What Was The First Fountain Pen You've Used?

[Hankschola]

I would frequently run into people who always keep the earliest pens they've used in their childhood be it a very cute plastic one or some normal ballpoint pen, a fountain pen, a gel pen etc.

 

Just wondering, what is the first ever fountain pen (or any pen/pencil) you have used back to your earliest childhood memories or just at a time when you deem it to be the starting point of a long writing journey?

 

Was it a good pen and do you still have any sentimental attachments to it?

[ppdiaporama]

Good question!

 

I remember buying a couple of Pilot Varsities in my early teens.

 

I got my first real fountain pen for my 16th birthday. I don't remember much about it ... it was black with GT and slim. Probably a Parker. I remember that I didn't like it. Luckily, I dropped it and it damaged the tip.

 

It was quickly replaced with a burgundy Sheaffer Imperial (from the early 90s). That pen got me through whatever was left of high school and university. I loved it! I remember writing one very long English Lit exam with it where my sweaty fingers kept on touching the nib. By the time that I handed in the exam, there were finger prints all over the place!

 

I eventually bent the tip. Not knowing too much about pens, I went to a stationary store and bought a very similar pen. However, I never liked it as much. Knowing what I know today ... my burgundy pen was a medium point whereas the newer one was either fine or extra-fine. I still have it. I ink it up every once in a while and quickly put it away!

 

As for the burgundy pen ... I kept just the cap and barrel.

 

Then, last summer, I bought a medium gold nib from PSP and retofitted it. Given that the cap and barrel showed lots of use (teeth marks, scratches ...), I decided to make it my everyday carry pen ... which you guessed it, I lost. I still turn over a bunch of bags and clothes every month hoping it will turn up.

[Orpilorp]

Mine was a Sheaffer cartridge pen (aka student pen) in clear green with a medium nib, blue ink. It was assigned to me when I was in the 3rd grade, for classroom handwriting lessons. I remember it well, sometimes using it as a tool to flip ink onto the back of other guys' shirts (a little game we played for a the first few days) and eventually "enhancing" the nib by deliberately bending the tines upwards. Somehow it still wrote.

 

It was eventually lost, but when I became obsessed with fountain pens I soon purchased a replacement. Of course it no longer fits my hand and so is uncomfortable to hold for very long, but I'm keeping it for sentimental reasons. And I'm leaving the nib alone.

[ISW_Kaputnik]

A Parker IM. Several years ago, when I decided finally to try a fountain pen, I balked at the prices, as so many do. I thought I was being extravagant paying $22 for the Parker. If only I'd known.

 

And in a way, I was paying a lot, as the IM turned out to be such a hard starter that it was basically unusable as a take everywhere pen. With the help of the information on FPN, I eventually found out that problem was with the cap. It didn't seal very well, so the nib would dry out between uses. But when it was writing, it was a very nice experience. By the time I found and joined FPN I was using a Lamy AL Star, and I've moved on from there.

 

I might add that, at 58, I'm certainly old enough to have used a fountain pen in childhood, but I never did. My parents, born in the 1920s, had gone over to ballpoints by the time of my earliest memories. Fountain pens were in many stores, still, but I don't recall ever seeing anyone use one.

Edited December 15, 2015 by ISW_Kaputnik

[Dronak]

When I was young, I learned calligraphy and used Sheaffer calligraphy pens for that. I didn't think of them as fountain pens then (and I guess I still don't, really), but they could count. After that, it would be the Waterman Phileas that I bought at some point in grad school, I think. That was the first pen I had that I considered a fountain pen, and I still have and use it. It's a pretty nice pen IMO and didn't cost too much (otherwise I probably wouldn't have bought it). I don't have as strong of a sentimental attachment to it as a few others that I received as gifts from family members to mark special occasions, but it is still kind of special, being my first real fountain pen.

[fplover01]

I had used some no name cartidge pen when I was a kid, borrowed from a classmate.

 

The first pen I really used (that means writing consistently for a long period with) was the Cross Century II.

[Kataphract]

My mother's Parker. I remember how it looked (especially the clip). Blue body, shiny metal cap. Hooded nib. I was going to have to use a fountain pen in the fifth grade, so she let me try it when I was in fourth. Thankfully changed schools (Nuns!).

[benbot517]

My first pen was a Pilot Varsity. Around my senior year in high school (Only a few years ago) my friend let me try out one of her Varsities she had around. I was hooked. It was the way the nib glided across the paper. I still have it, and it still writes.

[jar]

A hand-me-down Sheaffer Balance plunger filler from my grandfather.

 

http://www.fototime.com/58A8DB926C0C2A0/medium800.jpg

[gordonhooker]

School dip pens wooden handles and scratchy metal nibs.

[FromTheNetherlands]

The first one I can remember is a cheap one everyone got for free (at primary school).

