What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[PithyProlix]

3 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

the code on the bottom of the feed says "65" which I think means "fine"

 

Yes, 65 = F.

 

If it has flat, instead of 'dished', tassies, those are the earlier production ones. Metal section threads are the earliest production and considered very collectable. 

 

Awesome find!

 

1 hour ago, awa54 said:

I picked up an all stainless "octanium" nibbed USA made Parker 75 and a two-tone cartridge fill 2nd gen Parker 61 Flighter from a favorite Ebay seller last week.

 

The c/c fill 61 is actually the 3rd version. The 1st version is longer and has a very thin ring between the section & barrel. (I collect this version - though not as intently as other pens.) The 2nd version is the same length as the 3rd and has the same ring as the 3rd.

 

Yeah, probably the main reason I have hesitant about the 61 is the section shrinkage issue. 

 

Congrats!

 

Except for a small handful of metal finishes, I'm mostly interested in lacquered P75s and have been trying to sell of some metal finish versions. Th P75 was probably the most popular fountain pen ever in Thailand and we see a lot of them, but not many lacquered ones, unfortunately.

[OCArt]

I just won an auction for a lovely ca 1969 Montblanc 84. Can't wait for it to arrive!

 

[Penguincollector]

Ooh, that’s a pretty one, @OCArt! 

[OCArt]

@PenguincollectorProtoPens (not who I bought it from) says this about the 84:

"This pen when launched was nearly twice the price of the current 149 model and far more expensive then the 142, 144, 146 and all 3xx and 2xx modes. The pen was designed by the famous BMW car designer Albrecht Graf Goertz who was hired by Montblanc to design the XX series. These pens are what defined the the modern pen styles, and are still one of the best destined pens in the world. This pen is one of the best build quality pen all time, as you can see from the catalog picture, Montblanc was offering a life time warranty. The pen has the most complex build with more then 20 parts. The pen is made out metal base and finished with thick 14K gold fill, extremely high shine and gloss and extremely heavy. The nib is stunning 18K 750 solid gold and bigger compared to the other nibs of this line, 18K - marked "14"- 750" engraving in the middle of the nib. The nib is EF, very precise very sharp but flexible. This nib will produce some of the most amazing writing, with thin and tick lines on every stroke. The pen also features a beautiful see-through yellow over blue ink window. Besides this, the front grip section is semi-transparent, very dark grey color. This gives the pen some unique deep mirror look instead of simply black plastic. Montblanc signature stars on both cap and turning knob. The pen has a perfect grip, and due to its weight has a perfect balance and feel, it glides over the paper effortlessly. Slip on/off cap for faster deployment. The piston had been serviced and is perfectly smooth, with its original silicone cork, and takes up very good amount of ink. The pen is in excellent condition. There is some minor gold ware-off on the cap, but barely visible. There is also one small depression where the clip touches the cap, this is very common on these pens, and its also barely visible and non-compromising what so ever. If you want to own a true piece of history, one of the most beautiful and rarest pens, a pen that can outperform anything with a style, this is that pen."

 

Wow, twice the price of the 149!  That's surprising to me.

[awa54]

1 hour ago, PithyProlix said:

....

 

Except for a small handful of metal finishes, I'm mostly interested in lacquered P75s and have been trying to sell of some metal finish versions. Th P75 was probably the most popular fountain pen ever in Thailand and we see a lot of them, but not many lacquered ones, unfortunately.

 

 

I own a French made "thuya" lacquer pen, not sure if it's a last gasp 75, or the extremely similar named model that allegedly followed... I bought it new at a Staples in the early 90s, for under $50.

That finish shows up quite frequently in auctions, so it must have been one of the most common variants. Mine still finds its way into the rotation occasionally.

 

Ahh, now that I look more closely, I see that the entire 3rd gen of the 61 is defined by CC filling, I had somehow thought they overlapped with the capillary filler.

