What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[OldTravelingShoe]

2 hours ago, DvdRiet said:

There may be unforeseen exceptions to the rules that may in future require additional rules of exceptions to the rules

Grounds for my entire collection... Ahem, set of pens for sketching and drawing. 

[OldTravelingShoe]

5 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

Diplomat Elox, a day or so ago, on account of what looks to me like a pricing error

Checked and saw a lovely coloring structure. Enjoy the pen when it arrives, on account of both it being an excellent writing instrument and of its price. 😄

[OldTravelingShoe]

2 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

Hmmm, from the same seller, when I switch the delivery destination to Utrecht in the Netherlands, the price (including “free shipping”) before tax jumps to US$28.26. That's after automatic “seller discount” of US$2, and application of “coins” in my account (awarded for playing stupid games) to account for another US$0.58. When the delivery destination is Australia, that tax-exclusive effective price would be US$22.53.

Hmmm, perhaps the EU has finally started to check imports through AliExpress thoroughly enough... This would make products implicitly jump. 

 

I know that officially all takes are included at checkout, but if not actively or if very rarely enforced then I believe the exporter can take the risk and simply lower the price for the consumer. 

[DvdRiet]

9 minutes ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

Grounds for my entire collection... Ahem, set of pens for sketching and drawing. 

 

I should probably mention that the rules, as well as the rules of exceptions to the rules, apply only to my very purposeful and goal-oriented collection of Diplomats past to present. Anything outside of that is a complete free-for-all! 😜

[OldTravelingShoe]

9 minutes ago, DvdRiet said:

 

I should probably mention that the rules, as well as the rules of exceptions to the rules, apply only to my very purposeful and goal-oriented collection of Diplomats past to present. Anything outside of that is a complete free-for-all! 😜

Carte blanche! Bien joué! 😉

[A Smug Dill]

2 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

Hmmm, perhaps the EU has finally started to check imports through AliExpress thoroughly enough... This would make products implicitly jump. 

 

I know that officially all takes are included at checkout, but if not actively or if very rarely enforced then I believe the exporter can take the risk and simply lower the price for the consumer. 

 

I just looked more closely at it (driven by a strong sense of, “No, it doesn’t quite work the way you think it does,” sorry), and I now see that if the delivery destination is in the Netherlands, all the prices include VAT; it says so on the item listings, but I just didn’t revisit them earlier, and relied on how items are shown in my shopping cart (as a sorta watch list to keep an eye out on pricing fluctuations).

 

After taking off 21% VAT, the pricing is about what I see when the delivery destination is Australia before GST is added at the checkout.

 

I’m very surprised that the application of tax is implemented differently for European and Australian customers, even though the nature of the tax is pretty much the same. I’m wondering whether it has to do with the shipping component being exempt from European VAT, whereas Australian GST applies to shipping and insurance as well for imported goods.

 

In either case, it’s not exactly a case of, (by paraphrase) “if the exporter chooses to take a risk to not collect tax.” Australian taxation law, at least, requires that electronic distribution platforms such as eBay, AliExpress, Amazon Marketplace, etc. collect GST on low-value imports (≤AUD1000) when transacting, so it’s not up to the individual seller on those platforms to decide whether to collect tax (in the way sellers on the now-defunct Rakuten Global Market platform used to have latitude). Small enough independent overseas retailers that sell directly to Australian consumers, on the other hand, may be exempt by law from having to report and remit GST on low-value transactions, and some indeed choose not to collect that 10% (which others would seize the opportunity to take the extra 10% but possibly not report and remit it).

 

The EU’s VAT on imports implementation came a couple of years after Australia commenced the regime of GST collection on low-value imports by shifting the responsibility onto overseas businesses that are outside of its jurisdiction, and looks to me (as a layman) that it copied much of what Australia did, after seeing that it seems to work well enough to dispel some early doubts about enforceability.

[OldTravelingShoe]

32 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

The EU’s VAT on imports implementation came a couple of years after Australia commenced the regime of GST collection

Interesting. I remember paying additional customs on packages from China, in 2021 for sure, and perhaps still for some of them in 2022. The requests for payment from the Dutch Customs seemed random, applied to small and large purchases without a pattern I could discern, and most importantly not applied to many of the packages. So I inferred - seemingly incorrectly - that it was a matter of the Dutch Customs actually opening the package by random sample, a matter I ascribed to enforcement. 

 

Not a problem to be wrong, things seem clearer now and the Dutch Customs have stopped asking me to pay extra on AliExpress shipments. But I also reduced greatly my purchases from that side (after a certain Ukrainian situation and the world's political response to it... but let's not get into politics) 😄

[ParramattaPaul]

Temptations!

This in the form of email (marketing) notices from Conway Stewart who have obviously detected my "addiction" for their pens -- vintage and modern.

 

Now, I'm being tempted with a series 100.

 

Can resist temptation?

 

Will I remain strong despite hearing the Siren's song?

[OldTravelingShoe]

3 hours ago, ParramattaPaul said:

Temptations!

This in the form of email (marketing) notices from Conway Stewart who have obviously detected my "addiction" for their pens -- vintage and modern.

 

Now, I'm being tempted with a series 100.

 

Can resist temptation?

 

Will I remain strong despite hearing the Siren's song?

