The Allure Of Vintage...

[John54green]

I have been reading and enjoying everyone's words on this thread since it started. After some thought and being influenced by others words I would say there are multiple factors that brought me to vintage pens. The first and earliest is the pen in my avatar, a Waterman 412 sleeve-filler that was my Grandfather's graduation gift. My Mother showed it to me when I was quite young, and I was fascinated by it. Next was a gift from an "Uncle", a very nice Sheaffer with a gold nib. First nice writer I owned and used, time and hard knocks destroyed it and I didn't touch another fountain pen for thirty years. Then my wife and I had to clear out her Aunt's house and I found a very early Sheaffer flat top 5-30 that she had used for many years. It was my first re-sac and still writes superbly. I used it at work, I'm a teacher, and my high school students were fascinated. I be gan looking for, and buying vintage pens, taking some to school and talking about them to students. Who did it first belong to? What did they write? What stories could it tell? My imagination and enjoyment of them has been unwavering for 15 years now, and a thousand pens or more have passed through my hands. Yet I'm still thrilled with each acquisition, even when I send it on to the next user. Typical teacher, too long-winded.

[Mark Bee]

Oh dear. I am very afraid of what getting into vintage pens might mean. At first I thought I'd only want new pens, but as I get deeper into the FP world, I'm increasingly fascinated by the variety of vintage pens. I thought I might try and find a Parker 51 to start, but really, that's asking for trouble, isn't it?

[kernando]

Why not? The biggest difference between new pens and old ones is the age. The old pens didn't used to be old. They started out new. Just wait, and your new pens will be old soon enough.

[OcalaFlGuy]

You may see some of the allure of a vintage pen here.

 

http://www.headlinepolitics.com/70-years-later-a-world-war-ii-vet-cries-after-given-this-from-a-thrift-store-video/

 

Go full screen and stop on the letter.

 

What nice FP writing with some wonderful blue ink.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[JotterAddict62]

Oh dear. I am very afraid of what getting into vintage pens might mean. At first I thought I'd only want new pens, but as I get deeper into the FP world, I'm increasingly fascinated by the variety of vintage pens. I thought I might try and find a Parker 51 to start, but really, that's asking for trouble, isn't it?

Yes, you are asking for trouble if you buy your first P51.

You will not be able to help yourself and will want more & more & more P51's.

[Bo Bo Olson]

After you buy your first P-51.....you don't need to buy any more....Snorkel, P-75, old Pelikans, Old Waterman....Eversharp. Old Swans, Old Geha's, old MB's and so one.

 

Just chase the nib.

[Jamesbeat]

To me, vintage pens have an 'honesty' about them that modern ones don't.

 

Before the advent of the ball-point, everybody used fountain pens.

They were built to be used by regular folk, and underwent an evolution as the pen manufacturers learned how to make a better pen.

 

That all climaxed with the Parker "51", and then the ball-point came along and ruined everything

 

The fountain pen went from being an exciting, evolving, living thing to a 'luxury' product.

 

I absolutely loathe products that are designed to be collectible, and artificially made 'rare' by the use of the Limited Edition.

To me, there is no difference between collecting modern limited edition fountain pens and collecting plates with pictures of dogs on them, or beanie babies.

 

Vintage pens are collectible because, although the manufacturers sold as many of them as possible, they were a workaday item that got lost and damaged.

 

Finding an old pen is really something special. Finding a modern 'collectible' pen that is sitting in its original package uninked, just like every single one of its 'rare' brethren, is not.

 

On a mostly related note, I will never buy a Montblanc pen, simply because of their use of the the term 'precious resin'.

 

Ok, rant over. I'm going to go catalog my Eternal Bow napkin collection.

 

Edit:

I just realized that I came across as a little unfair to modern pens.

They make great everyday users, I just find them a little soulless.

I can't understand why people collect them.

Edited March 12, 2015 by Jamesbeat

[Lou Erickson]

Oh dear. I am very afraid of what getting into vintage pens might mean. At first I thought I'd only want new pens, but as I get deeper into the FP world, I'm increasingly fascinated by the variety of vintage pens. I thought I might try and find a Parker 51 to start, but really, that's asking for trouble, isn't it?

Nah, that's not asking for trouble. One of my first vintage pens was a P51. They're a pretty good one to start with, because you can get into them without too much money, especially if you avoid the temptations of the rare colors or nibs.

 

My first vintage pen was a Snorkel with a Triumph nib, which was much nicer than I ever expected. A total nail, but smooth and fine, and writes beautifully. A P51 came shortly after... then whatever caught my fancy from local folks, mostly.

 

I suggest finding one that's been restored and adjusted - look in the classifieds here, or go to a pen show - and you'll have a better experience than struggling with what may be a balky pen after 50 or more years of disuse. Personally, I think this is good advice for anyone starting with vintage pens. If you want to try restoring them, great, but I wouldn't do that first.

 

Also, despite some of the praises some may sing about them, don't be too shocked if you're not completely taken with the P51. Some people don't like them at all. Some people just find them another pen. Some people really love them. That's just your taste developing, and it's fine.

