What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[georges zaslavsky]

  On 9/3/2022 at 8:11 AM, Misfit said:

Wowza, and enjoy those Visconti pens. I’ve been happy with mine. 

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Thanks 😏👍 I will.  

[Tashi_Tsering]

Aurora Marco Polo in steering silver. 

[inkstainedruth]

  On 9/3/2022 at 8:36 AM, carola said:

 

My Pelikan 400s from the 1950s don´t have any markings on the cap band at all, the 400N wears the imprint "Pelikan 400" and the cap bands of the 400NNs say "Pelikan 400 Germany".

 

The only pens that wear the imprint "W.-Germany" are the Pelikans made from 1982 to around 1989/1990. Afterwards it´s "Germany" again.

 

Don´t know about the Merz & Krell, I don´t own any of those.

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Thanks for the information.  I was just surprised, is all.  Especially since a friend of mine was in Germany when re-unification happened -- her husband had gone to West Point, and thought driving an air-conditioned tank around the German countryside doing military exercises was great fun.  But after getting shipped to Kuwait during the first Gulf War a few years later, and driving an UN air-conditioned tank around Kuwait while people were shooting at it with live ammo, he decided that maybe he DIDN'T want to be a career officer after all....

Of course, some other friends went to someplace in the (I think by then) former East Germany to meet a fellow cat breeder, and when they got to the Brandenburg Gate they got told "But, but...  You're AMERICANS!  How could you POSSIBLY know people in EAST Germany!"

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA:  So, does that narrow the timeframe of the 120 to 1960s (as opposed to 1950s)?  I'm a little OCD -- okay, more than a little -- when it comes to the inventory file.  Although I DID get rid of the files of "pen by barrel color" , as being too OCD even for me.....

[carola]

  On 9/3/2022 at 1:54 PM, inkstainedruth said:

Thanks for the information.  I was just surprised, is all.  Especially since a friend of mine was in Germany when re-unification happened -- her husband had gone to West Point, and thought driving an air-conditioned tank around the German countryside doing military exercises was great fun.  But after getting shipped to Kuwait during the first Gulf War a few years later, and driving an UN air-conditioned tank around Kuwait while people were shooting at it with live ammo, he decided that maybe he DIDN'T want to be a career officer after all....

Of course, some other friends went to someplace in the (I think by then) former East Germany to meet a fellow cat breeder, and when they got to the Brandenburg Gate they got told "But, but...  You're AMERICANS!  How could you POSSIBLY know people in EAST Germany!"

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA:  So, does that narrow the timeframe of the 120 to 1960s (as opposed to 1950s)?  I'm a little OCD -- okay, more than a little -- when it comes to the inventory file.  Although I DID get rid of the files of "pen by barrel color" , as being too OCD even for me.....

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I don´t own any 120s and I have never even thought about there possibly being caps with and without imprint. 🤷‍♀️

But there should be a serial number on the barrel near the piston knob. Each 120 has its own serial number, so maybe Pelikan customer service could tell you when your pen was made.

[Runnin_Ute]

  On 9/2/2022 at 1:05 AM, inkstainedruth said:

It's not beveled. And the feed has the channels running along it lengthwise, not across the width of it (which I've seen on older style feeds in general from various brands).  Good to know that the caps are not interchangeable between the older pens and the Merz & Krell produced ones from the 70s.  Which makes me really think it's an earlier model.

What threw me, though, is that the imprint on the cap band (as for the Senator I bought the previous weekend) is that BOTH say "Germany" and NOT "West Germany".  I would have expected that to be a post-reunification marking.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

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my Pelikan 140 and 400NN both from the 1950's, just say Germany. I think the W. Germany thing is later on.

[Penguincollector]

Was at the local bookstore picking up some novels for my dad, saw a pack of Ooly pens and up to the register with them. 

[James-B]

  On 6/19/2020 at 2:00 AM, jmccarty3 said:

Some time ago, I had requested a notice from a dealer in the event that a Pilot Custom Urushi in Vermilion with a Medium-Fine nib became available. Well, the notice finally came today. This is a hard-to-find specimen, and it completes my set of vermilion urushi Pilot/Namikis (No. 50, Yukari Royale, Custom Urushi, and 845), so I overlooked the price and ordered it. This could become my everyday pen at work.

