What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[Paul-in-SF]

I'm telling stories on myself here. I was recently exposed to the gorgeous materials of some of the Parker Duofold Centennial (and International) pens in a photo thread here on FPN. On careful consideration, I bought one in the Centennial size, and I love it. 

 

Browsing through a search results list on ebay, I saw a photo of a color pattern that I hadn't seen or heard of (Check Olive). The headline said Centennial, and the BIN price seemed a little below normal for these pens, so I leapt on it like a hawk on a hare before it got away. What I didn't notice, in my excessive haste and zeal, was the word "Short" in the title, nor did I notice the photo of the pen next to a ruler. I am pretty certain at this point that it is a size that I didn't know about before called a Demi, 117 mm long capped. So short that it may not take a converter, only Parker mini cartridges. Also, it's coming from Japan, so I'll have plenty of time to consider my sins before I hold it in my hand. Well, live and learn. I hope that it doesn't post any deeper than my Centennial (relatively speaking) so that I can actually write with it. 

[como]

2 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

...

Browsing through a search results list on ebay, I saw a photo of a color pattern that I hadn't seen or heard of (Check Olive). The headline said Centennial, and the BIN price seemed a little below normal for these pens, so I leapt on it like a hawk on a hare before it got away. What I didn't notice, in my excessive haste and zeal, was the word "Short" in the title, nor did I notice the photo of the pen next to a ruler. I am pretty certain at this point that it is a size that I didn't know about before called a Demi, 117 mm long capped. So short that it may not take a converter, only Parker mini cartridges. Also, it's coming from Japan, so I'll have plenty of time to consider my sins before I hold it in my hand. Well, live and learn. I hope that it doesn't post any deeper than my Centennial (relatively speaking) so that I can actually write with it. 

@Paul-in-SFI am sorry to hear about your buying experience. As far as I know, there is no such a model called "Short Centennial". Could you show a link to this listing please? There is no way a 11.7cm long Parker can be called a Centennial. I would still at least try to raise the issue with the seller or to ebay if he refuses. In my dictionary, this would be a wrong description and misleading, intentional or not.

 

On the other hand, recently I bought a Sheaffer Balance Rose Glow, the one with a white dot, in junior size. I got too excited and probably overpaid by a large margin as I didn't pay attention to the size mentioned in the description. That was my own fault. Of course it would have helped if there was a ruler next to the pen in the photo, still it was written clearly in the description of the length capped. It happens sometimes, and sometimes even to professional pen dealers (I am not). It's a pity but I don't get too upset about it, as I know that sometimes I got a good deal too. 🙂 As you said, live and learn.

[mke]

Jinhao 85 in gold-black, gold-blue, gold-red (they are very nice pens) and 2 stain-less steel (not nice, misprinted band and nibs not symmetrically over the feed -> led to a dispute where the seller sold some money back).

Hongdian 960 EF nibs in blue, red and green (very nice pens)

Hongdian 1843 Ocean (blue) and Islands (green) EF nibs - very nice pens

 

a Bock #6 XXF nib in Pt950 (23k) for a custom pen from @Scriptorium Pens

 

-----

Michael

https://www.instagram.com/mkepens/

https://www.instagram.com/mke_pensales/

[Estycollector]

With the number of ads now, no impulsive pen buys but I did accidentally purchase essential bridal gifts, a mattress, and charging carts for schools......lol!! 😂😂😂

[Paul-in-SF]

8 hours ago, como said:

I am sorry to hear about your buying experience. As far as I know, there is no such a model called "Short Centennial". Could you show a link to this listing please? There is no way a 11.7cm long Parker can be called a Centennial. I would still at least try to raise the issue with the seller or to ebay if he refuses. In my dictionary, this would be a wrong description and misleading, intentional or not.

Yes, there are a lot of people who don't know how to parse the various model names of the modern Parker Duofold, especially that there was a model called Demi (in the description headline, it was "Centennial Short" rather than the other way around). I considered asking for the sale to be canceled before it was sent, and decided that I wanted to have the pen anyway, even though I probably overpaid for it. What I've read said this material didn't sell well and didn't last long in the lineup (2 years if I'm not mistaken), so they are probably fairly rare by now, especially in this size. And I still like the material (so far, pending actual in-person experience). 

[bgbarcus]

Bought this old Waterman flex nib off eBay on a whim.  Probably paid too much but it is a nice pen.

[rookie85]

@bgbarcusthat material is awesome!

[ParramattaPaul]

I pre-ordered one of these:  🔥 Items selling fast! (stilform.com)

[BayesianPrior]

It's probably going to be two Pilot 742s.  One in red with any nib, and one in black with a PO nib.  After I swap the nibs, I hope the black 742 with any nib becomes someone else's impulsive purchase!

[mizgeorge]

7 hours ago, ParramattaPaul said:

I pre-ordered one of these:  🔥 Items selling fast! (stilform.com)

I looked at these when they launched the campaign - I'll be very interested to hear how well the closure system works in reality. 

