What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[OldTravelingShoe]

2 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

First match returned by:

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

Wow, thanks, @A Smug Dill, 63 pages of discussion, that I now have to traverse 😄

 

For all, the link found by @A Smug Dill:

 

[DvdRiet]

I seem to have become a sucker for fashion house pens. Just bought a YSL to join the Gucci. 😅

[ParramattaPaul]

Having not used a fine nib pen in decades, I prefer broad nibs, I just bought a Pelikano with a fine nib to try out.

[OldTravelingShoe]

2 hours ago, DvdRiet said:

I seem to have become a sucker for fashion house pens. Just bought a YSL to join the Gucci. 😅

Congratulations! ... But I don't even know what that is 😊

[Misfit]

I just impulse purchased a MaJohn A1 in blue with a clip. It’s the one that looks like a Pilot Decimo. 

[awa54]

On 7/14/2022 at 2:56 PM, DvdRiet said:

I seem to have become a sucker for fashion house pens. Just bought a YSL to join the Gucci. 😅

 

the Yves Saint Laurent pens I've seen on Ebay do look pretty "Gucci" 🤣

 

I've been tempted by a few of the designer logo pens Pilot has produced, but so far have resisted the urge to go upscale...

 

 

On 7/14/2022 at 4:56 PM, ParramattaPaul said:

Having not used a fine nib pen in decades, I prefer broad nibs, I just bought a Pelikano with a fine nib to try out.

 

by comparison to Asian or even vintage US/UK nibs that Pelikan fine is pretty broad, so it shouldn't be too harsh a transition from your usual 😄

[ParramattaPaul]

29 minutes ago, awa54 said:

 

the Yves Saint Laurent pens I've seen on Ebay do look pretty "Gucci" 🤣

 

I've been tempted by a few of the designer logo pens Pilot has produced, but so far have resisted the urge to go upscale...

 

 

 

by comparison to Asian or even vintage US/UK nibs that Pelikan fine is pretty broad, so it shouldn't be too harsh a transition from your usual 😄

I have used the Pelikano for the best part of a week. It may be broad in comparison as you say; I'll have to take your word for it, but it has reaffirmed my preference for true broad nib pens.

[awa54]

32 minutes ago, ParramattaPaul said:

I have used the Pelikano for the best part of a week. It may be broad in comparison as you say; I'll have to take your word for it, but it has reaffirmed my preference for true broad nib pens.

 

 

(just to further the un-stated goal of this thread, which is obviously to get all of us to acquire *even more* pens)

 

have you tried a 1960s Pilot with either the Signature or Coarse nibs? 

the Signature is a ball pointed broad with a hint of softness, all of mine have been wet writers as well, the Coarse from this time period has a flat bottomed tip, that lays down fat, perfectly even lines... sort of a broad felt-tip feel, but in a fountain pen.

I don't use either of these nibs often, since I need (and prefer) to keep my writing on the compact side for work, but when I do they're both really fun to write with!

[DvdRiet]

My second new/NOS Diplomat Excellence in just three days

[Gloucesterman]

Let me see.

I went to a flea market on Sunday and came home with the following new (for me) pens:

2 Waterman Phileas

- one blue (no gold band on the barrel

- one green in good condition w/ original box and converter

- one Sheaffer vest pocket pen - needs restoration

- one Parker "51" vacuumatic - needs restoration

- one Sheaffer model unknown w/ gold colored steel nib

- one Sheaffer black Targa slimline pen w/ 14k nib

- one Esterbrook bright yellow purse pen with very good sac (1550 nib)

- one Esterbrook grey "J" pen with very good sac (1550 nib)

A bottle of Waterman's blue ink and two packages of cartridges

Oh yes, and one Waterman mechanical pencil which, although nothing special, I kind of liked.

 

With the exception of the Sheaffer vest pocket pen and the gray Parker "51", all have cleaned up nicely. I have about 7 packages of old/vintage slimline cartridges for the Sheaffer slimline so I feel very comfortable selling that one even with no converter.

 

Although this group of pens came from several dealers, one of whom specifically brought some pens for me, it's far from a typical haul.

I really wish we still had the classifieds here. I would like to be able to pass on, at least, the one's for repair for what I paid for them (plus postage of course. Oh well, "C'est la gruyere!"

[essayfaire]

3 hours ago, Gloucesterman said:

I really wish we still had the classifieds here

So do I.

[Paul-in-SF]

On 7/6/2022 at 9:25 AM, Paul-in-SF said:

Today I spent too much money yet again. In an idle moment, I was perusing the goods at Atelier Lesoon (recommended in another topic somewhere on here), and found a Parker 51 in Nassau Green (allegedly, fingers crossed, and item returned if it is mis-identified), and an Oversized Vacumatic, both items which I have been inactively seeking for a while. Bought them on the spot. I may be digging into savings (again) to cover this little purchase. 

 

These pens arrived today. I was very disappointed. The Parker 51 was not Nassau Green, it seemed to match the color of my Aerometric Teal Blue (but it's a Vacumatic) but on top of that it was filthy and full of ink. The Oversized was in better shape on the outside but also full of a very persistent ink, and it doesn't seem to be filling properly. This vendor is not living up to the buildup from others on this board, and I won't be going back. 

