What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[OldTravelingShoe]

11 minutes ago, DvdRiet said:

Again, I am often willing to wait - if properly informed and given the choice

@DvdRiet, could not have said it better myself. Expectation management and a bit of courteous communication go a long way. Plus, everyone's happier this way.

 

Off-topic: I noticed you're currently collecting Diplomats. Not sure if this is helping, but Zalando Lounge has a sale (65%-80%) of Diplomat fountain pens, running until Thursday next week. They don't have everything, but still quite a few. I posted about it just now, in Market Watch. 

[DvdRiet]

4 minutes ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

Off-topic: I noticed you're currently collecting Diplomats. Not sure if this is helping, but Zalando Lounge has a sale (65%-80%) of Diplomat fountain pens, running until Thursday next week. They don't have everything, but still quite a few. I posted about it just now, in Market Watch. 

 

1. You're not helping me to avoid any further impulsive pen acquisitions!

2. Which I would say is particularly ON-topic lol

3. OOOOH EXCITING! Thanks for the info! (My collection is a bit short on current pens because they are more expensive to buy new, of course.)

 

7 minutes ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

Expectation management and a bit of courteous communication go a long way.

 

This is so true. Also forgot to mention that the regular communication that I do receive (with a high level of frequency) is about the latest new items or sales. It is rather frustrating to have them urge me to buy, buy, buy more stuff every few days when they haven't even sent me the stuff that I bought already...  

[OldTravelingShoe]

34 minutes ago, DvdRiet said:

It is rather frustrating to have them urge me to buy, buy, buy more stuff every few days when they haven't even sent me the stuff that I bought already...

Hehe, @DvdRiet, I get this feeling too. My approach is that I stop buying from them until the backlog is cleared.

 

This approach excludes at the moment from my consideration both of said sellers. By their own revised expectations, after my (polite) inquiries, they should return to my list of eligible sellers at the beginning of March.

Edited February 13, 2022 by OldTravelingShoe
Corrected some grammatical issues.

[DvdRiet]

Welp........ my latest impulsive pen acquisition was - gee, what a coincidence - the blue MadC Esteem, the purple MadC Esteem (because at 60% off, why not get both?), and an Excellence A in Marrakesh brown (CT)...

 

Enne, bedankt, eh @OldTravelingShoe

[bongo47]

So not a fountain pen, but impulsive.  My kids and I started playing D&D this past winter break.  So the Goulet/Retro 51 Fire and Dice screamed at me to buy it.  It will be our DM pen.  I see it’s out of stock now, so glad I jumped on it.

[OldTravelingShoe]

2 hours ago, DvdRiet said:

Welp........ my latest impulsive pen acquisition was - gee, what a coincidence - the blue MadC Esteem, the purple MadC Esteem (because at 60% off, why not get both?), and an Excellence A in Marrakesh brown (CT)...

 

Enne, bedankt, eh @OldTravelingShoe

hehe, graag and may you enjoy them for many years. I did not buy these, but I am curious how they feel so I am looking forward to a review 😃

[DvdRiet]

1 hour ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

hehe, graag and may you enjoy them for many years. I did not buy these, but I am curious how they feel so I am looking forward to a review 😃

 

I've had the MadC Esteem close to the top of my wish list for a while now, but I was having a little trouble pulling the trigger at that price - too many other priorities.  So, I was happy to see them on there at such a deep discount! I was hoping the Excellence in Marrakesh brown was the older and bigger A model, but I think it's actually the A2, which I already have in Oxyd Brass. But that timer just kept counting down to when it would throw everything out of my shopping cart so I hit the BUY button anyway! I guess I'm breaking my one pen per model rule again already... oh, well, YOLO!

 

Which ones did you get, @OldTravelingShoe?

[OldTravelingShoe]

1 hour ago, DvdRiet said:

I guess I'm breaking my one pen per model rule again already... oh, well, YOLO!

 

Which ones did you get, @OldTravelingShoe?

 

Good story! They've got something with this line, MadC, all those colors and art that allows them endless variations in the future. 

 

As for me, I got an Aero Volute, an Excellence Rhomb Guillauche Lapis Black, hopefully an A+, and one that looked like an Excellence Skyline Chrome Blue, hopefully an A2.

 

(This means I'll have to put on hold buying vintage Japanese pens for a while, until I put some hobby money aside again, but I'll also have more of my hobby time spent on trying these pens. I'm in no rush... is what I keep telling myself. 😄 ) 

[DvdRiet]

4 minutes ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

As for me, I got an Aero Volute, an Excellence Rhomb Guillauche Lapis Black, hopefully an A+, and one that looked like an Excellence Skyline Chrome Blue, hopefully an A2.

 

Oh wow, you managed to snatch one of the limited edition Volutes? Very nice! I just bought one recently using a Fountain Pen Day discount, so a bit off full price but nothing like that Zalando deal. And those Skylines are beautiful! Excellent choices! 

