What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[Puddinhead]

10 minutes ago, DilettanteG said:

Original of Their Time 1935 Jade

How very good for you! Congrats!

[Lam1]

59 minutes ago, DilettanteG said:

Ending 2024 on a high note with my first Pelikan limited edition pen: a used Original of Their Time 1935 Jade. I usually stick to the special editions as spending over a thousand for a pen is a hard limit for me. I just don't think I'd get $1K worth of pleasure out of it, no matter how nice a pen is. I guess all the other bidders were out partying as I scored this for considerably less on eBay. (My husband calls New Year's Eve amateur night and we stay home.)

 

 

 

Congrats! That was a killer price you got!

I was actually going to bid on that one, but got distracted and forgot! 😃

I'm glad you got it!

 

 

[DilettanteG]

Thanks  guys! Fingers crossed it makes it to me okay and Happy New Year!

[Penguincollector]

I just bought a striped celluloid Sheaffer’s. The pictures were terrible, but the stripes were so pretty, I thought it was worth a shot. The seller said “it writes in black ink” so fingers crossed. 

[Doug C]

7 hours ago, MoBe said:

My last spontanous buy was today. I was offered this Caran D`Ache test set 🙂 The nibs are surpringly good and it is fun to have the entire variety of nib sizes. Any stories about these test sets are gratefully received. Happy New Year 

Mobe

Please tell us more with additional photos.

[inkstainedruth]

8 hours ago, DilettanteG said:

Ending 2024 on a high note with my first Pelikan limited edition pen: a used Original of Their Time 1935 Jade. I usually stick to the special editions as spending over a thousand for a pen is a hard limit for me. I just don't think I'd get $1K worth of pleasure out of it, no matter how nice a pen is. I guess all the other bidders were out partying as I scored this for considerably less on eBay. (My husband calls New Year's Eve amateur night and we stay home.)

 

 

Had to look that up.  Not that keen on the Jade -- but the Lapis one?   And maybe that white gold one.  And of course I can't afford even a SMALL size Toledo.... 

Sigh.  Now another pen that I'lm gonna have to wind the lottery to be able to afford....   (This is why I warn new people to the forum about the evil enablers -- threads like this one....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[DilettanteG]

Take a look at the Originals of their time 1931 Toledo. There’s one on ebay for $7500:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/392225251236?hash=item5b52725fa4:g:TgkAAOSwDmxcTzHl&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0Eqsr%2FiIKFGkTg2CChODOYCWQt%2BWA9tZiXCF6c7xfb6ua3lIz28lb1Elig9YLv66NsYLrR5de4gqHa3wD3yr5pO6aAtVDubSmBR7NlsypZe1HxSp5gxtiR76svFysI0MPD0KaMUejYEry4qQ1C8ALO2%2Fy%2F5pkBxTXGQODerAE3JpTmZ9o2j2h0EBsAzFxX%2FDxCLjqVsOWjwpKaiRKo0B4p7kcAC9g6Nko4U7Hs26vOMFe8xj3gncCpfWllmxfJEJ4%2FkJ3ng1H6G8G9vu0ur5I60%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR573-4WZYw

[inkstainedruth]

YOWSA!  And here I thought that my *grail* pen (a Yard-o-Led Viceroy Victorian Standard) was beyond my current price point.... 

And here I'd been thinking of myself as "champagne taste/beer budget".  This makes it more like  "Gatorade budget"....  And they just announced the winning #s for tonight's Powerball drawing, and our ticket?  A big fat zero matches.... Sigh....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[DilettanteG]

It’s a beautiful artisanal object, but I just don’t think there would ever be a place in my life for it. 
 

In fact, I’ve been quite surprised at how many pens range from over a thousand to literally tens of thousands. It’s a whole hidden world. I don’t think I even know anyone who is a part of that consumer base. 
 

I guess it’s the pen you put inside of your albino alligator Hermes Birkin bag.

[JonSzanto]

Within about a day of each other, I picked up a Moore ringtop pencil in black-and-white celluloid (Moore is an important collection item for me), and then I was smitten by a modest Japanese "Comet" because I liked the celluloid and it was not pricey. I think it will be a handsome little pen and I have a nice gold flex nib for it. They should both arrive in about a week.

 

[carola]

4 hours ago, DilettanteG said:

It’s a beautiful artisanal object, but I just don’t think there would ever be a place in my life for it. 
 

In fact, I’ve been quite surprised at how many pens range from over a thousand to literally tens of thousands. It’s a whole hidden world. I don’t think I even know anyone who is a part of that consumer base. 
 

I guess it’s the pen you put inside of your albino alligator Hermes Birkin bag.

 

I am really grateful they did a M101 Toledo and not a M101N Toledo. The M101N would have been VERY tempting for me (fortunately the M101 is not).

Paying over € 1,000 for a fountain pen is okay for me in some carefully selected cases, but that stops when the price reaches about € 2,000 (let alone five digit prices). I think I know one person who actually owns pens in that price category though.