[mallymal1]

6 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

 

These pens arrived today. I was very disappointed. The Parker 51 was not Nassau Green, it seemed to match the color of my Aerometric Teal Blue (but it's a Vacumatic) but on top of that it was filthy and full of ink. The Oversized was in better shape on the outside but also full of a very persistent ink, and it doesn't seem to be filling properly. This vendor is not living up to the buildup from others on this board, and I won't be going back. 

 

That's more than a bit shoddy.

 

I was considering ordering a pen from them...don't think I'll bother.

[Misfit]

10 hours ago, Gloucesterman said:

Let me see.

I went to a flea market on Sunday and came home with the following new (for me) pens:

2 Waterman Phileas

- one blue (no gold band on the barrel

- one green in good condition w/ original box and converter

- one Sheaffer vest pocket pen - needs restoration

- one Parker "51" vacuumatic - needs restoration

- one Sheaffer model unknown w/ gold colored steel nib

- one Sheaffer black Targa slimline pen w/ 14k nib

- one Esterbrook bright yellow purse pen with very good sac (1550 nib)

- one Esterbrook grey "J" pen with very good sac (1550 nib)

A bottle of Waterman's blue ink and two packages of cartridges

Oh yes, and one Waterman mechanical pencil which, although nothing special, I kind of liked.

 

With the exception of the Sheaffer vest pocket pen and the gray Parker "51", all have cleaned up nicely. I have about 7 packages of old/vintage slimline cartridges for the Sheaffer slimline so I feel very comfortable selling that one even with no converter.

 

Although this group of pens came from several dealers, one of whom specifically brought some pens for me, it's far from a typical haul.

I really wish we still had the classifieds here. I would like to be able to pass on, at least, the one's for repair for what I paid for them (plus postage of course. Oh well, "C'est la gruyere!"

Oh to have places like this and @inkstainedruth’s estate sales where I live. 

[DvdRiet]

1 hour ago, mallymal1 said:

This vendor is not living up to the buildup from others on this board, and I won't be going back. 

 

Oh no!! I really am very sorry to hear this! That was definitely not my experience when I ordered from him last year. He also made a point of saying that all his pens were fully restored and in good working order, and that if something wore out on the pens I had ordered (an accordion sac, a glass cartridge that requires a rubber support), I could send them to him to be fixed up again. And that is what I would expect at those prices, to be honest. I wonder what has happened in the meantime, then?

[mallymal1]

55 minutes ago, DvdRiet said:

 

Oh no!! I really am very sorry to hear this! That was definitely not my experience when I ordered from him last year. He also made a point of saying that all his pens were fully restored and in good working order, and that if something wore out on the pens I had ordered (an accordion sac, a glass cartridge that requires a rubber support), I could send them to him to be fixed up again. And that is what I would expect at those prices, to be honest. I wonder what has happened in the meantime, then?

 

For me, it's not just the seller. It's a combination of that and Brexit. What with the added costs of bringing a pen into the UK, it's just not worth it.

[DvdRiet]

19 minutes ago, mallymal1 said:

 

For me, it's not just the seller. It's a combination of that and Brexit. What with the added costs of bringing a pen into the UK, it's just not worth it.

 

That I can completely understand! I have the same issue the other way around with ordering stuff from outside the EU. It seems that so many regions are adding extra layers of protectionism. 

[awa54]

11 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

 

These pens arrived today. I was very disappointed. The Parker 51 was not Nassau Green, it seemed to match the color of my Aerometric Teal Blue (but it's a Vacumatic) but on top of that it was filthy and full of ink. The Oversized was in better shape on the outside but also full of a very persistent ink, and it doesn't seem to be filling properly. This vendor is not living up to the buildup from others on this board, and I won't be going back. 

 

 

...same with my watch experience. item billed as in excellent functioning condition was most definitely not 😕 if I was a professional watchmaker, who is part of some semi-legendary artisans' collective I'd never have let such items out of my shop without full disclosure of their (not even checked over for function) service history and other known issues. it's not good for one's reputation, especially in such a technically exacting trade.

more like a picker with a good eye than a curator of vintage timepieces...

I should have turned away when I saw pens with obvious damage being billed as "ready to write" 🙄,

 

live and learn...

[DvdRiet]

3 minutes ago, awa54 said:

same with my watch experience

 

How terribly disappointing!! I hadn't checked the site in a while, so out of curiosity, I went and looked at what was on offer. I was quite surprised to also see a number of pens that were clearly 'as is' in the photos but billed as in excellent condition! And for the watches to be the same story is all the more surprising, as timepiece restoration is his original profession! I think I will also be scrapping the idea of ever buying from him again.  

[Paul-in-SF]

13 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

The Oversized was in better shape on the outside but also full of a very persistent ink, and it doesn't seem to be filling properly.

 

This pen (probably in reality it's a Maxima, too new to be be an Oversized, plus it was made in France) wasn't drawing water, so I took the filling unit out and found a hole in the diaphragm. That's why the ink was so hard to clean out (before taking it apart). I decided to keep the pen, I've done these repairs before and a new diaphragm is only a few bucks. Unpardonable at this price, but I'm just going to lick my wounds and move on.