What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[rkesey]

8 hours ago, Teterman2005 said:

Here’s a pic

That's beautiful! Well done.

[mizgeorge]

Conway Stewart 93 in red herringbone - not one that comes up very often so pretty happy about it too!

[JonSzanto]

36 minutes ago, mizgeorge said:

Conway Stewart 93 in red herringbone - not one that comes up very often so pretty happy about it too!

 

That'll be a handsome pickup!

[JonSzanto]

This certainly falls in the category: last night I helped a fellow correct an error in a sales posting, and this morning when I saw the photos appear I ended up buying the pen! A Pen Chalet exclusive LOI in matte black / Blue Hawaii with ruthenium trim. I happen to have one in gloss / Delta Orange, so it will make a nice pairing, and I can swap all the black parts if I feel the desire.

 

[Manalto]

11 hours ago, Teterman2005 said:

...I can only say WOW!!

 

I concur!

[Bikerchick]

3 hours ago, Teterman2005 said:

Thanks Bikerchick!  Sorry for your loss, but you have a priceless artifact to remember them by, which is very special.
 

BTW, I love your signature, I probably need to get some therapy over on the “money-pit-obsession” thread .... basically I could post every pen I buy in this thread because I don’t “need” a bunch of vintage pens and I freak out pretty much every time I bid on a pen or click buy-it-now.  Then I find another one I just gotta have 😜

Thanks Teterman. It was a long time ago, and yes, the fountain pen is a lovely memory. Something tangible that I can use every day. 

Are there really any pens that we "need"? Maybe that first one eh?
Then again, there's worse things to spend your money on. I say: Teach your kids about beautiful fountain pens and they'll never have money for drugs. 😁

 

[mizgeorge]

1 hour ago, JonSzanto said:

This certainly falls in the category: last night I helped a fellow correct an error in a sales posting, and this morning when I saw the photos appear I ended up buying the pen! A Pen Chalet exclusive LOI in matte black / Blue Hawaii with ruthenium trim. I happen to have one in gloss / Delta Orange, so it will make a nice pairing, and I can swap all the black parts if I feel the desire.

 

Haha! I looked at that one too - if there had been international shipping I might have done the same thing - I'm not normally that bothered about new pens, or Italian ones for that matter, but I think a LOI Blue Hawaii is going to come and live with me pretty soon. I just have no willpower...

[Teterman2005]

8 hours ago, Bikerchick said:

Are there really any pens that we "need"? Maybe that first one eh?

So true!!!

 

Here’s another one I really “needed” 😜

 

1929 oversized mottled green balance.  Color is better in person, but still a distinct line on the lower body.  Another lucky eBay purchase, photos didn’t even show the clip or that fantastic nib (!).  Writes beautifully and seriously dwarfs my other sheaffers.  
 

This one kinda makes up for a few (quite a few?!) pens I overpaid for in the heat of COVID-induced-eBay-hysteria (i.e, “it’s the only 5 11/16 inch brown striped white dot short clip 1934 1/2 balance left in the world.....!!!”)

 

I’ll post those later 😉

[JonSzanto]

4 minutes ago, Teterman2005 said:

Here’s another one I really “needed” 😜

 

4 minutes ago, Teterman2005 said:

 

Well, you've got a bit of discoloration but it is very hard to find Jade Green pens from that era that haven't gone a bit brown from the off-gassing. I don't know how you feel about it, but you can consider putting a silicone sac in this one and end any possibility of further darkening. The thing I love about this 1st generation of the Balance is that little bit more length in the barrel with just a bit more taper to it. Hard to realize how revolutionary these pens were. Congratulations!

[Teterman2005]

6 minutes ago, JonSzanto said:

 

 

Well, you've got a bit of discoloration but it is very hard to find Jade Green pens from that era that haven't gone a bit brown from the off-gassing. I don't know how you feel about it, but you can consider putting a silicone sac in this one and end any possibility of further darkening. The thing I love about this 1st generation of the Balance is that little bit more length in the barrel with just a bit more taper to it. Hard to realize how revolutionary these pens were. Congratulations!

Thanks!!  And I’m seriously torn over pulling the sacs on this one and my red-veined pearl balance (and my abalone flake balance....and my other fragile pens....).  Problem is both of these pens came with new sacs, and they write beautifully.

