What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[A Smug Dill]

  On 8/25/2022 at 5:18 AM, AgedAndFine said:

I fear that I am rather ill...

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#metoo

 

Two maroon-coloured pens arrived by Japan Post small packet service today; and I didn't manage to acquire them at such low prices or favourable terms (e.g. free international shipping) as being offered by Amazon JP to Amazon customers in the US.

 

Sixteen(?) more pens yet to come; and then there is a Cult Pens order than contained only inks but not pens.

[Gloucesterman]

  On 8/25/2022 at 5:18 AM, AgedAndFine said:

Sadly, I am a sucker for a good deal, and in have recently bought a Platinum Curdias, two Platinum Procyons, a Platinum President, a Sailor Profit large 21k, a Procolor 500, a CultPens order (including lots of paper and inks, 2 Lamy Al-stars and 3 Schneider coeds).  I fear that I am rather ill......

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If, by chance, you are ill, it sounds as if you have enough resources to write your own prescription for  healing or at least document your healing process in a journal.

 

Meanwhile feel good and enjoy the positive aspects of your "illness".

 

BTW, I once dated a Schneider coed. It was back in the 70's. Kim Schneider from Buffalo. I wonder what happened to her?

Guess she is no longer a coed!

[Gloucesterman]

  On 8/25/2022 at 3:06 AM, Paul-in-SF said:

 

I was wrong, as it turns out, not to be sanguine. They were able to direct me to some sort of back door URL where I was able to log in, and express my interest in the pen to the seller. No word back yet though.

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Paul, glad you were wrong.

[ruby.monkey]

A used Sailor Professional Gear Slim, black with rhodium trim, from izods. Not so much for the pen itself as for the zoom nib with which it is fitted.

[essayfaire]

  On 8/25/2022 at 4:16 PM, ruby.monkey said:

A used Sailor Professional Gear Slim

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I like it when pens are used, rather than sitting in display boxes!

I'm very fond of Sailors, but don't have a Zoom...yet.

[OldTravelingShoe]

  On 8/24/2022 at 8:30 PM, johntitor2002 said:

Big big fan of Sheaffer and this will be my first snorkel model.

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Congratulations, @johntitor2002, and what better moment to try it out than now? 

[OldTravelingShoe]

  On 8/25/2022 at 6:35 AM, A Smug Dill said:

Sixteen(?)

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Hmmm... I'm not beyond asking, especially because sixteen is a round number in my computer scientist head: Premeditated sixteen? Impulsive sixteen?

 

I'd normally associate this with trying to cover a specific model or type of pen, then limiting the coverage to a round number, e.g., "I'm going to acquire 10 Watermans from the Taperite production line, 1950s to 1960s, preferably made in France". So this would indicate a new, exploratory endeavor - if so, knowing it's not in the vintage domain, and that you already have many of the nice singleton models of, say, Sailor, and that you seem to dislike excessive subclassing of the same model by, say, the same Sailor in its special and limited edition Pro Gears, what could it be?! 

 

So many things to overanalyze here 😄

[OldTravelingShoe]

  On 8/23/2022 at 1:48 PM, A Smug Dill said:

The question is only whether she would prefer the version with a clip or the clipless one. [...] my wife [...] already have a Pilot Capless Trend [...] a few more VP and Décimo pens

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Then perhaps a clipless variant? The clip seems to be disturbing to many, especially if their hand is not large (as in the mitten size L, XL, or larger). I like it, I feel it gives me a better grip on the pen, but my hands are in the larger range. But for people who prefer the Décimo, I could imagine size is an issue, and thus the less the clip is prominent, the better. 

 

What I also see in the clipless version is a bit more dofferentiation from the original and current Capless designs. Don't know if this is a clear selling point either. 

 

But I am sure these are trivial bits of analysis, @A Smug Dill.

 

P.S.: I'm still tempted by the A1, but so far I've managed to hold out. Part of this was that I assumed there's an incompatibility with the Pilot Capless nib units, but in another message you seem to indicate this is not the case - - that, in fact, Pilot Capless nibs including, e.g., 18k B nibs, could actually just be swapped into the A1 body and work without additional issues over the regular Capless. This may force my hand. 