[Misfit]

8 hours ago, AmandaW said:

I'm getting a Dark Brown Lamy Studio with an EF nib. Wasn't even on my radar. Long forgotten, even though I liked it when released as a SE / LE a few years ago. Black Friday thing...

I have that pen. I hope you enjoy yours when it arrives. 

[PithyProlix]

6 hours ago, awa54 said:

I own a French made "thuya" lacquer pen

 

I have thuya and bugundy so can't say I have a collection of lacquered 75s, only the intent. I'm waiting patiently for others to show up. 

[Armo]

My first Mabie Todd. An English Swan SM1/57.

The nib and feed were toast but I bought a few busted up pens a while back for the nibs and it paid off as I found a No1 oblique nib and SM1 feed amongst them, also had a sac to hand so it's up and running.

[carola]

33 minutes ago, Armo said:

My first Mabie Todd. An English Swan SM1/57.

The nib and feed were toast but I bought a few busted up pens a while back for the nibs and it paid off as I found a No1 oblique nib and SM1 feed amongst them, also had a sac to hand so it's up and running.

 

Very cool! I like the colours of this little beauty...

[ParramattaPaul]

3 hours ago, Armo said:

My first Mabie Todd. An English Swan SM1/57.

The nib and feed were toast but I bought a few busted up pens a while back for the nibs and it paid off as I found a No1 oblique nib and SM1 feed amongst them, also had a sac to hand so it's up and running.

Great job saving a Swan.  It's not like they are making more, so every one saved is a plus.

[Tashi_Tsering]

Montblanc Masterpiece 142 from 1950s. 

The smallest of the 14x series. The body is celluloid, the central part is discolored.

 

Next to Montblanc 146. Just 12.5cm length (capped)

 

The cap says "masterpiece" not "meistersuck"

 

No. 2 nib next to modern no. 6

 

The pen is very heavy for such a small size, about 26 grams (weighs like a modern 146). 
 

I am happy, a very nice pen.

 

[Penguincollector]

  That’s an adorable pen, @Tashi_Tsering!

[Penguincollector]

  For my part, I found a Shining Blue Sailor Profit I liked on Amazon Japan for $58 and change. It’s the old style nib in the picture, 14k.  A stocking stuffer, said my husband. 

[inkstainedruth]

17 hours ago, awa54 said:

 

 

Did you have to wear a mask and point a firearm suggestively to get that price?!?

 

First off, don't use paste silver polish on this set!! aside from being a huge PITA to get all the dusty residue out of the grid pattern, it will lighten all of the metal, which means your grid won't have any contrast until the low points tarnish again.

You can just write with it, which will brighten all the places your hand contacts the pens, or you can get a silver polishing cloth (many jewelers will give them out free as promotional items, or sell them cheaply), which will get the high points brightened up quickly and without the mess of polish (or the unwanted brightening of the incised portion of the grid).

 

Second, IIRC the matching ball pen is one where the entire top of the pen is the "button" for extending/retracting the point. you may need to screw the halves back together without a refill in and "click" it to retract the mechanism, which will allow you to fit a refill easier.

It might also just be a case of the return spring (that goes around the end of the refill) not going back in the barrel correctly, or the tip of the refill jamming in the spring, rather than playing nice and centering its self as intended.

 

Nice find, $100 would have been a great price for that set if it isn't beat up, or broken!!!

Thanks for the info (especially about the 75 BP).  

No masks or weapons were involved  -- $15 was the price tag the estate sale people put on the box!  I forget how much they were asking for the stuffed Micky Mouse wearing sunglasses and holding a toy electric guitar, still in the original box... but I could have paid more for a Star Wars collectible ornament (also in the original packaging) than I did for the pen set!  And I paid WAY more on eBay a few years ago for *just* the pen I bought on eBay -- and thought I did pretty well at that because I was apparently the only bidder.  I'd seen a couple at tables at OPS that year where the sellers were asking $75, but I was still trying to educate myself about the differences: early model (with the flat tassie) vs. later; US production vs. French; what the nibs on them were, etc.  