[rwilsonedn]

Why not? The biggest difference between new pens and old ones is the age. The old pens didn't used to be old. They started out new. Just wait, and your new pens will be old soon enough.

 

I absolutely agree with "why not". But I quibble with the next part. Vintage pens were once new, but they were new in an age very different from ours. They were creatures of that time, and of the way those people thought about pens. So I have to agree with the folks who have said they feel something hard-to-define but materially different about vintage pens. Size, weight, filling system, materials, nib feel--it all adds up to a different experience.

And while I'm quibbling, I have to quibble with the statement that the Parker 51 was the climax of improvement in fountain pens. To me it marked the final turn away from the past, toward the modern bullet-proof CC-filling fountain pen and, to be honest, toward the ballpoint. Not that it's a bad pen--far from it. I love my 51s. But unlike a pen from the '20s or '30s, the P-51 was designed for a streamlined age: people who were in a hurry, who appreciated the clean, aerodynamic look of "modern" design over the look of classical elegance and ornament, people who wanted a pen to just work as soon as you took the cap off and to require minimal attention ever. People who were taught the Palmer method so they could write quickly, rather than roundhand so they could write beautifully. Today streamlined design is as vintage as the great steam locomotives and the DC-3 airliner. But I think the P-51 does mark a transition from one vintage to another.

ron

[kestrel]

Combine a passion for history, a love of the writing of Mark Twain, and a longstanding fascination of "things" that are old. More than a decade ago I stumbled on eBay and discovered that I could own a vintage Conklin crescent. And a Wirt. And, finally, a MacKinnon stylograph. The Mackinnon and the Wirt were too troublesome to be used regularly but that Conklin was wonderful. I was hooked. Conklins led to Moores which led to Sheaffers and Parkers and, well, you get the idea. I bought a Parker Senior Duofold from an FPN member and discovered after it arrived that it was previously owned by the first financial editor at UPI.

 

I love the feel of the old pens, HR and celluloid. I like the nibs and I enjoy the ritual of filling systems with levers and buttons and crescents. I have learned to appreciate the value of vintage. There is a lot more bang for the buck in most vintage pens than in their modern equivalents. I own a couple of nice modern pens but, unless I am testing some ink that may cause problems, I generally reach for something older than I am (I remember when Richard Nixon was vice president) for my daily writer. Some of my students are curious to see what I am carrying this week because it is usually a pen older than their grandparents. They think snorkels are cool.

 

My wife says I am a pen snob and she is probably right.

[inkstainedruth]

I thought I might try and find a Parker 51 to start, but really, that's asking for trouble, isn't it?

Only in that it's a slippery slope.... I wanted a 51, after being on FPN for a while, and after finding how much I liked the 21 I found in a booth in an antiques mall, for less than the Esterbrook in the same case was). I now have six (plus a 51 Special). Then it was Vacumatics, after swearing up down and sideways I didn't want one.... That's almost *worse* than 51 fever because there are a lot more colors and sizes....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Reefallo]

i was on vacation, reading in bed, and something made me think of my college fountain pen: a chrome Sheaffer Targa. So I tore apart the house for a few hours, and -- nothing. Disappeared. Which was annoying, but the nib was destroyed, so it wouldn't have worked, even if I could have found it. I actually did find my fountain pens from elementary school, but they looked to be goners.*

 

So, still obsessing, I did a little research on the internet and stumbled into one of the few remaining places to go SEE and BUY a fountain pen; LIVE, IN PERSON. That was Fred Krinke's shop in Monrovia, which is a trek for me, but I was on vacation, so... They had some of those new-fangled Vanishing Point pens, which looked nice and wrote well, and some modern Conklins, which were pretty, but didn't write like I remembered the college pen writing.

 

Then I saw some ancient black and white Sheaffer they had, not in especially great shape, but I thought I should at least try an old pen. I mean, I drove a long, long way, and shouldn't I at least see what the old ones were like?

 

I was literally stunned. I was simply unprepared for how good a pen could really be. I tried the Vanishing Point again, and it was very nice, but it had no chance against the Sheaffer.

 

Needless to say, I came home with the Sheaffer. And started gobbling up everything I could learn, and (of course) finding more pens. And now I know: that was truly a magic moment, because not all old pens are GREAT old pens. I was drawn to a winner, first time, and it's STILL the best writer I own, 100 pens later.

 

* Those grade school pens turned out not to be goners, either. Once I learned a little and put some time into it, they sprang back to life. AND I later found the college pen, stuck in the last place I would have looked -- AND I even found a replacement nib section online, so it's back in my daily rotation, 30 years later.

[gweimer1]

For me, it's the feel and balance, as well as the value for the dollar. There is a texture and density to older pens that just doesn't come with new pens. The materials on newer pens seem to be too light on some of the ones I have. There really is nothing like the feel of a Parker 51 - just about perfect for me. I pulled out a 51 vac that I haven't used in a couple weeks, and forgot it was still inked. It hit the paper and started right up. You can't get much better than that.