[OldTravelingShoe]

  On 8/25/2022 at 4:16 PM, ruby.monkey said:

A used Sailor Professional Gear Slim, black with rhodium trim, from izods. Not so much for the pen itself as for the zoom nib with which it is fitted

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Congratulations! I like very much Sailor's bigger nibs, and Zooms are a delight. 

 

Perhaps you'd like to share some photos, of the pen, the nib, and writing at various angles?

[essayfaire]

  On 8/25/2022 at 8:13 PM, OldTravelingShoe said:

Then perhaps a clipless variant? The clip seems to be disturbing to many, especially if their hand is not large (as in the mitten size L, XL, or larger). I like it, I feel it gives me a better grip on the pen, but my hands are in the larger range. But for people who prefer the Décimo, I could imagine size is an issue, and thus the less the clip is prominent, the better. 

 

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I actually really like the clip.  It lines up perfectly with my grip, though I imagine that someone who grasps a pen differently may find it irksome.  My hands are normal, but my fingers are fairly long.  The normal capless is so suitable that I have never thought of getting a Decimo, even though I like some of the colors that are not available in the VP.

[ruby.monkey]

  On 8/25/2022 at 8:16 PM, OldTravelingShoe said:

Congratulations! I like very much Sailor's bigger nibs, and Zooms are a delight. 

 

Perhaps you'd like to share some photos, of the pen, the nib, and writing at various angles?

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It should arrive next week, and I'll be happy to post some photos.

 

Although I might have to find some who can actually write, to provide the samples. My father was a doctor and I've been a programmer for the last 30-odd years; there are times when I can't read my own handwriting.

[inkstainedruth]

  On 8/25/2022 at 7:57 PM, OldTravelingShoe said:

Congratulations, @johntitor2002, and what better moment to try it out than now? 

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That isn't actually good advice.  The pen should be checked out by a pro first, to make sure there aren't any leaks.  The spring inside the mechanism is REALLY fragile and very prone to rust.  And to replace it alone is a $20 US part, in addition to any other repairs.  That's the downside of Snorkels.  

OTOH, once it's up and running?  They're great pens (although flushing them out is not *quite* as advertised in the old ads, because they DO get ink all through the feed while using them).

I love my Snorkels -- but they're not like a vintage Parker 51 Aerometric (which, probably 90% of the time, just need a good flushing out and then work great)

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Penguincollector]

All of my latest impulse buys just got here- how timely! I bought a Yiren 78g clone for $1, another Yiren with shiny gold trim and an arrow clip for under $3, and a duckbill Hero for under $4. Free shipping. My long awaited Chalana finally got here, a chrome barrel and cap with a maroon section and finial. The nib is so tiny I can’t tell what size it is. The blue black ink left in it for probably decades, as the ink in the cartridge was powder, ate the chrome finish on the collar, but I cleaned it up and have a converter for it so we’ll see how it does. 

[Gloucesterman]

  On 8/25/2022 at 10:10 PM, Penguincollector said:

All of my latest impulse buys just got here- how timely! I bought a Yiren 78g clone for $1, another Yiren with shiny gold trim and an arrow clip for under $3, and a duckbill Hero for under $4. Free shipping. My long awaited Chalana finally got here, a chrome barrel and cap with a maroon section and finial. The nib is so tiny I can’t tell what size it is. The blue black ink left in it for probably decades, as the ink in the cartridge was powder, ate the chrome finish on the collar, but I cleaned it up and have a converter for it so we’ll see how it does. 

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Having a converter for that is as good as having a slimline converter for a slender Sheaffer Targa.

Congratulations.

[Penguincollector]

  On 8/26/2022 at 12:23 AM, Gloucesterman said:

Having a converter for that is as good as having a slimline converter for a slender Sheaffer Targa.

Congratulations.