Of course, neither of my 75s were NOS (at least, pretty sure about the one from EBay -- the FP I got yesterday had a dead cartridge installed so it clearly had been used by the former owner.

I'll look into seeing about getting one of those silver polish cloths, too (hopefully sometime next week -- I think the driveway people are supposed to be back sometime tomorrow; Tuesday I've got a dentist's appointment (hopefully to just stick the crown back place) and then have choir rehearsal Tuesday evening; Wednesday morning we have a meeting with the financial guy about getting me signed up for Social Security and Medicare before the last minute (and to make sure the stock my husband just sold to pay for the REST of the driveway work (not budgeted because the guy making the bid didn't take into account the fact that we have to build a WALL alongside the upper slope  -- effectively DOUBLING the price -- which was pricy to begin with).  And then do prep cooking for Thanksgiving the rest of the day (we're having Thanksgiving with friends in the next county at their house).  And then on Saturday?  We go to the wake/memorial for another friend....  I expect my husband may be something of a basket case and I may have to drive home....  And I don't even know yet where and what time the thing is.  Oh, and we left stuff behind at the thing we went to last weekend  -- a cup of mine, the book I won in the silent auction, and our pillows (it was at a scout camp and everyone was staying in dormitory space and I didn't realize that the pillows didn't get packed because I thought my husband was dealing with it (we were in rooms across the hall so we could both have bottom bunks).  He'd sent out mail asking if anyone was going to an event about an hour and a half northeast of here today, and had gotten no response.  So he called the woman who ran the event last weekend, and it turned out that a friend of ours is supposed to be going, so they'll send the stuff home with her and I guess we'll get it all from her (hopefully tomorrow or Monday) and that will give us an excuse to figure out where she's now living since she just moved. 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[inkstainedruth]

@PithyProlix You know, I didn't even notice until you mentioned it to LOOK to see whether the tassie was flat or dished   -- I was just too giddy about the price, and too concerned about what was wrong with the BP in the set.

And so I just checked and it's a flat tassie!  (and of course yesterday I was too busy goggling over the amazing price to even *think* about whether it was an earlier or later model pen, or if it was US or French production -- it's US, BTW -- or even really consider whether or not I actually NEEDED a second sterling Ciselé 75...; turned out that I did... ).

Ironically, the Ciselé finish was the only 75 I actually liked enough to want in the first place.  And now I have two: early model US-made, and later model French-made.   And the average of the prices I paid was less than the one I saw at an estate sale a few years ago (which I passed up on because I realized I just didn't know enough about that model) -- even after a friend of mine (the person who gave me the Pelikan M200 with the Bayer logo on it as a gag gift, not realizing how much an M200 was worth, since she got it on Freecycle) called me up about the estate sale because it was on the other side of town from where she lived (she also told me about a spinning wheel at that sale, but I never got in the house to look at it -- the line was around the corner when I got there -- roughly an hour before the doors opened -- and the "pickers" were going in, bringing out stuff to put on the lawn and then going BACK IN, while the rest of us were freezing our butts; the estate sale people were only letting a few people in at a time because it was apparently a "hoarder house" situation...). 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Tashi_Tsering]

10 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

  That’s an adorable pen, @Tashi_Tsering!

Thank you!

[TheseAreMyPens]

On 11/20/2024 at 7:13 AM, Misfit said:

I rejoined Reddit because it’s really the only place I’m willing to join to see Travelers Notebooks and comments. Someone had their Pilot Metropolitan gray Houndstooth pen laying on their TN. I did not start the day wanting a Pilot Metro pen. I have 5 that I don’t use much. But Jet Pens sold  it with the CM nib at the same price as those with F and M nibs. 
 

(Read this part fast) What could I do? Add more items to get to free shipping, then use PayPal to redeem $10.95 cashback money to help pay. 
 

