[Suggestion] Small Fountain Pens To Buy?

[Drone]

Allow me to recommend the Pilot Lucina. This is a well made relatively low price pen in black, orange/red, yellow and black with gold-tone furniture and a very nice Pilot gold plated steel fine nib.

 

The Lucina is a small pen that posts securely and has a screw on cap.

 

The Lucina is 130mm capped, 119mm uncapped, and 147mm posted. See the pictures below.

 

If you are concerned about the quality of the script "Lucina" printed on the cap band, don't be. It is done very well. The cap band is in-fact encased in a sort of clear bubble of material that adds not only protection to the cap band, but a tactile and visual sense of depth.

 

My yellow (really a Mandarin Yellow color) Lucina cost $46 USD plus around ten USD EMS express shipping with tracking from engeika_dot_com in Japan.

 

The Pilot Lucina is HIGHLY over-priced outside of Japan (I'm talking like double the Japanese price in some cases). So buy your Lucina from a Japanese dealer. Be patient, the Lucina is not a hugely common pen, even in Japan, so it may take a few days or a week to ship. Get an Email from Taizo-San at Engeika with the expected ship date. Mine shipped in around five working days.

 

For a little less than $5 USD I also purchased a Pilot CON50 piston converter to replace the CON20 squeeze converter that comes in the box with the Lucina. The CON50 replacement converter is a must with this pen IMO.

 

The Lucina seems to be available only in fine lately. The nib is a stiff Japanese fine which writes thinner than the typical fine Western nib. My fine nib was quite smooth even before I polished it further. The nib is a pleasure to use, especially with quality ink and papers. But I still use it to do daily crosswords on newsprint with no problems whatsoever.

 

While you are at it, pick up a 60ml bottle of Pilot Blue ink from Engeika for around $10 USD. Pilot/Namiki Blue is my work-horse ink and marries very well with the Pilot Lucina. This is Pilot Blue, not Blue-Black, or Black. There is a difference; I find Pilot Blue to be more lubricated and it (noticeably) includes phenol as a biocide/biostatic to protect the ink in the bottle over time.

 

Here are some pics of the yellow Lucina I scraped from somewhere on the Web awhile back. As I mentioned previously, this pen comes in other colors, including classic black.:

 

 

 

 

Edited January 5, 2015 by Drone

[sombrueil]

Vintage Esterbrook SJ. Small, solid, beautiful celluloid, a range of colors, you can change out the nibs without tools. You can find them under $50 quite easily. One of the best workhorse vintage pens.

[Cob]

Well if you are prepared to consider an old pen, surely a Waterman's Lady Patricia would be just the thing; they were made both as standard lever fillers and also as Ink-Vue models. Usually you will find that the have lovey nibs. My Ink-Vue is Canadian but has a glorious fine flexible US-made nib:

 

The Lady P measures just 11cm (4 3/8") capped but is entirely practical as a daily writer.

 

Cob

Edited January 5, 2015 by Cob

[Amberjack]

@Drone - wow, nice on the Lucina. Looks like a great option if you want a Mandarin Yellow Duofold copy. I may have to pick one of those up.

 

To the list I'll add a +1 for the TWSBI mini - love mine and it's about as small as a pen can get and still balance properly (when posted).

You might also look at vintage Parker 'vest pocket' pens if you're really going for small.

 

Small and on a budget, go with the TWSBI and although I don't own one, many do recommend the Kawecos.

 

Good luck!

 

Jack

[perth]

Perhaps try a vintage Lady Duofold or a ringtop pen. I have a Conklin 25P and it's delightfully cute.

Edited January 5, 2015 by perth

[brunico]

Pilot Pluminix. Inexpensive, italic, interesting shape...

 

(Too small for a standard converter, though...)

Edited January 5, 2015 by brunico

[lisadan]

+1 for Parker 17. Another option is Parker Esprit. A cheap telescopic pen (takes Parker mini cartridges). Not sure if it come with fine nib. The one I have and the ones seen on eBay were all medium.

