What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[Mercian]

16 hours ago, Arthur Pewty said:

His website mentions that he designed this pen for Zebra in 1990. But who were "E & B", and how were they connected to Zebra?

I think that if I were you I would contact Barrie Weaver, and ask him!

 

What is the full text on the tag that is attached to the pen/printed on the fabric lining inside the lid of the box?
Does it give any hint about what industry/business ‘E&B’ were involved in?

 

If you can find that out, you may then be able to identify them by searching on:

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk

 

If you find a likely contender there, it will give you a bit more to put into a search engine.

[deuter]

I bought this on ebay, writes very toothy, apparently a steel nib with Maki-e.

Do we believe its true? I'am unsure you can help me decide.

The nib says Sailor F2 and the bracing on the pen says Sailor  - Made in Japan.

 

Would you know what this pen is? 
 

 

[Arthur Pewty]

5 hours ago, Mercian said:

What is the full text on the tag that is attached to the pen/printed on the fabric lining inside the lid of the box?
Does it give any hint about what industry/business ‘E&B’ were involved in?

 

The box and the tag both say:

E & B

London

B K Weaver Collection

Fine Items Established 1986

 

They sound like a store for upscale accessories. But two initials isn't much to go on.

 

[Surlyprof]

While we were at Stilo Fetti in Rome, my wife and I bought our niece a bright red Kaweco Sport to match the red purse she had bought and was so excited about.  When we returned to their cafe table she was so excited to add the ink cartridge and try it out.  I was shocked at how quickly it started writing after adding the cartridge.  She started covering a page of her journal and was so thrilled to have a fountain pen.  I guess we can add one more convert to our ranks!

[Armo]

A German piston filler for a tenner. How could I resist. Turns out it was a nightmare to clean as the ink had solidified and plastic piston head had come away, thought I was beaten but it eventually yielded. It has a nice springy nib and is more Reform rather than Pelikan in quality.

 

[Merrick]

On 6/11/2024 at 12:42 PM, Merrick said:

I needed one more item to get free same day shipping on an Amazon order so I’ve got a Wing Sung 630 coming today. 😆

 

The nib on mine was disappointing, skipping and with hard starts after being capped for even just a little while. I like the size of the nib and the size of the pen but I was not inspired to fix the faulty nib so it's getting returned. I find I'm getting quite picky with nibs these days.

 

[awa54]

On 5/27/2024 at 2:50 AM, Karmachanic said:

 

A whisper of 10,000 wet/dry on the tipping will add a touch of Sailor like feedback. Hold the paper in hand and give the tipping a gentle flick. Test, and repeat if required.

 

 

I just scored one of the Amazon Japan Sailor deals, with a sub $70USD Pro Gear slim in the Shikiori Manyo green (new imprint medium 14kyg nib).

 

it had such an aggressively coarse page feel that I wound up having to detail polish the nib tipping with 0.3micron lapping film...  now it writes nicely and still has a bit of feedback, likely due to the porosity in the tipping that I saw under the microscope, while smoothing this very roughly textured nib.

 

Great pen at a fantastic price, but I would have sent it back if I didn't have the ability to correct the terrible tip finish

[Karmachanic]

35 minutes ago, awa54 said:

I would have sent it back if I didn't have the ability to correct the terrible tip finish

 

One man's meat is another mans poisson 🤪.  Or something like that.

There are those who adore that iconic Sailor feedback.

[JonSzanto]

I caught this little Petite ringtop Sheaffer Balance in Blue (and black) a few days ago, and it showed up just yesterday. Very nice condition, I clicked on the BIN as soon as I saw it, and must have seen it before anyone else. Too cute to pass up. Pictured with a Sailor Pro Gear Realo for scale:

[Misfit]

Very cool find @JonSzanto

[JonSzanto]

56 minutes ago, Misfit said:

Very cool find @JonSzanto

 

Thank you. There are sill a few delights to be had.

[awa54]

18 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

 

One man's meat is another mans poisson 🤪.  Or something like that.

There are those who adore that iconic Sailor feedback.

 

As I mentioned, this particular example had a far coarser feel on the page than any other Sailor I've used. Under the microscope, the tipping showed a distinct raised texture, almost like a *very* coarse sandblast. Most Sailor gold nib tipping just has a faint frosted appearance, which has far less affect on the writing experience, yet still gives the feedback that some folks seem to enjoy (modern era only, since older Sailor nibs are glass smooth, like every other major maker strives for).

 

...and yes, I prefer boeuf or poulet to fish most days

[Penguincollector]

17 hours ago, JonSzanto said:

I caught this little Petite ringtop Sheaffer Balance in Blue (and black) a few days ago, and it showed up just yesterday. Very nice condition, I clicked on the BIN as soon as I saw it, and must have seen it before anyone else. Too cute to pass up. Pictured with a Sailor Pro Gear Realo for scale:

  That’s adorable! I love little pens with striking patterns in the materials. 

[Penguincollector]

On 6/11/2024 at 7:43 PM, deuter said:

I bought this on ebay, writes very toothy, apparently a steel nib with Maki-e.

Do we believe its true? I'am unsure you can help me decide.

The nib says Sailor F2 and the bracing on the pen says Sailor  - Made in Japan.

 

Would you know what this pen is? 
 