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Congratulations. I own an 823 and 845 and love them so today I started looking at a pilot custom urushi. Price in US was $1,400 I found a Japanese store selling for $850 and then a store alleged to be in Japan on eBay listing it for $675. I was hesitant but he has sold over 800 items and his reviews are great. I have never heard of a fake pilot custom and I know that an 845 sells in Japan (from this site for about $400) so I could not pass and I ordered it. I hope it's the real deal. 

[OldTravelingShoe]

  On 9/3/2022 at 1:54 PM, inkstainedruth said:

:  So, does that narrow the timeframe of the 120 to 1960s (as opposed to 1950s)?  I'm a little OCD

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Then we cannot let this one linger, can we? 

 

Joshua Danley has an amazing series of articles on Pelikan 120, Merz and Krell's production for Pelikan, how to distinguish nibs and collars across time, etc. I want down the rabbit hole with several of my vintage Pelikans, and it was very enjoyable every time. Have fun! 

[OldTravelingShoe]

  On 9/2/2022 at 9:19 PM, BinaEliora said:

My very recent impulsive purchase, recent as in today, are two mechanical pencils. Ever since I bought the Pelikan 400 set (1950s), which includes the 450 pencil (1.1mm leads) I love writing with the pencil. I have modern mechanical pencils (drafting pens) with different lead sizes, but they are somehow not the same. Maybe it is the thick vintage lead. There are the pens:

• Waterman's Red Ripple Mechanical Pencil from the 1920s
• Wahl Decoband Mechanical Pencil from the 1930s in Brazilian Green with Gold Trim

Both pens take 1.1mm leads, which I have plenty of. Now I have to wait...

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Congratulations, @BinaEliora!

 

You are not alone: I too found recently the impulse to buy mechanical pencils next to the vintage pens quite irresistible. The 1.1 mm lead (1.15, 1.18 mm are also names for the same size, afaik) feels funny in hand after years of 0.5 mm, but I'm starting to learn how to use it. Enjoy your pens and please do post photos so we can also enjoy them 😄

[ruby.monkey]

Just grabbed a cheap vintage Aurora 88 on eBay. It may or may not work, but it's complete and at the worst I need parts for another repair.

[inkstainedruth]

  On 9/3/2022 at 4:29 PM, carola said:

 

I don´t own any 120s and I have never even thought about there possibly being caps with and without imprint. 🤷‍♀️

But there should be a serial number on the barrel near the piston knob. Each 120 has its own serial number, so maybe Pelikan customer service could tell you when your pen was made.

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Sadly it, does not.  I gather that because they were considered "school pens" and basically only came in the green barrel with the black cap and piston knob, the serial numbers were done so kids could go "Oh, this isn't MY pen -- this is YOUR pen" (or vice versa).  Although I'm wondering now whether it was something that the individual schools or school districts ordered FOR the students).

I've got the pen inked up with Edelstein Olivine, but am thinking that it's maybe a little wet for the pen (I couldn't find the open bottle of 4001 Brilliant Black (which I now JUST found, roughly a foot and a half from where I'm sitting... ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[carola]

  On 9/4/2022 at 5:27 PM, inkstainedruth said:

Sadly it, does not.  I gather that because they were considered "school pens" and basically only came in the green barrel with the black cap and piston knob, the serial numbers were done so kids could go "Oh, this isn't MY pen -- this is YOUR pen" (or vice versa).  Although I'm wondering now whether it was something that the individual schools or school districts ordered FOR the students).

I've got the pen inked up with Edelstein Olivine, but am thinking that it's maybe a little wet for the pen (I couldn't find the open bottle of 4001 Brilliant Black (which I now JUST found, roughly a foot and a half from where I'm sitting... ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

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Ah, too bad you got one of the models without serial number. Narrowing down the year will be mostly impossible then.

 

I don´t think the schools ordered the pens for the students. In my time it was rather that you got a sheet of paper where every single item you would need for your first day at school was listed. And then you went shopping with your mother at your lokal school supply store.