[WetNoodle]

I received a Stipula Bon Voyage for Christmas this year with a .9 stub nib. Eyedropper. Pretty sweet little pen:

 

[gweimer1]

Well if you are prepared to consider an old pen, surely a Waterman's Lady Patricia would be just the thing; they were made both as standard lever fillers and also as Ink-Vue models. Usually you will find that the have lovey nibs. My Ink-Vue is Canadian but has a glorious fine flexible US-made nib:

Ink Vue.jpg

 

The Lady P measures just 11cm (4 3/8") capped but is entirely practical as a daily writer.

 

Cob

 

I should have thought of this one! Everything Cob says is true. I have one, and it's one of the best writing pens I have.

[william2001]

Although it is not in your price range of $200, you may want to consider few smaller Montblanc Meisterstuck pens (i.e. the W.A.Mozart pens).

-William S. Park

 

EDIT: Just adding some more.

Edited January 6, 2015 by william2001

[Cob]

I should have commented in connexion with your price range. $200 = £129 is much more than I would pay for any pen and I have about 60 and quite a lot of these are Mabie Todds and there are a few Onotos and Osmias as well. The most I have ever paid is £74 = $116 and that was for a Waterman's 94 mahogany with keyhole nib. Admittedly I recently sold it for about $330, but that was luck I think. There was a lever-filler Lady P up at a dealer recently for $140 in the famous Persian pattern. I have one of these and it is full of cracks to which the Persians are prone.

 

I might not be allowed to say this here (attention moderators!!) but I would sell my (rebuilt) Lady P for $140.

 

Sorry I cannot comment about current production; I know nothing about modern pens at all - zero - with the exception that they all seem rather expensive to me, compared with high-class vintage models (except of course for the exotica) which to my mind offer great value and very often wonderful nibs, which after all is what it is all about.

 

Best of luck

 

Cob

[gweimer1]

I must be lucky - I got my Lady Patricia, a lever fill Persian, in beautiful condition for $15.

[Sasha Royale]

Reform 1745

Rosetta Napoleon

vintage Parker Duofold Junior

[mike.jane]

Just wanted to say thank you to Drone. I had never seen the Lucina before and I really quite like it. Gorgeous photos too. Will put it on my long-term list.

 

For the OP, the Pilot Stargazer would also be a pen for you to consider. Here's a good video review by FPgeeks about it :

[eaturice]

Thanks guys,

alot of options to consider now.

 

I am drawn towards the stipula passaporto and bon voyage in Fine nibs, but they are a bit hard to find nowadays.

Anyone knows a place that has them in Fine?

 

mike.jane, I had a look at that pen not too long ago and it was on my "to buy" list too.

[Algester]

Thanks, I looked at the Pelikan pens and they are about 120mm capped.

I am going for something shorter still.

But I ll have the Pelikan on my list when I have the extra money.

Pelikan 300 it's touting as the world's most smallest piston filler pen but discontinued... very thin too probably as big as an Ohto Tache capped I saw it in person and its one tiny pen that cane be outdwarfed by the by a TWSBI mini but still bigger than a peter pan pen (its named because of it's size) Edited January 6, 2015 by Algester

[Cob]

I must be lucky - I got my Lady Patricia, a lever fill Persian, in beautiful condition for $15.

 

VERY lucky indeed I should say.

 

Cob

[Anabasis]

I bought my Sapporo from nibs.com. It is just slightly smaller than the Pelikan m200, so it isn't what I would consider a pocket pen, just on the smaller end of modern fountain pen designs. That being said, if it is small and not "pocket" that you are aiming at, the m200 may be up your alley; I own and enjoy both. The Pelikan runs some $60 cheaper than the Sailor, although the latter is a noticeably higher-quality package.

[Tanzanite]

Pilot Birdie. It is not made any more but perhaps they can be found.

[ProfMS]

The Fountain Pen Revolution Triveni Junior or Regular, Ebonite or Acrylic. http://www.fountainpenrevolution.com/fpr_collection.html

http://www.fountainpenrevolution.com/wpimages/wp5b0b0d04_01_06.jpg

http://www.fountainpenrevolution.com/wpimages/wp13bbce9f_01_06.jpg