Does it count if you buy something else instead? Every time I get a sales pitch on expensive Montblanc, if I really want to buy it I simply go and buy another, much cheaper, typically vintage Montblanc. Substitution is not perfect, but... at least I gave new life to a worthy, old pen, didn't I? 😃

[ParramattaPaul]

39 minutes ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

Does it count if you buy something else instead? Every time I get a sales pitch on expensive Montblanc, if I really want to buy it I simply go and buy another, much cheaper, typically vintage Montblanc. Substitution is not perfect, but... at least I gave new life to a worthy, old pen, didn't I? 😃

I'm not sure.  However, as I think about it, I may -- I'm pretty sure I do -- have a vintage Series 100 tucked away with the rest of my vintage pens.

[OldTravelingShoe]

12 minutes ago, ParramattaPaul said:

I'm not sure.  However, as I think about it, I may -- I'm pretty sure I do -- have a vintage Series 100 tucked away with the rest of my vintage pens.

Hmmm, so much room with Conway Stewart... I don't have to tell you, I got started with CS pens by seeing your beautiful pictures. 

 

From what I understand, the new 100 series is so much more expensive than the vintage. And it's just one of over 1,000 pens, many interesting nibs, for some truly amazing combinations. 

 

How about an exotic Dinkie, a 526 or 536 or 540 were my first and last, all inspired by your pics but with a tight budget, and there were really so many beautiful and fairly priced variants 😄

 

 

[ParramattaPaul]

I looked.  I dont have a Series 100.  I do have three 'moderns', and six vintage.  The latter incudes: 36 84, 85L, 226, 176, & 479.

[OldTravelingShoe]

7 hours ago, ParramattaPaul said:

I looked.  I dont have a Series 100.  I do have three 'moderns', and six vintage.  The latter incudes: 36 84, 85L, 226, 176, & 479.

If I may make a suggestion: Also on my to-buy list is any of the Conway Stewart 58, 60, and 60L, all of which I associate with their post-war ads on "executive pens".

 

Trying out one of them while seeing an episode from "A Very British Scandal", especially when they're using pens, may add even drama to this acquisition 😄

[VersoFolio]

Third impulsive purchase this month! This M800.

 

 

 

A 400NN

 

 

 

 

And I bought this as a vintage (maybe 60's or 70's), 'no name', Japanese Stationary Store souvenir pen. I liked the stylized twig and leaf pattern and 'fingernail' nib.

It is possible to make out the 'P A' on the nib but the rest is obscured by the section.  ( probably - j a P A n )

The pics are courtesy of the seller.

It looks pearl-like and translucent and the clip appears poorly made.

I also like the similarity to early Pilot Super, Sailor Pocket, and Platinum nibs.

I'll know more when it arrives later in the week!

 

What do you think of the mystery pen? Any ideas?

 

🤔 P.I.Tom

 

[carola]

5 hours ago, Pale.Ink.Tom said:

And I bought this as a vintage (maybe 60's or 70's), 'no name', Japanese Stationary Store souvenir pen. I liked the stylized twig and leaf pattern and 'fingernail' nib.

It is possible to make out the 'P A' on the nib but the rest is obscured by the section.  ( probably - j a P A n )

The pics are courtesy of the seller.

It looks pearl-like and translucent and the clip appears poorly made.

I also like the similarity to early Pilot Super, Sailor Pocket, and Platinum nibs.

I'll know more when it arrives later in the week!

 

What do you think of the mystery pen? Any ideas?

 

🤔 P.I.Tom

 

 

Pelikans are always a good catch.

 

But that no name pen is a rarity. Very nice pattern and the whole pen is really cute. Like it a lot.

[VersoFolio]

I know many others have passed this way before me but the Pelikan experience is a very special milestone!

 

Yes, a very cute pen! 😄 Thanks for your comments carola. Our fellow members post beautiful 'mystery' pens everyday and I'm very excited to find one to share with you all.

 

Perhaps we will see some further interest and information from members even though it appears to be a 'low end' model.

I have never seen this pattern before.

 

P.I.T

[A Smug Dill]

On 7/10/2022 at 4:43 PM, OldTravelingShoe said:

Trying out one of them while seeing an episode from "A Very British Scandal", especially when they're using pens, may add even drama to this acquisition 😄

 

We've just finished watching A Very British Scandal (all episodes in a single sitting), and I was wondering about the fountain pen with the faceted gold-coloured barrel that Margaret used to put down all those Vs.

[OldTravelingShoe]

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

We've just finished watching A Very British Scandal (all episodes in a single sitting), and I was wondering about the fountain pen with the faceted gold-coloured barrel that Margaret used to put down all those Vs.

Noted - I'll look for it too. 😄

 

We have not finished it yet, just the first episode and a bit of the second, but my better half will return today from her business trip and I hope this weekend we will. 

[OldTravelingShoe]

4 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

We've just finished watching A Very British Scandal (all episodes in a single sitting), and I was wondering about the fountain pen

This reminds me, @A Smug Dill, there used to be a thread somewhere, maybe even on FPN, about pens used in (famous) movies, by (famous) people, in (famous) historical settings.

 

I'll try to find it during the weekend, unless another FPNer does it first. 

[A Smug Dill]

1 hour ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

This reminds me, @A Smug Dill, there used to be a thread somewhere, maybe even on FPN, about pens used in (famous) movies, by (famous) people, in (famous) historical settings.

 

I'll try to find it during the weekend, unless another FPNer does it first. 

 

First match returned by:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/search/?q=movies&quick=1&updated_after=any&sortby=relevancy&search_in=titles