[como]

18 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

..What I've read said this material didn't sell well and didn't last long in the lineup (2 years if I'm not mistaken), so they are probably fairly rare by now, especially in this size. And I still like the material (so far, pending actual in-person experience). 

If you don't mind posting a photo for us later, it would be nice to see it nevertheless. I don't think I've seen one. Thank you!

[Temenos]

Diplomat Aero FP and MP set in black because apparently their steel nibs are *so* amazing. But I'll likely just use them for decoration because that's what they look like.

[Paul-in-SF]

4 hours ago, como said:

If you don't mind posting a photo for us later, it would be nice to see it nevertheless. I don't think I've seen one. Thank you!

Sure, they're sending it FedEx so it won't be as long a wait as I thought. 

[sirgilbert357]

On 5/5/2021 at 11:33 AM, rookie85 said:

I received my first Leonardo MZG and my first Arco Bronze. Brand new, direct from Leonardo. A splurge but I felt I couldn't pass this up. I'm stunned. Absolutely beautiful and check out that big Broad nib! Now the question is what do I ink it with? I've narrowed it down to  Akkerman SBRE Brown or Diamine Ancient Copper. 

 

Gorgeous. My regret at not placing this same custom order just grew a little. I know you will enjoy it thoroughly.

 

I don't have many brown toned inks, but I'd instantly put Edelstein Smoky Quartz in that MZG. I've had my Pelikan Renaissance Brown inked perpetually with Smoky Quartz and it's been flawless.

 

Not the most vibrant or punchy brown ink, but I adore it. You'll find the perfect ink(s) for that Arco MZG, no doubt -- just keep trying different ones.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I swore off new pens but caved when I saw a red and black Pelikan M600 Souveran.  Fine nib.  Beautiful finish, good writer.  

 

All I have to do is swear off pens and an Irresistible pops up.

[inkstainedruth]

On 5/12/2021 at 7:44 PM, Mercian said:

I'm thread hijacking here a bit, but:

If 'Poison Ivy' is a kind of tree, wouldn't banging some copper nails in to its stem/roots cause it to take-up copper in to itself, and die?
Can your husband get hold of any?

 

EDIT TO ADD:
Although, obviously you shouldn't try to do that if it's illegal where you live.

Poison ivy is a vine.  I don't know whether copper nails would work or not, but I can't imagine that there'd be any law against eradicating it.  As for getting copper nails?  Well, if you live someplace where a lot of homes have slate/shale roofs, they're probably easier to find (our old house had a slate/shale roof and we lost some of the original tiles due to a lightning strike and the roofers who came out to do the repairs said it was probably the original roof from when the house was built in the 1920s -- with the original copper nails; they ALSO told us that because we didn't have any large trees around the house, the roof tiles were still in really good shape for the most part except of course for the few where the strike actually happened).

A few years ago there was a scare about giant hogweed possibly moving into my area from other parts of PA (you can get a bad rash from it as well, and it is also really bad for livestock to ingest).  I had some sort of rash on my hand, after working on trimming the hedge along the driveway at the time.  So I contacted the PA Dept. of Agriculture to ask what giant hogweed looked like, and their response was "OMG -- if you have it in your yard let us know ASAP and we'll come out and spray FOR you!"  And they sort of implied that regular household weedkillers wouldn't be strong enough and that they would be showing up in hazmat suits and wielding sprayers with Agent Orange (the stuff the US military used in Vietnam to clear brush). 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[essayfaire]

19 hours ago, ParramattaPaul said:

I pre-ordered one of these:  🔥 Items selling fast! (stilform.com)

I remember checking out a kickstarter for them but it was a while ago and maybe for a predecessor pen.  I didn't jump at the time because they didn't spend enough time talking about how the nibs perform.  Please do let us know!

[ethernautrix]

1 hour ago, inkstainedruth said:

Poison ivy is a vine.  

Apropos your allergy, ISRuth, "today I learned" (or rather someone told me on Sunday) that there is no poison ivy in Poland.

 

So...you know, if you ever think about relocating....




Oczywiście żartuję. 🙂

[rookie85]

@sirgilbert357Thanks! I am not familiar with that ink. I will have to check it out. 

[inkstainedruth]

35 minutes ago, ethernautrix said:

Apropos your allergy, ISRuth, "today I learned" (or rather someone told me on Sunday) that there is no poison ivy in Poland.

 

So...you know, if you ever think about relocating....




Oczywiście żartuję. 🙂

Well, my great grandparents did emigrate from Warsaw....

I really always thought it would be funny if one of my cousins entered some Polish-American beauty pageant I heard about when I was a kid.  She's 1/4 Polish (and 1/4 German) on her dad's side, because he was my dad's older brother. But she's also 1/2 Samoan (on my aunt's side...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth