What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[ISW_Kaputnik]

Well, I hadn't bought a fountain pen in something like a year and a half, but I abruptly gave in to two temptations. A factor in both was that they are slim fountain pens, which is something I like. First was a Faber-Castell Neo slim with a medium nib. It was a brand that I didn't have, and this particular model is rather inexpensive. And then I got myself a really slim vintage or semi-vintage pen, a Parker 180. Very cool nib, and I like the simple but elegant design. Supposedly new old stock, and it is believably never before used. Came with one of the old Parker squeeze converters.

[AmandaW]

Totally nuts. I placed enough orders with different UK online stores to trigger my bank placing a temporary block on my card, And this morning I had to call them to get it removed. I hate using the phone. There's a storm, there's no phone reception in the house (rare anyway, lots of cloud cover, forget about it), need higher ground than this valley. So imagine this pen addict standing out on a country road, in the rain, trying to convince the bank's fraud dept that Cult Pens, among others isn't dodgy...

 

The trigger was wanting to complete my set of Rotring ArtPens and having a fomo attack because they appeared to be disappearing. And I found some, one here, two there, etc. And I have a birthday.coming up to get away with such madness with the spouse. Total: four pens over three orders: B, 1.1mm, 1.5mm, 1.9mm. Yet to hear back over the M. (The other three I have owned for years.)

 

Edited to add: the M is confirmed. I will indeed have a complete set of ArtPens. Other than the outrageous lunacy, it's a stress-free purchase because I have been drawing with the ones have for almost five years and find them so tough they are still as new, they never dry out and are so easy to clean they're my first choice for clog-prone ink. I would have been disappointed if I'd never got around to collecting the others and they did disappear. So that's me done - no more pens - for the year. Or two.

Edited July 13, 2020 by AmandaW

[maclink]

Totally nuts. I placed enough orders with different UK online stores to trigger my bank placing a temporary block on my card, And this morning I had to call them to get it removed. I hate using the phone. There's a storm, there's no phone reception in the house (rare anyway, lots of cloud cover, forget about it), need higher ground than this valley. So imagine this pen addict standing out on a country road, in the rain, trying to convince the bank's fraud dept that Cult Pens, among others isn't dodgy...

 

The trigger was wanting to complete my set of Rotring ArtPens and having a fomo attack because they appeared to be disappearing. And I found some, one here, two there, etc. And I have a birthday.coming up to get away with such madness with the spouse. Total: four pens over three orders: B, 1.1mm, 1.5mm, 1.9mm. Yet to hear back over the M. (The other three I have owned for years.)

 

Edited to add: the M is confirmed. I will indeed have a complete set of ArtPens. Other than the outrageous lunacy, it's a stress-free purchase because I have been drawing with the ones have for almost five years and find them so tough they are still as new, they never dry out and are so easy to clean they're my first choice for clog-prone ink. I would have been disappointed if I'd never got around to collecting the others and they did disappear. So that's me done - no more pens - for the year. Or two.

 

Famous last words from an addict!!

[AmandaW]

Famous last words indeed. Broken already for a Kaweco, but not my fault, said the addict.

 

One of the vendors sold me a pen (Artpen B nib) they didn't have and couldn't get from Rotring. Sigh. Instead of a refund I asked for a Kaweco Sport Skyline in grey with an EF nib to accompany the 1.1 and 1.5 ArtPens. Their M had already been out of stock, I knew that and was already looking for one.

 

I found the M at another store - I had already ordered a 1.9mm from them the night before - and was just in time to add it to the order. All good, they were shipped in the morning. So here I am, late in the day, looking at their site again, they did have the B in stock. Or appeared to. So I ordered it... and another lot of shipping... from the UK to Australia. I was so worried they'd find they were out of stock too I couldn't sleep! A bad dream, chasing pens. I got up during the night to check my email. Phew. It's shipped.

 

So that's that. Really. I am indeed completing my set of ArtPens. And getting a Kaweco. Now, no more. Definitely, no more.

 

You wanna see what they're asking for these things on ebay. The gougers are out to make their fortune already. They're an investment. Except I'm getting them to use them. I had to explain this to my husband like this: 'for the same reason you need all those different spanners - a couple of shifting spanners isn't the same'. I will hear no more about it. I hope.

[AoKiu]

- Parker Duofold Centennial Fountain Pen "Big Red" Special Edition (which I got at a bargain ).

- Pelikan nib unit 14K/585 "OBB" for M400/400NN.

Edited July 15, 2020 by AoKiu

[A Smug Dill]

Well, I just impulse-bought a Platinum #3776 Century Bourgogne with a UEF nib. I never had one of the UEF nibs, even though I was mildly interested in getting one early in 2019, and could have bought it much more cheaply then. This one is the ('new') PNB-13000#71 model — not that the changes to the cap ring engraving would matter to me as a user — so, no, I didn't manage to pick it up at the price points previously seen for the PNB-10000#71 model. Silly me. At least they didn't just disappear off the scene like the Sailor pens with the Naginata King Eagle nib...