 

I figure after 90 years another six months of outgassing can’t hurt, might as well keep them in the rotation for awhile.  Funny though, I don’t actually hand write all that much, but I like the idea of having usable/functioning pens from 90 years ago that represent a high point in American manufacturing and design!

[JonSzanto]

16 minutes ago, Teterman2005 said:

I figure after 90 years another six months of outgassing can’t hurt, might as well keep them in the rotation for awhile.  Funny though, I don’t actually hand write all that much, but I like the idea of having usable/functioning pens from 90 years ago that represent a high point in American manufacturing and design!

 

I completely understand, as OS Balances are one of my three favored writers. I've somewhat solved that problem by having a couple of black OS Balance and Flattops that are marvelous writers, and I can be a bit careful with some of the others. The one that *came* with silicone and will stay that way, as well as stored separately, is a black and white pearl that has the least discoloring I've ever seen i that material and I want to keep it that way. As to writing, I used a 29 black OS Balance to write a few hundred "get out the vote" letters last Fall. It was a nice way to use that pen and feel like I might accomplish something.

Meh, this is about your pen, not me or mine. Enjoy!

[airstairesc]

I need to stop buying ink.

[Teterman2005]

JonSantzo, I like your solution....MORE sheaffers in greater variety!! I’ve pretty much become a sheaffer nut over the last six months.  
 

I tend to prefer the black vintage pens (at least to start...😜) because they don’t stand out at work and I imagine business folks from the 1930s preferred them as well.  And they don’t have any discoloration or “dissolving into thin air” problems of other celluloids like the green mottled flake.

 

you gotta post a picture of your black and pearl!  Non-discolored sheaffers from that era are pretty stunning.... 

[JonSzanto]

38 minutes ago, Teterman2005 said:

you gotta post a picture of your black and pearl!  Non-discolored sheaffers from that era are pretty stunning.... 

 

[como]

1 hour ago, JonSzanto said:

 

Wow, that's absolutely beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

[Bikerchick]

3 hours ago, Teterman2005 said:

Another lucky eBay purchase, photos didn’t even show the clip or that fantastic nib (!)

 

You bought a pen on Fleabay that didn't have a picture of the nib? You, sir, are a brave man. 
That pen is GORGEOUS though, you lucky so-and-so. 

 

3 hours ago, Teterman2005 said:

(i.e, “it’s the only 5 11/16 inch brown striped white dot short clip 1934 1/2 balance left in the world.....!!!”)

Hahahahaha! Replace "Sheaffer" with "Pelikan" and that's me to a T.

 

 

One of my regular sellers on eBay here in Belgium currently has a Jade Sheaffer Lifetime Senior on sale, but the discoloration is pretty bad. I think I'll hold out for a nicer one. I still have my Sheaffer obsession under control. 

 

I did buy a second copy of a Sheaffer I already had because I like it so much and because it was dirt cheap. 

 

 

The Touchdown filler doesn't work though and from the sound of it, it has a big hole in the sac, something the seller failed to mention. Ah well, it was 20 bucks so it'll make for a cheap little restoration project. 

[Teterman2005]

By FAR the cleanest black/pearl balance ever!!  Really impressive.  Examples like this give you the truest sense of what sheaffer display cases must have looked like in the 1930s....wow 🤩

[Bikerchick]

1 hour ago, JonSzanto said:

 

Holy smokes... that's gotta be one of the prettiest Balances I have ever seen. Amazing! 

[Teterman2005]

7 minutes ago, Bikerchick said:

I did buy a second copy of a Sheaffer I already had because I like it so much and because it was dirt cheap. 

 

I used that same excuse too....except for the “dirt cheap” part unfortunately 😳.  Actually, I’m trying to put together sets of various eras of sheaffers (1930s streamlined white dots, 1940s wide bands, snorkels....hmm maybe touchdowns too and one day a PFM and then some imperials.....arrrgh!). But then I get frustrated because I can only find a black or burgundy plain-jane admiral I already own and then buy it anyway

 

this is a weird hobby

[Bikerchick]

3 minutes ago, Teterman2005 said:

this is a weird hobby

 

Hahahahahaha. Or maybe we're just weird, Teterman.

I know I am! 

What do you think of this beauty?