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Fahrney’s pens is where I got  the converter this summer. They have cartridges as well.  Also, Teri from Peyton Street Pens sent me a slim Sheaffer TRZ that takes the little Kaweco squeeze converter with no issues. There’s also a bunch of NOS Fashion I pens with the slim converter and/or slim carts on the Bay- I collect Fashions to coordinate with my outfits and they are usually under $20. 

[A Smug Dill]

  On 8/25/2022 at 8:05 PM, OldTravelingShoe said:

I'm not beyond asking, especially because sixteen is a round number in my computer scientist head: Premeditated sixteen? Impulsive sixteen?

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That was just the then-current value in the accumulator, after a series of events arising from unpredictable birth-and-death processes. Two of the pens have arrived this morning, and so the number is now down to fourteen.

 

  On 8/25/2022 at 8:05 PM, OldTravelingShoe said:

I'd normally associate this with trying to cover a specific model or type of pen, then limiting the coverage to a round number, e.g., "I'm going to acquire 10 Watermans from the Taperite production line, 1950s to 1960s, preferably made in France".

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Funnily, most of my sub-collections are in odd numbers.

 

I came across the Aurora 8"88" Planets (or was that the Solar System?) series of limited edition pens — back when the series has not yet concluded, and some were still years from coming into view — and liked the look of some of them, so I started “collecting” them. We now have four — Saturno, Nettuno, Giove, and finally Terra (acquired in that order, largely based on when I saw each one at a good discount) — and don't intend on getting any more. The then already discontinued Marte looked nice, but I wasn't going to pay a US-retailer >US$550 plus shipping for it, even when that was the lowest effective price I could “find” by stacking, um, temporally displaced discount offers, probably below the price at which the retailer in question would have been pleased to sell the pen. Mercurio was a strong candidate at US$400 shipped; but, having just bought the even more limited Luna that is not part of the series, I passed on the opportunity, and of course now it isn't going to come around a second time. Urano and Plutone looked a bit boring, compared to the ones we already had; and Venere never stood a chance. I wasn't expecting to be able to get Terra at a discount, and therefore to bring myself to get it at all.

 

As for Fine Writing International's Planets series, of which there were just five models (corresponding to the five Chinese elements: the Chinese named Mercury after water, Venus metal, Mars fire, Jupiter wood, and Saturn earth)^†, I have the Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter only. I was sold and sent the Venus, when I was told Jupiter was discontinued and sold out; but when a unit of the Jupiter came up in the shop's available item even while the Venus was still in transit, I got really angry and fired an interplanetary rocket up the seller's where-the-sun-doesn't-shine; so they paid to collect the Venus back from me in exchange for the Jupiter.

 

So now we have seven Planets pens in all, and I did “collect” them, but not how anyone would imagine.

 

I have all three Platinum #3776 Century Kanazawa-haku pens; (only one each of) all five colours of the Platinum Prefounte; eleven Platinum Plaisir pens in different colours; three 14K gold-nibbed Sailor pens that came from the same ‘mould’ outside of the Profit, Professional Gear, and Promenade series (although two are covered with deer skin and one with cherry bark, so they aren't in the same series or collection per se); three Platinum #3776 Celluloid pens; three Platinum #3776 snap-cap pens with wooden bodies (which were originally to be all variants of the Briar pens, but one retailer screw up, and sent me a more expensive Yakusugi cedar pen which was never in the shop's catalogue, instead of the light Briar I ordered).

 

^† The Chinese named Uranus “the planet of the God of the sky (or heavens)”, Neptune “the planet of the God of the sea”, and Pluto “the planet of the God of the underworld”. Strange, I know, when Jupiter, as Neptune's and Pluto's brother, should have been the God of the heavens in the triumvirate.

 

  On 8/25/2022 at 8:13 PM, OldTravelingShoe said:

Then perhaps a clipless variant? The clip seems to be disturbing to many, especially if their hand is not large

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I personally find the clip getting in the way of my grip only occasionally, in the sense that it intrudes upon my conscious awareness of holding the pen, or hinders my control of the pen's movements.

 

  On 8/25/2022 at 8:13 PM, OldTravelingShoe said:

What I also see in the clipless version is a bit more dofferentiation from the original and current Capless designs. Don't know if this is a clear selling point either. 

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Now that I've tried the clipless version of the Majohn A1 (both in matt black and in glossy finishes), I'd say it isn't all good either; the absence of the clip down near the nose cone, coupled with the rectangular roll-stopper near the ‘knock’ button, throws the weight balance off ever-so-slightly. Neither of those are perfect, and neither of them are that annoying or unusable; just different trade-offs to be accepted. I don't really enjoy the feel of cold, hard, and slick metal (and some lacquers) against my hand, so I slightly prefer to have a clip than not on the capless pens with matt finishes, but tolerate the glossy silver-coloured clip a tad less well.

 

I asked my wife whether she preferred the Majohn A1 with or without the clip, and she has not strong opinion either way. She just likes the pearlised finishes, so she has two Décimo with pearlescent (white and champagne, respectively) finishes, and now two A1 in pearlescent blue (with clip) and (clipless) pearlescent green. Originally one of the Décimo pens was for me, but I find myself not really keen on it being lighter and more slender, so now both belong to her personal fleet. She's also taken over my first Pilot Capless raden ‘galaxy’ (which I simply replaced), and my swirly Charcoal 2012 LE (which I simply don't use) Vanishing Point pens; then there are two more (black kasuri aka ‘carbonesque’, and matt purple) VP pens I bought for her especially.

 

I think she might like the Pilot Capless with the black (resin-impregnated) birch body, or maybe one of the limited editions with the colour-shifting finishes; but I rarely see those offered at good discounts.

 

[OldTravelingShoe]

  On 8/25/2022 at 9:52 PM, ruby.monkey said:

I've been a programmer for the last 30-odd years; there are times when I can't read my own handwriting

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Hehe, I recognize the problem. Six months with a Zoom nib should fix much of the problem 😉

[OldTravelingShoe]

  On 8/26/2022 at 5:29 AM, A Smug Dill said:

 

Funnily, most of my sub-collections are in odd numbers.

 

I came across the Aurora 8"88" Planets (or was that the Solar System?) series of limited edition pens — back when the series has not yet concluded, and some were still years from coming into view — and liked the look of some of them, so I started “collecting” them. We now have four — Saturno, Nettuno, Giove, and finally Terra (acquired in that order, largely based on when I saw each one at a good discount) — and don't intend on getting any more. The then already discontinued Marte looked nice, but I wasn't going to pay a US-retailer >US$550 plus shipping for it, even when that was the lowest effective price I could “find” by stacking, um, temporally displaced discount offers, probably below the price at which the retailer in question would have been pleased to sell the pen. Mercurio was a strong candidate at US$400 shipped; but, having just bought the even more limited Luna that is not part of the series, I passed on the opportunity, and of course now it isn't going to come around a second time. Urano and Plutone looked a bit boring, compared to the ones we already had; and Venere never stood a chance. I wasn't expecting to be able to get Terra at a discount, and therefore to bring myself to get it at all.

 

As for Fine Writing International's Planets series, of which there were just five models (corresponding to the five Chinese elements: the Chinese named Mercury after water, Venus metal, Mars fire, Jupiter wood, and Saturn earth)^†, I have the Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter only. I was sold and sent the Venus, when I was told Jupiter was discontinued and sold out; but when a unit of the Jupiter came up in the shop's available item even while the Venus was still in transit, I got really angry and fired an interplanetary rocket up the seller's where-the-sun-doesn't-shine; so they paid to collect the Venus back from me in exchange for the Jupiter.

 

So now we have seven Planets pens in all, and I did “collect” them, but not how anyone would imagine.

 

I have all three Platinum #3776 Century Kanazawa-haku pens; (only one each of) all five colours of the Platinum Prefounte; eleven Platinum Plaisir pens in different colours; three 14K gold-nibbed Sailor pens that came from the same ‘mould’ outside of the Profit, Professional Gear, and Promenade series (although two are covered with deer skin and one with cherry bark, so they aren't in the same series or collection per se); three Platinum #3776 Celluloid pens; three Platinum #3776 snap-cap pens with wooden bodies (which were originally to be all variants of the Briar pens, but one retailer screw up, and sent me a more expensive Yakusugi cedar pen which was never in the shop's catalogue, instead of the light Briar I ordered).