 

 

  I have Sailor F-2 nibs on my Clear Candy pens from the 2010s. This is probably from around the Sailor 100th anniversary time, but I don’t have more information, you could try emailing Sailor with pictures. They used to have a section of pens from the past, but I don’t see it on their website anymore. Maybe someone else knows if it’s still accessible.

[awa54]

It's a beauty though!

[awa54]

On 6/11/2024 at 10:43 PM, deuter said:

I bought this on ebay, writes very toothy, apparently a steel nib with Maki-e.

Do we believe its true? I'am unsure you can help me decide.

The nib says Sailor F2 and the bracing on the pen says Sailor  - Made in Japan.

 

Would you know what this pen is? 
 

...

 

 

It certainly looks like a Profit Jr./Compass with screen printed "maki-e" art. The nibs on this type have had several different imprints over the years so the one on your pen doesn't seem unusual IMO, just indicates it's an older version of the type.

I think I have one of these with maki-e style art and a brush tip, instead of a nib, though I'd have to check to be certain it isn't a Platinum (pretty sure, the faux maki Plat I own is a 2 color ballpoint).

 

Re: the toothy nib, this almost certainly isn't intentional, since every steel nib from Sailor that I've used is dead smooth. It probably just needs to have the tip alignment corrected, but could be rough due to modifications or excessive wear.

[inkstainedruth]

No pix yet, but I've got one of this year's Lamy al-Star SE pens coming in the mail (the Aquatic).  I had gotten a coupon in the mail from Pen Boutique recently (10% off an order, with a few limitations) and I wanted to buy enough to hit the threshold for free shipping while still getting the discount (also bought some back up bottles of ink and one or two that I'd only tried as samples).  Not a great selection of nibs available, so I went through the list of Safaris & al-Stars (plus the one LX) in the stash to see which I already had too many of a particular nib width, and ended up opting for the medium nib.

Then, this morning, hit an estate sale down river and lucked into a couple of Snorkel desk pens -- not sure what the nib width(s) are on them yet, and one of them is definitely needing work because the Snorkel tube won't fully retract (I didn't even know Snorkels CAME as desk pens).  And in the bottom of the box were a couple of the thin squeeze style converters (wondering now if the Snorkels, which still had little cardboard tubes over the nibs, were in the box by mistake and that the two pen desk set -- not sure what the model of those were, but all 4 were white dot pens -- next to the box were actually supposed to go in the box instead of the Snorkels.

And the two pens and a nice little embossed leather covered Oberon notebook (the paper seems decent), and an old LP by Nick Drake -- Five Leaves Left (which I was never able to find on vinyl back in the day) set me back a whole nine bucks US!   I know the records albums were all $3 each, but the pens and the journal weren't marked.  But that's the price the guy running the same quoted me for everything -- so the journal was basically also $3 and that means that the two pens (and the rather nice box, and the two converters in the bottom) were ALSO $3 for all of that.  

Can't beat $1.50 apiece for a couple of Snorkels....   *PLUS* the converters, which might fit the Sheaffer Fashion I got at another sale recently but seem to have misplaced (the converters look thin enough to be like the one that was installed in the Fashion when I got *it*).

The other estate sale I went to, plus 3 yard sales, were pretty much all complete zeros as far as finding ANYTHING I wanted to buy (except for the one up the street from the first estate sale, where I'd forgotten to look at a couple of coat rack stands -- but found a nicer one at the first yard sale); but I'd already scored big time at the first sale (and weirdly, was only the second person in line when I got there -- even having to detour to a gas station to get air in the tires because we had a cold snap last night: when I left the house, at about 6:15 AM or so, the outside temperature on the dashboard was listed at 55°F).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[deuter]

4 hours ago, awa54 said:

 

 

It certainly looks like a Profit Jr./Compass with screen printed "maki-e" art. The nibs on this type have had several different imprints over the years so the one on your pen doesn't seem unusual IMO, just indicates it's an older version of the type.

I think I have one of these with maki-e style art and a brush tip, instead of a nib, though I'd have to check to be certain it isn't a Platinum (pretty sure, the faux maki Plat I own is a 2 color ballpoint).

 

Re: the toothy nib, this almost certainly isn't intentional, since every steel nib from Sailor that I've used is dead smooth. It probably just needs to have the tip alignment corrected, but could be rough due to modifications or excessive wear.

Thank You for the feedback, it is slowly smoothing out as I write more with it.

[dms525]

On 6/14/2024 at 3:36 PM, JonSzanto said:

I caught this little Petite ringtop Sheaffer Balance in Blue (and black) a few days ago, and it showed up just yesterday. Very nice condition, I clicked on the BIN as soon as I saw it, and must have seen it before anyone else. Too cute to pass up. Pictured with a Sailor Pro Gear Realo for scale:

 

Congratulations! That's a pretty little pen. But the Realo is stunning. I don't recall ever seeing one with a different colored barrel.

 

David

[JonSzanto]

10 hours ago, dms525 said:

 

Congratulations! That's a pretty little pen. But the Realo is stunning. I don't recall ever seeing one with a different colored barrel.

 

Thanks, David. The Realo is really a pen close to my heart, the first limited edition pen I purchased and done so because it was from Mottishaw. This is #25 of 88 made for him in this combination of colors, and the cap ring is engraved "20 YEARS CFP NIBS.COM" (CFP being Classic Fountain Pens, the name of his business). He put a mild italic on the M nib, and there is not another pen in my large-ish collection that writes better, or has been inked *continuously* since purchase, this one in 2016. I'm very glad you like it.