Famous last words indeed. Broken already for a Kaweco, but not my fault, said the addict.

But you can stop any time you want to.

I was so worried they'd find they were out of stock too I couldn't sleep! A bad dream, chasing pens. I got up during the night to check my email.

My wife would probably say being chased by pens is even more so the stuff of nightmares; she writes fiction outside of her public service day job, and some of her work in horror and children's fiction has been picked up and published. Or maybe being chased by a guy chasing pens.

(I just asked her, and she said, "No, my nightmare is when my darling husband sends pens and inks in a box to give away, but the box goes full circle and comes back to him eventually, and then he adds more items to its contents and spend more money to send it away again." Thank you very much, Amanda, for pre-empting and invalidating the pen part of her horror story!)

So that's that. Really. I am indeed completing my set of ArtPens.

I'm still 'missing' a Platinum #3776 Music nib (out of what I could consider interesting in the range of nib options). I mean, I've already had a Pilot Custom MS nib (and I really didn't enjoy using it, notwithstanding some fellow users claiming that the particular nib even offers some flex as if it was a bonus, and that pen ended up being one of the first I sold off my 'collection') and a Sailor Music nib — which is slightly interesting, but I suppose it's just benefitting from my 'exposure therapy' to Stub nibs over the past couple of years, and it's still not seeing much use at all these days except for addressing envelopes. But who am I to deny Platinum, out of the Japanese 'Big Three', a chance to prove itself to me against its peers?

I had to explain this to my husband like this: 'for the same reason you need all those different spanners - a couple of shifting spanners isn't the same'. I will hear no more about it. I hope.

I can't outsmart my wife like that. Notwithstanding that I've bought her more than fifty pens for her own fleet, since I came back to the hobby. She's 'like', "HUSBAND, I've written these seven pens dry and they need cleaning and refilling (possibly with different colours). No hurry, in a couple of days would be fine. Not before you make dinner for us tonight."

Sigh.

[AmandaW]

 

I'm still 'missing' a Platinum #3776 Music nib

 

I have tested the one we gave our son as a graduation gift (after his honours degree in Music). I wanted to see which italic/ stub it was closest to. Very nice. About 1.5mm. I occasionally see him at the piano with it, writing notes, music ones. Seems fitting.

[A Smug Dill]

I wanted to see which italic/ stub it was closest to. Very nice. About 1.5mm.

 

It's a shame that I've never (personally) come across a modern Japanese or italian gold Italic/Stub nib that writes as nicely, 'smoothly' (simply by not being scratchy) and crisply as the steel Pilot Plumix nibs. Aurora probably stood the best chance, but the Italic nib I got on the rose gold 88 Cento Italia commemorative edition was defective, and I had to send it back to the retailer. So I'm still searching to fill that psychological hole...

[Intensity]

The lowly Lamy Safari/Al-Star Z50 1.5mm nib can be quite excellent too. I was most impressed with mine. Smooth with excellent line variation. In terms of the writing it produced, it certainly competed well with my fancier custom grind gold nibs.

[AmandaW]

The lowly Lamy Safari/Al-Star Z50 1.5mm nib can be quite excellent too. I was most impressed with mine. Smooth with excellent line variation. In terms of the writing it produced, it certainly competed well with my fancier custom grind gold nibs.

Yes I agree. I have been using a Lamy Safari with a 1.9mm nib for my italic practice. I'm looking forward achieving enough accuracy / consistency to earn the privilege of the 1,5mm and I will admit I was quietly interviewing the borrowed Platinum music to see if I might like one eventually. I concluded the horizontal line wasn't as fine as my Lamy Safari 1.5mm and I am thinking my destination nib for ordinary handwriting will likely be much smaller. That is a way off yet. Lots of fun.

[A Smug Dill]

... I was quietly interviewing the borrowed Platinum music to see if I might like one eventually. I concluded the horizontal line wasn't as fine ...

 

 

That is what has been staying my hand from ordering one!

[dogpoet]

My last impulsive pen acquisition was atypical (to put it mildly) as it wasn't a fountain pen and was dirt cheap: one of the current Muji refillable gel pens. I might get a few more of those...

[Intensity]

This year I have bought 2 of my first Pilot VP Decimos, and I loved them. They were everything I wanted my full size Vanishing Point to be. Much more comfortable for my grip. Well, I’m about to impulse-add 2 more while I found the LE ones I want on a good deal. I might need to consider selling my full size VP, though I really like its bold yellow color.