[OldTravelingShoe]

32 minutes ago, DvdRiet said:

 

Oh wow, you managed to snatch one of the limited edition Volutes? Very nice! I just bought one recently using a Fountain Pen Day discount, so a bit off full price but nothing like that Zalando deal. And those Skylines are beautiful! Excellent choices! 

Thank you very much. I think I was just there early, and even that is entirely the merit of my better half. I then posted on FPN, so... perhaps there are several new Volute owners among us by now 😄

 

Let's see if they can actually ship these pens. 

[Chi]

uh... so my impulse buy M600 is on backorder and  the pen shop is not sure when the stock arrive... I decided to cancel it.  

 

I wonder why I was still able to put it in my cart online...if it's already on backorder/out of stock...

[Misfit]

On 2/13/2022 at 11:24 AM, bongo47 said:

So not a fountain pen, but impulsive.  My kids and I started playing D&D this past winter break.  So the Goulet/Retro 51 Fire and Dice screamed at me to buy it.  It will be our DM pen.  I see it’s out of stock now, so glad I jumped on it.

I buy Retro 51 rollerball pens also. I had made a rule only to buy fountain pens, so lost out on the rollerball Liftoff. Eventually I lifted that rule, so the Space Race rollerball pens make up for not getting the Liftoff pen. The Retro 51 Roadmaster collaboration with the USPS screamed at me “Buy Me Now!” and I did. 

[vicpen123]

A red Parker UK Duofold Maxima.

 

The UK Duofold range is the most pleasing range of pens to the eye and, given the past 2 years, it was time to splurge on the biggest of them all.

 

Gotta spend the money on something.

[OldTravelingShoe]

12 hours ago, Chi said:

I decided to cancel it. 

More for another pen! 

[A Smug Dill]

On 2/10/2022 at 6:11 AM, OldTravelingShoe said:

I happen to have exactly the Coarse, in a Platinum #3776C in Burgundy.

 

I dropped into Dymocks in town again today. It has a full set of the Platinum #3776 Century (all black, of course) tester pens, so I asked to see how the Coarse nib writes. The pen didn't write right off the bat, notwithstanding that it has a Slip & Seal mechanism; I take it that all the tested pens in the display cabinet are rarely touched, never mind getting some attention and maintenance from store staff once every two or three months. Anyway, after the attendant took the pen into the back office and got it writing again, I tried writing a few kanji characters with it, but it was pretty difficult (although not impossible) to produce proper harai and hane strokes with it, even if I'm prepared to reserve the Coarse nib for writing in 15mm-tall characters.

 

p.s. The main reason I visited the store today was to take another look at the half-priced Platinum Procyon unit with the F nib; I've passed on checking it out or handling it on my past visits. Well, what others have said about the durability of the matte finish on the Procyon pens is a real concern; I can already see where the finish was compromised, just by the pen having been on display and occasionally handled in the past 12 to 18 months.

[OldTravelingShoe]

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

I tried writing a few kanji characters with it, but it was pretty difficult (although not impossible) to produce proper harai and hane strokes with it, even if I'm prepared to reserve the Coarse nib for writing in 15mm-tall characters

Interesting, but puzzling. I associate Platinum with excellent quality control (QC), so the I infer that the C is not useful for this application. But, then... weren't the #3776Cs developed for exactly this kind of application?!

 

Is there another place where you could try out the Coarse nib once more? Twice with good QC is not often a coincidence. 

[A Smug Dill]

1 hour ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

But, then... weren't the #3776Cs developed for exactly this kind of application?!

 

Probably not the Coarse nib. I suspect few are as bloody-minded (or just demented) as I am when it comes to insisting on creating sharp pointy tails on my pen strokes, irrespective of the line width. To me, the shape of the stroke should be consistent, irrespective of whether I'm using an EF nib to write with x-height of 2mm, or a B nib to write with x-height of 5mm; but maybe it's unfair of me to expect to see tails that end in elongated triangular shapes without taking into account that, once scaled down to only 40% in size, perhaps that rounded end would look sharp enough proportionally.

 

[AmandaW]

I'm getting a Lamy Studio Black Forest at a sale price too good to pass up.

 

After a cruddy day. Spirits now lifted just a little. Fingers crossed. This is my third attempt to order a Studio - I do hope this one doesn't go out of stock or have the wrong thing sent (seriously I do not need another charcoal Safari in lieu...)

 

 

 

 

[Chi]

6 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

More for another pen! 

INDEED!!! HAHAHAH...

[OldTravelingShoe]

2 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

once scaled down to only 40% in size, perhaps that rounded end would look sharp enough proportionally

This is exactly what I was thinking. But you can test this, by using a loupe (zoom-in lens) on the strokes done with the EF nib. Then, either:

1. The EF stroke has indeed the triangular, sharp end you like, and the C (or even B ) do not, then this is a clear change of shape and thus the larger nibs are not good for your application. - - OR - - 
2. The EF stroke does not have the triangular, sharp end, and it was only an optical illusion caused by the small scale. Then, you may want to reconsider the goals. 

But this is simplistic, perhaps, because there are all the other variables, e.g., ink, paper, that change the actual stroke.  😄