looking for the Binderized 51 that legend holds DaVinci used to sketch the contraptions in his ink recipe notebooks. They were highly prized, and smuggled to Meissens, where monks transcribed them from DaVinci's left-to-right code writing to ordinary Western right-to-left writing with Pelikan Souverän Toledos. Apparently, when written backwards, they discovered DaVinci had written "I am the Walrus. Coo-coo kachoo" over and over again.

 

In the real world, I think it would be neat to have a Pelikan 100 that I've heard Albert Einstein used to tote around. I think it's cool (don't know if it's true) that Einstein's first published paper was about capillary action. Neat.

[Goudy]

In the real world, I think it would be neat to have a Pelikan 100 that I've heard Albert Einstein used to tote around.

 

I'd rather have his Waterman taper cap, currently in the Boerhaave Museum in Leiden.

[RyanM14]

I have two Grail pens.

 

The minute I laid eyes on it, at the very beginning of my fountain pen journey, I was lovestruck. The Waterman Carene Amber lacquer. I'm hopeful that I will eventually get one in the sub £100 range, though it will signify the "next level" milestone in pen acquisition, so prices for subsequent Grail pens will no doubt increase.

 

My other Grail pen is more of a conventional, "I'd like to own that, one day." pen. A blue Pelikan M600 would be the natural progression from the Carene. A pen with great heritage which also looks good and is, most importantly, functional.

 

No doubt once I've obtained these two pens, the price ceiling will have been broken and the "must have" status of the Carene and the M600 will be replaced with something else. Fountain pens wouldn't be fun were this not the case!

[uemuraw]

 

I'd rather have his Waterman taper cap, currently in the Boerhaave Museum in Leiden.

That would be cool. I'd have to keep it to use at the office. Looks a little long to tote around.

[Sandy Fry]

You probably don't season your food

Actually, I do but with pepper and not salt.

 

Still, I dont lust after any pen. It's a tool to be used. I don't lust after wrenches or hammers either.

 

David

[Kilroy]

Technically the grail is such that in the course of seeking it, you learn to embody the principles that it epitomizes.

 

To join the spirit of philosophical reflection spawned in this thread: Contrary to what was stated much earlier in this thread, a pure heart is not devoid of desire but full of desire for what is most excellent. You can understand quite a lot about a heart by what, or whom, it loves. And we always love something.

 

What does your grail pen say about you?

As for myself, such self reflection is a bit scary this time of the morning: I simply adore my Lamy 2000 in Fine.

[Michigan]

If I ever buy that first skyscraper, I will sign the papers with a platinum Montblanc 146 broadly-nibbed in 14K. I'd also need a complementary Breguet Tradition 7057 wristwatch and Faberge cigar tube.

 

More realistically, I love the hand engraved silver and gold inlaid Montegrappas and see a gold OMAS or really old 14K Montblanc in my future.

 

I am surprised how many grail pens on this thread are so firmly realistic. Is it really a grail pen without great luck, skill, or skulduggery being needed to obtain it?

 

To everyone who could easily afford their grail pen by eating Ramen noodles every meal for a year, what would you write with if you blackmailed a televangelist with photos of him smoking crack or found the proceeds of an armored car heist?

[pajaro]

Parker 51 with a broad factory stub.

[uemuraw]

In Alabama? A Bic from the prison commissary. Televangelist wins everytime.

 

I just saw a pen at Harrod's that was a rollerball with a nib facade. My new grail pen - first we'll build a wooden badger ...

[Highbinder]

A Danitrio Densho with a soft broad stub nib ...and a Nakaya decapod twist with a SF nib. One day...

[EricTheRed]

I wanted to revive a great thread and add my Grail Pen... Its a red Platinum Izumo Tamenuri with a M-F nib.

[Raif79]

A minty Montblanc 139! One day...maybe. More realistically is the Montblanc Afred Hitchcock.

[drjmb]

Waterman 94 with a flexible nib. And next Christmas, I'd like a bike, Santa!

[jar]

Waterman 94 with a flexible nib. And next Christmas, I'd like a bike, Santa!

I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!

[inkstainedruth]

I'm looking for the Binderized 51 that legend holds DaVinci used to sketch the contraptions in his ink recipe notebooks. They were highly prized, and smuggled to Meissens, where monks transcribed them from DaVinci's left-to-right code writing to ordinary Western right-to-left writing with Pelikan Souverän Toledos. Apparently, when written backwards, they discovered DaVinci had written "I am the Walrus. Coo-coo kachoo" over and over again.

 

How is it that I never posted to this thread before (or even remember reading it before)?

Oddly enough, if I had read this 3 years ago I would have said a Plum 51. I have one now. It's probably my favorite pen. Not minty minty, and a Demi size, but that's okay. I got it for a reasonably good price, it's got I think an M nib on it, and it's a great writer.

If people read my posts last March about my trials and tribulations with the USPS, they probably would presume it was an Emerald Pearl Vac -- because *every* time I think I've got one in my sights something happens -- most recently I was trying to decide between three slightly different ones at the Triangle Pen Show, and just couldn't. And so I walked away to clear my head (and hope someone would make my decision easier by buying at least one of them ). Only, instead, at a table literally back to back with the first one I found a Green Shadow Wave Vac Junior Speedline filler.... http://www.4smileys.com/smileys/thinking-smileys/think_smiley_24.gif

But truthfully, my grail pen is one I will likely never be able to afford unless I win the lottery, or write a best seller or or something. I've wanted one ever since someone (Pakman, I think) posted a picture of one several years ago. It's a Yard-o-Led Viceroy Victorian Standard (I suspect a Grand would be too large and heavy for me). Yes, there are beautiful and more expensive pens out there -- some of the maki-e pens I've seen are simply breathtaking. But I don't dare get one even if I could afford them. But the Viceroy Victorians are just simply exquisite.

Ironically, I don't actually the like the look of most of the Y-o-L lineup.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth