How Do You Manage Your Collection?

[pajaro]

I manage my collection by suburban sprawl. Mischief mismanaged.

Edited November 5, 2014 by pajaro

[tringle]

This actually brings to mind a question that I had forgotten. I read somewhere (possibly on this site not sure) that if you have a vintage fountain pen with the cork seals in it leaving it sit dry will cause the seals to go bad. If this is true what's the best way to keep this from happening without leaving ink in the pen? Would a little bit of water be suitable? I ask because I have a number of old pens with cork seals. If it's not true never mind. lol

 

I keep my pens in a cupboard dedicated to all my fp materials. I keep the ones that are mine for collecting/using in one cloth roll and the ones I restore and sell separate from that.

Quantum - I have a few cork seal pens and I have heard several "beliefs" in this practice. Some do and some don't thats all I can remember.

 

 

Ah, now, ink... I have a desk drawer filled with bottles of ink, and a some limited editions on a bookshelf (boxed; out of direct sunlight). A few spares of favorite inks in a separate box.

 

 

I forgot about the ink! OMG - I have three ammo boxes filled with ink. Do you keep the original boxes? What do you do with the empty bottles? Ink rags, tissue paper, blotting paper, the madness of managing a collection continues.....

 

pmhudepo - The socks caught in the picture are always priceless...

[Parse Error]

Two pens on the go, three pens in the desk.

 

At my desk -- use Visconti Homo Sapiens until dry, then Pilot VP until dry, then Hero 100 until dry, then tap into portable pen case, then use pencils, then ball pens.

On the go -- use Lamy 2000 until dry, then use Lamy Safari until dry, then use pencils in case, then the pens.

 

I only fill pens first thing in the morning, so there may come times when all my pens run dry (if that happens often enough I buy a new pen).

The Lamy Safari is loaned out occasionally, and that and the Hero 100 are used for fine/math work or work on bad paper.

 

Typically my Visconti HS is filled once every two days, VP once every week, and Hero 100 once every month. The Lamy 2000 is filled once every week and the Safari is filled once every month. I haven't needed to refill any pencils because I almost never get around to using them.

[amk]

Lots of nice fabric or leather lined boxes (some delightful tea boxes from Liptons or Elephant or Dammann Freres, coffee and honey selection boxes, cigar boxes, humidors, and artists' boxes). I have a box each for dedicated mini-collections of Kaweco Sport Art and Merlin pens, a leather-lined box for my Edisons and Laban mentos, and various artist's painting boxes with elasticated holders for most of the rest of my collection. All the black hard rubber pens together, all the red mottled ebonite together. A cigar box for all the Waterman Kulturs and another for all my Sheaffer no-nonsense.

 

My most difficult task is remembering which pens are in working order and which still have to be restored!

[Consulting_Detective]

Lots of nice fabric or leather lined boxes (some delightful tea boxes from Liptons or Elephant or Dammann Freres, coffee and honey selection boxes, cigar boxes, humidors, and artists' boxes). I have a box each for dedicated mini-collections of Kaweco Sport Art and Merlin pens, a leather-lined box for my Edisons and Laban mentos, and various artist's painting boxes with elasticated holders for most of the rest of my collection. All the black hard rubber pens together, all the red mottled ebonite together. A cigar box for all the Waterman Kulturs and another for all my Sheaffer no-nonsense.

 

My most difficult task is remembering which pens are in working order and which still have to be restored!

Sounds very interesting, so pretty much anything fabric or leather lined boxes (with dividers ofcourse) would work well.. I like your idea, it creates a more special looking storage... Only if i could snag a nice old and cheap cigar box with wooden dividers and velvet lining.. hmm

[pmhudepo]

 

I forgot about the ink! OMG - I have three ammo boxes filled with ink. Do you keep the original boxes? What do you do with the empty bottles? Ink rags, tissue paper, blotting paper, the madness of managing a collection continues.....

 

pmhudepo - The socks caught in the picture are always priceless...

 

I was so busy holding my iPad steady and level that the socks were a happy coincidence.

 

I often keep the original boxes, especially for the limited edition inks because these are on display on a bookshelf. Out of direct sunlight, but I still don't want the ink to change colours over the years. I don't keep empty bottles, although when I next finishe a bottle, I might use it to store Lie de Thé ink, which is currently in a big plastic bottle and I'm not sure that will preserve the ink all that well. Other than that, I have no interest in keeping empty bottles and they are recycled along with the usual glass items from the kitchen.

 

One drawer above this one you find my spare notebooks and other items: blotting paper, a few envelopes, brass sheets, stapler, loupe. I think I still have one old-style Quo Vadis Habana in there (ruled, 6 x 9): the last of the few I managed to find a while ago and that I've been using as my journals. I should be good for another year or so before I need to switch.

 

One drawer below the ink drawer are miscellaneous small items: wax seal, sample vials, pen flush and lots of non-pen-related items.

 

The big stationary (A4-sized paper) is in the space between the drawers and the desk itself.

 

And, to complete the picture, the desk was made by my father, a little over 30 years ago. I've spent many hours reading, drawing, writing and doing homework at that desk!

Edited November 6, 2014 by pmhudepo

[amk]

Consulting Detective - if you like honey, jam, tea, coffee or cigars - ask for Christmas presents in nice boxes. Then you can reuse them! We always get at least one box of tea at Christmas and guess who gets her hands on it once the tea has all been used!

[pen2paper]

 

I was so busy holding my iPad steady and level that the socks were a happy coincidence.

 

which begs for the inquiry, do your other socks match your other "inks of the day", as your blue socks clearly evidence? : )

 

Consulting Detective, as your inquiry includes "keeping them in tip top shape", besides heat and light, another deterioration issue is keeping plastics in an airy environment. Plastics off gas, which must dissipate or the resulting moisture can contribute to metal corrosion. In some (esp. early plastics) the plasticizers can migrate, and fail, becoming crazed, gooey, distorted. So, keeping these in dry, airy, inert containers allows beautiful old celluloids, and others a long life. Also, elastic pen loops should be temporary carry storage only.

[highlander1307]

After reading the posts went to Ace Hardware and looked around. They had self adhesive felt, and I coverted a few smaller drawers in my desk hutch to pen drawers. Cut thin strips of felt and used as low profile dividers. Worked well in cigar boxes

[sirgilbert357]

I don't have enough of a collection to manage, but I'm already looking into making my own 6-pen leather pen roll and a desk pen block or something. For now they just reside in my work backpack in the pen slots that are built in...

[hbdk]

Hmm...lemme see...leather 12-pen case, zippered with 2 compartments containing the pens I use most and rotate often. One pen at each of my working desks (always the same pens). 2 pens permanently in my bag for work (always the same). The rest of the collection in cigar boxes with Ikea long ice cube trays. They do not present themselves very well in that manner, but they are well protected. Whenever I have a little money to spare, I think about buying a display box, but I usually end up with a new fountain pen instead...

 

The pens in the cigar boxes get exercise every now and then - if I haven't used them for a long time, the are used as gifts or sold - except for those that is part of my collection (not part of my hoarding which is another matter); those are mainly vintage Wearevers and Parker Duofold clones.

[Consulting_Detective]

which begs for the inquiry, do your other socks match your other "inks of the day", as your blue socks clearly evidence? : )

 

Consulting Detective, as your inquiry includes "keeping them in tip top shape", besides heat and light, another deterioration issue is keeping plastics in an airy environment. Plastics off gas, which must dissipate or the resulting moisture can contribute to metal corrosion. In some (esp. early plastics) the plasticizers can migrate, and fail, becoming crazed, gooey, distorted. So, keeping these in dry, airy, inert containers allows beautiful old celluloids, and others a long life. Also, elastic pen loops should be temporary carry storage only.

