Hello And How Do I Help This?!?

[PenovertheSword]

How's it going everyone! MY name is Jon and I just got into fountain pens about 6 months ago. I have always liked writing with rollerballs more, and was curious about fountain pens before deciding to just get a cheap one.

 

So far I have 6 pens:

A Lamy Safari Neon Yellow limited edition with a Fine nib

A Jinhao x450 Red/Black that leaks from the section and I don't use anymore

A Jinhao x750 Shimmer Sands that I absolutely love

A Waterman Kultur Demonstrator Fine nib that despite being the hardest starter in the world, is still my favorite

A Kaweco Sport Ice Green medium nib

and a Noodler's Charlie eyedropper that came with Noodler's Heart of Darkness.

 

I HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM I DO NEED YOUR HELP WITH!!!

 

To all those who purchase/ have purchased expensive fountain pens, how do I justify buying a $400 dollar pen when my most expensive one so far has been a Lamy Safari? How do I justify $400 by itself for a single pen?!? I really want an Omas Ogiva cocktail before they disappear in a few months...

 

 

[Chrissy]

You can only justify it if you can afford to spend that amount.

 

Once upon a time I had a collection of different FP's and BP's. In order to afford my first Montblanc BP, I sold almost all of my collection.

 

Now many years later I have another collection. I still regularly upgrade by selling pens that I don't use.

[northstar]

Hello and welcome to FPN.

[Clancy]

Hello Jon. Greetings form northern California and a warm welcome to FPN. Glad you've joined us; it's great to have you here.

[PAKMAN]

Hello and Welcome to FPN!! Glad to have you as a member!!

 

Many folks buy several $30-50 pens then several $100, then several $200 pens then eventually work up to $400 pens. You will save a bunch by just going ahead and getting a $400 pen. How does that work for an impromptu justification. LOL

[notVirtuThe3rd]

Hi! Welcome to FPN.

I'm really glad you've joined us.

Enjoy!

Best wishes from Japan,

VirtuThe3rd

[tmenyc]

Welcome -- when you have a half dozen well-made pens, there is no logical justification, because you clearly have enough pens that work well. Collecting pens is neither rational nor objective -- so, if it's a reason to explain to someone else, this is clearly not the place to ask because none of us have ever succeeded at explaining why we do what we do. If it's a reason to explain to yourself, sorry, can't help there either. And, if you get into vintage pens, it only gets worse. Welcome to Pendom!

 

Tim

[Wahl]

Hi Jon,

[Sasha Royale]

Do you want the Omas Ogiva cocktail more than you want the $400 ?

 

What makes the Omas Ogiva cocktail worth more than $400 to you ?

 

What do you like about your favorite Waterman Kultur pen ? What would you change in it ?

[PenovertheSword]

A lot of good points. I guess it's just up to me to decide if the $400 is worth it. I think it is, but I've never spent that much on anything less than a car or major investment.

 

From everything about the pen that I've learned I can definitely agree that the pen itself is worth that price tag, I'm just not sure if I can spend that much on it.

 

As for my Waterman I love the design, the size and the feel. I like the nib, how it secures into place, I love the spring-loaded lip, but the only thing is that the cap isn't air tight so it dries out super fast and is therefore a very hard stater.

 

And I guess justifications did end pretty much at the second pen, so there is no true logic to this, haha.

[OCArt]

As someone nearing retirement I wish I would've started saving earlier. I don't know penoverthesword's situation, and it is none of my business, but just another thought for that $400.

[PenovertheSword]

Yeah that's part of it. I actually am saving pretty well (nearly $400 per paycheck) and I'm only 24, so it does make it harder to look at something as technically unnecessary as this as a valuable investment. But that's why we're having this conversation!

[inkstainedruth]

To all those who purchase/ have purchased expensive fountain pens, how do I justify buying a $400 dollar pen when my most expensive one so far has been a Lamy Safari? How do I justify $400 by itself for a single pen?!? I really want an Omas Ogiva cocktail before they disappear in a few months...

Greetings from Pittsburgh!

I started out more or less like you. I was keeping my purchases down to inexpensive pens the first year. Then I discovered Ebay (and vintage pens) and that was my downfall. Admittedly I haven't spent nearly that much on any single pen -- but if I ever win the lottery a Yard-o-Led Viceroy Victorian is top of the "want" list....

You may want to start looking at secondary markets (such as the European versions of Ebay, or something like the Classifieds for used pens) if that's the pen you've got your heart set on. I spent most of last fall and winter lusting after a Pelikan M200 Café Crème -- which while not nearly as expensive as the pen you want, was still a bit of a splurge (okay, not quite as much as my 1990s era M400 Brown Tortoise or the 1950s era 400 with the OB nib, but still not exactly inexpensive). I ended up ordering one from Rolf Thiel on his Ebay store and saved myself a bit of money getting it directly from Germany, even with the shipping charges.

Of course the problem with FPN is that we are all happy enablers. In 2012, when I first found my way here, I had never heard of Parker 51s -- now, 3-1/2 years later, I have six of them; plus a 51 Special, a 21, and a 41.... Or Vacumatics. Which have mostly cost me more money than the 51s, even though I only have five of those (the Shadow Waves in particular have been my downfall). And I swore up down and sideways I didn't want a Vac because I didn't like that Art Deco style....

And we won't even start on inks. I made a list of what I have, by brand. I have -- between bottled inks and samples, probably close to 200. I have something like 45 different Noodler's inks *alone*....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[amberleadavis]

Welcome Aboard!

 

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