 

^† The Chinese named Uranus “the planet of the God of the sky (or heavens)”, Neptune “the planet of the God of the sea”, and Pluto “the planet of the God of the underworld”. Strange, I know, when Jupiter, as Neptune's and Pluto's brother, should have been the God of the heavens in the triumvirate.

 

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Lovely story and collection, @A Smug Dill! Thanks for sharing, much appreciated.

 

My own collection is exploratory in nature,  with two levels:

1. Micro: Japanese pocket pens, 1960s through 1980s. I'm particularly interested in different models and different nibs. 
2. Macro: Models with major market impact from major makers, any period. 

Though I'm not sure I will even try to complete any of the two, and I seem to enjoy much more making art with these pens than the idea of collecting them. 

[A Smug Dill]

I ordered another two pens today.

1. Now that the first HongDian 100 (in silver colour, with a steel nib; not the original gold-nibbed version with ebonite feed and red body) has arrived, I can see it's a pen that is quite decent, and should be interesting to the subset of “Western” hobbyists who are interested in Chinese fountain pens and purportedly wanting Chinese manufacturers to deliver “original” designs of better quality than the commonplace sub-$10 pen. I can appreciate the manufacturer “proudly” declaring on the cap's exterior that the pen is 中国制造 (i.e. made in China), leaving me no doubt it's not trying to appeal to “Western” consumers who just want Chinese products to be more like with what they are already familiar or used to using, but just want to get the same more cheaply; the HongDian 100 a pen you'd buy because you want to buy and use a glaringly Chinese product (even if just for a change, or to signal to others that you have exotic or esoteric tastes as a fountain pen user).
   
   There was an AliExpress promotion, which concluded three hours ago, offering “10% cashback” on select products, in addition to the usual “$3 off per $30 spent” discount. The offer itself is disingenuous; there is no way to cash in that 10%, the “cashback” amounts are not available until the seller “ships” the qualifying orders, and that “credit” expires at the end of the promotion period. More than half of what I was due was being held up by a tardy seller who hasn't marked my several orders as “shipped”, and I stood to lose all of that, and be forced to “burn” the small amount of credit already awarded (due orders with other sellers who were quick to ship) on some trivial item.
   
   I sent the tardy seller a message, three hours before the end of the promotion period, stating that I will be marking them down to 1-star for shipping speed and customer service when it comes time to rate those multiple orders, and explained the reason why. Surprisingly, I received an apologetic reply within six minutes, and I was promised that they will ship it within two hours (leaving an hour for the system to decide to give me the pending “cashback” credit, and for me to use it up). Even more surprisingly, they actually did it in the timeframe they volunteered.
   
   So, I ordered another HongDian 100 from that seller (and a trivial item from someone else to top up the cart, just to hit a particular spend level to trigger another discount). At the end of the day, this second HongDian 100 pen, along with twenty-five empty 5ml sample vials, cost me US$25 including shipping and tax.
    
2. A PenBBS 308 — in the cheapest colourway listed by Beini on Etsy — as an afterthought, tacked onto my order of six “nib charms” (and a bag of “official” spare parts). That whole lot cost me A$200, and includes four different types of calligraphy nibs, as well as one each of the REF, RF, and RM nibs.

[OldTravelingShoe]

  On 8/27/2022 at 10:32 AM, A Smug Dill said:

includes four different types of calligraphy nibs, as well as one each of the REF

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Haha, which ones you got? I have on my desk, still to try out, #1, #2, #4, and #11. Plus RM (comes with most of their pens), RF (comes with some pens, and I got one), and REF (this one I ordered now). 

 

(Checked notes) Turns out I've tried in Nov 2021 the #1, #3, and RM, in PenBBS 491 pens. 

 

I won't spoil the fun; let me know or just share with all when you're done with your tests 😄