On the subject of heat and light, My room has two windows that directly face my driveway and the sun loves to flood my room with natural light, which is great, but it heats my room and especially my work desk.. So I was wondering if keeping my ink and pens in their original box will protect them enough? Or should I move my desk to a more suitable, and not directly infront of a window?

[Vgimlet]

I've asked for a 36 pen case for Christmas, and that should keep all the pens that I'm using neater than just laying on my desk as they are at the moment. Sorted by ink color.

 

All the other pens that aren't in use are in my set of drawers I got at the hardware store. It has my unused pens, cartridges I get that I won't use, nibs I'm not using and pen-cleaning and tuning supplies.

 

Also other stuff.

[TREBFPN]

My favorite - http://www.pennstateind.com/store/PKGDISP4.html

 

 

And it is solid wood and glass, none of that compressed wood junk. The website has these on special and with their coupon the shipping is free! The pen seperators are removable and adjustable so you can hold other items in the wood trays besides just a collection of 36 pens. There is also a hidden back part where you can hide about 5-7 ink bottles. It is one of those things worth saving up for or simply owning.

Edited November 7, 2014 by TREBFPN

[georges zaslavsky]

most of my pens have an individual pen pouch

[TREBFPN]

I also forgot to mention that leaning the fountain nib upward is always a good idea given if there is ink inside them. I suppose there is a limit to how long we can keep ink inside the average fountin pen but I would not have any guess to the TWSBI VAC 700 or the Pilot 823. Those might be left alone for a decade? I am sure someone else knows the true answer to this. Just one small note and that is be careful where you buy the case from because the material might harm your pens. I purchased a leather type case that was made in China and there may have been a kind of chemical in that thing. The plastic/acrylic material of my Cross pen simply shattered when I removed it from the case. I never saw anything like it. I have read stories that China sometimes places the wrong chemicals into certain materials to preserve them. I am sure it is not a practice of all of China but I had some poor luck with their leather type binders. The colors in the cloth sometimes will bleach or bleed into the acrylic or lacquer material your pens are made of. To get a rough idea of these manufacturer errors you can read reviews about the item in online stores like Amazon.com. There was a news article about the disposable chopsticks from China - they soaked them in formaldehyde. The US authority took some of those chopsticks and moved them through a fishtank and minutes later the goldfish were floating on top of the water. The safest bet would be to store fountain pen in an acid free container. Leather binders over time seem to have the highest chance of harming pens because of the pressure placed on them over time. Glass jars are always useful as long as you hide any rubber based fountain pen from the sunlight.

[Lou Erickson]

I also forgot to mention that leaning the fountain nib upward is always a good idea given if there is ink inside them. I suppose there is a limit to how long we can keep ink inside the average fountin pen but I would not have any guess to the TWSBI VAC 700 or the Pilot 823. Those might be left alone for a decade? I am sure someone else knows the true answer to this. Just one small note and that is be careful where you buy the case from because the material might harm your pens. I purchased a leather type case that was made in China and there may have been a kind of chemical in that thing. The plastic/acrylic material of my Cross pen simply shattered when I removed it from the case. I never saw anything like it. I have read stories that China sometimes places the wrong chemicals into certain materials to preserve them. I am sure it is not a practice of all of China but I had some poor luck with their leather type binders. The colors in the cloth sometimes will bleach or bleed into the acrylic or lacquer material your pens are made of. To get a rough idea of these manufacturer errors you can read reviews about the item in online stores like Amazon.com. There was a news article about the disposable chopsticks from China - they soaked them in formaldehyde. The US authority took some of those chopsticks and moved them through a fishtank and minutes later the goldfish were floating on top of the water. The safest bet would be to store fountain pen in an acid free container. Leather binders over time seem to have the highest chance of harming pens because of the pressure placed on them over time. Glass jars are always useful as long as you hide any rubber based fountain pen from the sunlight.

Another member here not long ago reported that a pen case discolored his entire collection of limited edition Safaris. It was heartbreaking to read. Do be careful, and test with junk first if you do get something of uncertain origin.