(Back to normal speed) I got the fountain pen, a Zebra Midliner in mild lavender, a Life A6 Vermillion notebook, some Neox lead for the Pentel Twist-Erase mechanical pencils I found on my Dad’s desk, and a Sakura eraser. The Life Vermilion notebook will join the Life A6 Pistachio notebook I already have. 
 

I’ve been using my Dad’s mechanical pencils, and wearing my Mom’s jewelry to feel close to them as I miss them so much. 

I feel for you, Misfit. The holiday season is difficult in its own devilish way when it comes to missing loved ones. I approach a solitary Xmas this year - even my very-much-alive partner cannot be here - and I have found solace in an unexpected holiday purchase of a secondhand early 2000s Montblanc 146. I have always shunned Montblanc for various reasons and am largely a Japanese nib and pen devotee, with the occasional Italian thrown in. But this pen has an oblique double broad nib and is a true delight. 

[carola]

Today, I saw an e-mail that Appelboom has Black Friday offers and thought, ah, yes, I'll just have a look, there probably won't be anything I need anyway.

Errm... well.

 

In fact there were quite a few reduced pens where my reaction was "oh, nice actually", but then I fell in love with the colour of the Tibaldi No. 60 Retro Zest.

https://appelboom.com/tibaldi-no-60-retro-zest-fountain-pen/

And then, scrolling on, there popped up the Nahvalur Voyage Quebec.

https://appelboom.com/nahvalur-voyage-quebec-le-fountain-pen/

I have been tempted to buy this one since I have first seen it. I love the colours and I have lived in the Province of Quebec for a year when I was 16/17 years old, so... sigh.

I got a BB nib on the Tibaldi, a Stub on the Nahvalur, "Tune & Smooth" for both and there is an additional 10 % discount to be had if you type in "Friend" at the coupon code section at the checkout.

 

So... two more pens because of curiosity and "ah, there won't be anything I need". Well done... 🙃🙈

[Misfit]

19 hours ago, TheseAreMyPens said:

feel for you, Misfit. The holiday season is difficult in its own devilish way when it comes to missing loved ones

Thank you very much for your words. I’ve only spent one Thanksgiving meal alone. But that was just the meal. I’ve never been alone for Thanksgiving and Christmas, as will be happening. 
 

I don’t know where I’m at in grieving. I miss them, and want them back, but back as they were in 2014 at the earliest. But that won’t happen, because this is the normal progression in human life. 

[Gloucesterman]

7 hours ago, carola said:

Today, I saw an e-mail that Appelboom has Black Friday offers and thought, ah, yes, I'll just have a look, there probably won't be anything I need anyway.

Errm... well.

 

In fact there were quite a few reduced pens where my reaction was "oh, nice actually", but then I fell in love with the colour of the Tibaldi No. 60 Retro Zest.

https://appelboom.com/tibaldi-no-60-retro-zest-fountain-pen/

And then, scrolling on, there popped up the Nahvalur Voyage Quebec.

https://appelboom.com/nahvalur-voyage-quebec-le-fountain-pen/

I have been tempted to buy this one since I have first seen it. I love the colours and I have lived in the Province of Quebec for a year when I was 16/17 years old, so... sigh.

I got a BB nib on the Tibaldi, a Stub on the Nahvalur, "Tune & Smooth" for both and there is an additional 10 % discount to be had if you type in "Friend" at the coupon code section at the checkout.

 

So... two more pens because of curiosity and "ah, there won't be anything I need". Well done... 🙃🙈

I saw several items that looked good, but it looks like they charge $29.00 for shipping to the U.S. (orders less than 250 Euros - not $$) and there is an added charge (fee) if I want to use PayPal. So I end up paying about $45.00 on top of the cost of the pens. It's cheaper than picking them up in person BUT a bit too much for S&H - imho.

Thanks for the pointers to specific pens... enjoy them both, they look really nice.