 

(And no Birkin bag for me.)

[DilettanteG]

2 minutes ago, carola said:

 

I am really grateful they did a M101 Toledo and not a M101N Toledo. The M101N would have been VERY tempting for me (fortunately the M101 is not).

Paying over € 1,000 for a fountain pen is okay for me in some carefully selected cases, but that stops when the price reaches about € 2,000 (let alone five digit prices). I think I know one person who actually owns pens in that price category though.

 

(And no Birkin bag for me.)

You were the one who introduced me to the Vintage 101N Toledo and I think I like the design even better than the M700 or M900 Toledo. (Your choice of grail pen is seriously inspiring!) However every version I've seen so far is a little (or a lot) beyond my comfort zone. I'm really enjoying my M101N Brown Tortoise and looking forward to that 1935 Jade, but I like to use my pens and at the Toledo prices I think I'd be too demanding about it being good enough to justify that price. Or constantly worried about losing it. I stress enough over my fancy horses!

 

And if I want to impress non collectors, the only pens they ever recognize are my Montblancs. They are good conversation starters.

[Lam1]

5 hours ago, JonSzanto said:

Within about a day of each other, I picked up a Moore ringtop pencil in black-and-white celluloid (Moore is an important collection item for me), and then I was smitten by a modest Japanese "Comet" because I liked the celluloid and it was not pricey. I think it will be a handsome little pen and I have a nice gold flex nib for it. They should both arrive in about a week.

 

 

Congrats! The nib in that Comet seems to be very, very nice.

 

Moore made fantastic pens with absolutely amazing nibs. They are, unjustifiably, a bit underrated.

[JonSzanto]

3 hours ago, Lam1 said:

Congrats! The nib in that Comet seems to be very, very nice.

 

Moore made fantastic pens with absolutely amazing nibs. They are, unjustifiably, a bit underrated.

 

I'm going to have to wait and see how much corrosion there is on the nib before setting my heart on keeping it in the pen. The pics aren't great but they indicate a steel nib that has seen better days, but I do like the shape. As to the latter comment, they certainly aren't underrated by me!

[Misfit]

Maybe the Moore pens aren’t as well known. I only learned of them thanks to your photos @JonSzanto  They sure look like wonderful pens. 

[Lam1]

10 hours ago, JonSzanto said:

 

I'm going to have to wait and see how much corrosion there is on the nib before setting my heart on keeping it in the pen. The pics aren't great but they indicate a steel nib that has seen better days, but I do like the shape. As to the latter comment, they certainly aren't underrated by me!

 

Nor by me, that's for sure. 😁

 

@Misfit, I believe you are right. They are, for the most part, quality pens, and almost all the ones I've found in the wild (for some reason I always find some around here) have absolutely wonderful flexible nibs.

[JonSzanto]

For @Misfit and @Lam1, since there isn't a dedicated Moore thread, here's a nice set with interesting band pairs.

 

[DilettanteG]

11 minutes ago, JonSzanto said:

For @Misfit and @Lam1, since there isn't a dedicated Moore thread, here's a nice set with interesting band pairs.

 

Stunning!

[Misfit]

@JonSzanto those are so beautiful. I love the material. Maybe there needs to be a Moore thread. I know you have more than a few of these beauties. 
 

If I decided to look for Moore pens, are they like some vintage pens where parts like a cap aren’t right with the rest of the pen?  Or are they mostly always right?

[JonSzanto]

35 minutes ago, Misfit said:

@JonSzanto those are so beautiful. I love the material. Maybe there needs to be a Moore thread. I know you have more than a few of these beauties. 
 

If I decided to look for Moore pens, are they like some vintage pens where parts like a cap aren’t right with the rest of the pen?  Or are they mostly always right?

To the first point, I think there are too few people who have these pens to warrant a specific thread. I wish there was a "Beauties of the Golden Era" thread or something!

 

To the second point... hmmm. I've not seen much of that, though I am pretty careful with looking at auction photos, etc. These are weird to hunt: they turn up as real 'junk drawer' pens sometimes, part of a bunch of listings of miscellaneous antiques from one seller, maybe the only pen. The mid-period celluloid pens, which I have the most of, are usually pretty good quality, so if they are darkly patina'd (that's not a word!) they will clean up. But there are a lot of other caveats - Moore made several lesser and sub-brand pens, which don't hold up quite as well (Belmont is a common one). If you go after their first period (hard rubber safety and eyedropper pens) you can get caught up in the "wrong cap" situation. Finally, the late period of the company saw a distinct drop in quality, and their last attempt to compete - the Fingertip pen - never caught on, and their final pens weren't too good.

 

The sad part is that in the need to have more stock, some of the sellers on eBay and elsewhere are really starting to mark these pens up, and I think my days of finding bargains are mostly over. Still, it's the one item I'm always looking for!

 

(Sorry for the long off-topic post)