I like using different ink colors, and it’s always a bit of an annoyance to uncap and recap standard fountain pens when swapping colors frequently in the same drawing and writing session. Particularly irritating are all my screw-on caps, of which I have lots. At least my one magnetic closure Jinhao pen is far more satisfying to cap and uncap—and fast. The clicky extension mechanism of Vanishing Points does beat everything else though. Oh and I love the VP nibs! Especially the EF. Springy, good feedback, write easily in reverse orientation, yet sturdy enough where I don’t have to baby them like I do the soft 21K Sailor EF nibs.

[br549]

A burgundy Sheaffer Sagaris. It's my first new new FP purchase in several years and my first modern sheaffer. My only regret is buying it as an open box on impulse to save money, since it came with a broken converter. After paying for a new converter I didn't really save anything, but it's a really nice pen

[inkstainedruth]

Well, today I got an unexpected (so I guess in a way impulsive -- but not necessarily so on my part ) acquisition.

It was a nice day so I decided to hit some antiques places a couple of hours northeast of me, starting with the place I had gotten the Korean-made Pilot and a Laidtone Duofold with a Sheaffer nib on it a couple of years ago. I went there first because their hours were a little iffy even before the COVID 19 lockdown. There was a bit of a commotion outside the place when I got there (around noon today) because some old VW (looked a bit like a Karman Ghia) had broken down (some discussion about an oil leak, I think). So that was in front of the place, but at the moment the main entrance is closed and you have to go in the side door. So I went around to the side and the place did in fact seem open. Only the guy in there seemed to think I was part of the crew with the broken down VW and was b*tching about not being able to ID people coming in wearing masks (I said "I'm a customer -- I'm not part of that crew outside..." and made a joke about a cartoon I saw a while back about "Whew -- some guy came in my store wearing a mask, and he was just there to rob the till...").

Anyway, I poked around the store a bit, and there was a pen in the case by the counter, which I thought at first might be a vintage Estie from the coloration (looked kinda like a cross between an Icicle and a Copper mackerel. Turned out to be some old Waterman with a broken off lever. The nib is pretty grimy but appears to be 14K and in decent shape (it says "Waterman Ideal" as well; the flat style feed appears to have "0 0" stamped in it).

Guy wasn't sure what it was (and I didn't have a loupe with me so I was sort of squinting a bit). I said I didn't know much about Watemans and that it was too bad the lever was broken off and started to hand the pen back to him.

And he told me to keep it....

So now I have YET ANOTHER pen that I've been given out of the blue. No clue what the model is (maybe it is a Waterman Ideal, because it also says "Ideal" as part of the imprint) and probably NOT an exotic nib, either. Some scratches or bite marks on both the cap and the end of the barrel, and I can't tell if the section is sticking out or if there was maybe something like a clutch ring that's now missing. And of course the missing lever, so no clue what shape the sac is in. Still, it was definitely a Waterman and it's now an acquisition.... And definitely an interesting day, to be sure....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[MightyEighth]

I ordered the Aurora Internazionale in both blue and green. I’m going to end up waiting a while since neither was in stock at the respective dealers. Very impulsive. I think COVID has me feeling my mortality. I’ve been selling off another hobby collection I accumulated mostly in the 1990’s, so I’m just exercising a transfer of sorts. Having pens to use is better than stuff sitting in boxes and trunks doing nothing anyway.

[almoore]

The latest impulsive buy was yesterday; a Pilot Custom Heritage 912 with a Music Nib, which is hitching a ride from Japan with DHL.

 

My next impulsive buy will hopefully be a Franklin-Christoph Model 02 in Italian Ice acrylic, some nibs and a nib case, assuming they make anymore Italian Ice models - I tried pleading with them for a custom order but it didn't help.

 

Al

[Karmachanic]

MB 14 BB Saw it yesterday and resisted. That lasted a whole day. Oh well.

Edited July 20, 2020 by Karmachanic

[Mannyonpil]

The majority of my purchases have been on impulse. The more I think about a purchase the more likely I am to remember that I already have more fountain pens than I can use.

[tunney]

 

 

I'm still 'missing' a Platinum #3776 Music nib (out of what I could consider interesting in the range of nib options). I mean, I've already had a Pilot Custom MS nib (and I really didn't enjoy using it, notwithstanding some fellow users claiming that the particular nib even offers some flex as if it was a bonus, and that pen ended up being one of the first I sold off my 'collection') and a Sailor Music nib — which is slightly interesting, but I suppose it's just benefitting from my 'exposure therapy' to Stub nibs over the past couple of years, and it's still not seeing much use at all these days except for addressing envelopes. But who am I to deny Platinum, out of the Japanese 'Big Three', a chance to prove itself to me against its peers?

 

 

 

They look very similar however the platinum slides across the page and the lamy is not as smooth or as enjoyable to write with IMHO