When I turned 12 I bought the cheapest Parker Fountain pen, with a large nib. I still have it, and still works (although I rarely use it, it is not inked at the moment)

Edited December 15, 2015 by GJMekenkamp

[Sasha Royale]

 

My Dad had this gold-capped, Parker 51 set, since the early 1950's. I was forbidden to use it. I got caught half the time. It was always loaded with turquoise ink. Curiosity, fascination, obsession, FPN. At age 10, I bought my own first fountain pen. It was a Sheaffer cartridge pen from the school supply store, that operated out of a closet in junior high school. Several years later, I got my first Parker 45.

 

Currently, Dad's Parker 51 is filled with Montblanc turquoise ink, and being used for writing Christmas letters.

 

Thanks for taking me through great memories !

[dojocho]

My parents bought me a blue Pelikan Pelikano in the early 70's. I don't really know what happened to it but it's long gone.

The pen that really got me hooked was the Parker 25 I bought IIRC in '81. I lost that one in '84 and instantly bought a new one, but I still have the matching ballpoint.

The 'new one' (sounds quite funny after 30 years) is still in my possession, I use it once in a while. Some people find it to be a bit of an odd, boxy design but I still love it. It was the summum of cool in the 80's.

 

regards,

Hugo

[ScienceChick]

A Sheaffer cartridge pen with a clear barrel and chrome cap, they came on a card at the dime store This was around 1973/74 when I was in Jr. High. I PIF'ed it last year.

[jabberwock11]

I wrote constantly from an early age, but I don't recall having any special connection to any writing utensil until my first type writer. I couldn't for the life of me tell you what kind it was, but I loved how it felt to pound out stories on it. Even in the late 80s it was archaic, but it made me feel like a real writer.

 

My first fountain pen was a Pen & Ink|Sketch bought at an art store in Savannah, GA. I still have it, but I don't ever really use it.

[miwishi63]

Sheaffer cartridge pen with a red barrel and a silver cap. Purchased at an office supply store in the late 70s. Long gone. Like someone else mentioned doing, I bought one that looked like it just for the sake of nostalgia. The first pen I bought when I rediscovered them a decade ago was a Pelikan M100.

[deannasjoy]

After high school, at my first desk job, I became interested in calligraphy and bought my red Sheaffer. I had fun with it for a little while, until I ran out of cartridges. I put it away, and never even thought about it until a couple of months ago. My oldest son (10 years old) became interested after seeing his favorite author on YouTube writing with a fountain pen. So my new obsession is all his fault! LOL

I recently bought a few Preppy's, and a Noodler's Konrad. I can't believe how smooth the Konrad writes! I used it for my Christmas cards, and I use the Preppy's for my homeschool planning and personal journaling. Now I'm on the hunt for my "perfect pen" for long writing sessions. :-) I know the search will never end!

~Deanna~

[mejdrich]

In college, during the late '80's, I purchased myself a fine point MB 144 sized FP...

 

Still use it on occasion - in fact, it is inked up with MB Irish Green now...

[Arkanabar]

My first fine writing instrument was a Pentel P205 mechanical pencil. I eventually got an S55 like my dad's (very sharp looking pencil, btw), and later a 0.5mm Sharp Kerry (but wasn't able to keep track of it), and a number of Niji 0.5mm pencils (identical to what Zebra is selling today).

When I got to university at age 19, using a pencil was too much work. I tried ballpoints (probably including a Parker Jotter), then Pentel Precise V5 rollerballs. They were not smooth enough. So I walked into the local art supply store that served that university, The Art Attack, and asked what might be smoother. The proprietor suggested an Osmiroid with a switch-in ball-tipped nib. After only finding blue-black Quink with Solv-X, I went back to ask about inks, and bought an entire rainbow's worth of Dr. P. H. Martin's Brilliant Watercolors. I also got an A&W school pen (Kmart), a Sheaffer school pen (also Kmart), and later on, some brass-bodied Sheaffer with a pink coating that I scraped off with a knife (Silver's Office Supply). I lost track of all of them, too, after I dropped out of college.

And that was that until a box of parts from Bike Nashbar arrived with a Levenger's catalogue. I was entranced by all the pretty stuff! I was inspired to buy a blue Waterman Phileas (gave away), a charcoal Lamy Safari (I despised the rhino-hide finish -- it's workable for a mouse or keyboard, but not a pen), and then my first Pen of a Lifetime: a blue swirl Pelikan M200 found on clearance at a local Colorado Pen Co. outlet. I still have and write with that pen to this day, and expect to for as long as I live. I have bought or received others since, and some of them have moved on, but that M200 is my definitive fountain pen.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Arkanabar

[Shaggy]

Some kind of Scheaffer cartridge pen that was sold at the grocery store, in 1975 when I was 12 or so. I remember it leaked ink all over my hands after less than a month, and the barrel cracked.