1 fountain pen (Pelikan preferred)

1 package of blue cartridges

1 pencil

1 eraser

1 ruler (15 cm)

8 lined notebooks A4

2 checked notebook A4

notebook covers in white, yellow, red, green and blue (two each)

several rolls of transparent adhesive plastic sheets to cover the books

...

and so on and so on.

 

As for the fountain pens (there was no using ballpoints or rollerballs) you mainly got Pelikans and the occasional Lamy, which means it wasn´t unusual most of the class ended up with the same kind of pen. When I started my first year of school, we had Pelikanos that came basically in two colours, blue and red with silver caps. The girls in class had a tendency towards red, the boys towards blue.

 

[inkstainedruth]

Hmmm.  Sounds as if that Pelikan may have worked it out with the stores then: if you live in X town, and attend Y school, you're most likely going to be shopping in Z store for supplies; and I presume that Pelikan may have provided a certain range of numbers for the pens -- or maybe the engraving was done by the stores themselves?

That's not how school districts in the US work -- or at least not the ones I've lived in.  While stores like the local Target location will have school supply lists for different school districts, there's no guarantee that a particular family would shop in that specific location,  Just too many options.  It does however, sound sort of like how local clothing stores keep lists of who bought what dress for a high school prom (so you're not buying the same dress someone else did).  Or so I understand (I didn't go to mine).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[inkstainedruth]

Today's impulsive acquisition was a black Parker 21 with what might be an EF nib (hard to tell if it was an F or EF.  I had seen a photo in an estate sale listing and I thought it *might* be a Parker (but there was no way to enlarge the photo, and the image was pretty blurry.  It was in a town about 20 minutes downriver so not a horrible trip and didn't start as early as some companies' sales do (other than the fact that I got woken up about 2:30 AM to a thunderstorm that sounded as if it was right over my house, and there was a fair amount of ponding of water on the road I had to take to get there).  Got to the place (an apartment above a store, and you had to in through the storefront to the back stairs) at least 20 minutes before the estate sale people did (!) during which time we had another deluge (but not as strong a storm as the one that woke me up, and I was able to turn around and park right in front of the store at that hour).
Ended up with a black Parker 21.  Not sure that ten bucks was the greatest price on the planet, and I'll have to look at the tipping with my loupe (I forgot to bring it with me this morning) but hey well....  It did not seem to have any cracks in the barrel or hood, and I'm hoping the sac inside the squeeze filler is in good shape.  

In the meantime, I now have tracking information from the seller of the "brown" 51 I won on eBay this past week, and the USPS website said the ETA is Wednesday night (we'll see, given that today is Sunday and tomorrow is a holiday).  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Driften]

To celebrate fishing up writing my 7th novel, I of course bought a pen. After checking my usual go to web sites I just didn't find anything that jumped out at me. Then I went to a site I don't often visit and they handle tow brands I don't have any pens from. It came down to a Conway Stewart or Onoto. The pen I selected was a Conway Stewart Churchill in Stardust Blue. I should have it on Wednesday. I do expect I'll pick up an Onoto sooner than later  

 

[ParramattaPaul]

  On 9/5/2022 at 6:18 AM, Driften said:

To celebrate fishing up writing my 7th novel, I of course bought a pen. After checking my usual go to web sites I just didn't find anything that jumped out at me. Then I went to a site I don't often visit and they handle tow brands I don't have any pens from. It came down to a Conway Stewart or Onoto. The pen I selected was a Conway Stewart Churchill in Stardust Blue. I should have it on Wednesday. I do expect I'll pick up an Onoto sooner than later  

 

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Both are great pens.  I have a Churchill and a Magna, love them both.

[txomsy]

My congratulations on both, finishing your novel and getting such a beautiful pen.

[como]

  On 9/5/2022 at 9:01 AM, txomsy said:

My congratulations on both, finishing your novel and getting such a beautiful pen.

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+1. The CS Churchill model and the stardust material look great!

[ruby.monkey]

Mine is rather less grand - an Osmiroid 65 aerometric-filler set with the Indian-ink music nib and feed removal tool.

[Driften]

  On 9/5/2022 at 7:25 AM, ParramattaPaul said:

Both are great pens.  I have a Churchill and a Magna, love them both.

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It's a Magna model I'm interested in. I'm into oversized pens these days. The one thing I don't like about that model is the 3+ turns to uncap.  I still want one though