Best Way To Keep A Pen Inventory?

[jmccarty3]

I was prompted to bump this thread by reading in Brad Dowdy's weekly Refill about someone who is using Aeon Timeline as a fountain pen database. I have access to this software through a Setapp subscription, and I hope Brad will give us more details. In the meantime, has anyone come across any software that doesn't require starting from scratch with Excel? I believe Jonro has lost interest in his Fountain Pen Database--it hasn't been updated since 2011--so I don't think the printing problem will ever be fixed.

[adatse]

I keep track of pens in a Field Notes and ink in another. This way I get to use my pens and paper

[AAAndrew]

My pen inventory is a bit different. I don't have one for my fountain pens (though I should), but I do have one for my dip pens. I started to need one fairly soon after starting collecting, once I realized all of the variations that indicate a different "type." This includes rough date, color, finish, imprint, and, of course, number.

 

Based on this, I now have almost 800 different types. (over 770)

 

Here are the first three lines, including the headings, of my spreadsheet. It gives an idea of what I mean by each. I am considering adding "tip" to the fields to differentiate "turned-up" vs. "ball" vs other kinds. I've not called out "material" specifically, because everything is either steel, "German Silver" used for red ink and laundry pens, or the pinchbeck type of "brass" used in pens like the Esterbrook Relief 314. I only have a small handfull of gold pens, so don't need an inventory yet.

 

I also tried, at one point, to capture writing samples for each, but that's just too crazy to keep track of.

 

 

 

 

Andrew

Edited August 6, 2018 by AAAndrew

[TSherbs]

My not very helpful suggestion is to have few pens.

 

Actually great wisdom in this. Needing a sophisticated inventory system might tell us something. 😉 I have about 50 pens, only use about 20 of them now. I just keep them all in one box and keep them in view. Visual inventory. Edited August 6, 2018 by TSherbs

[JakobS]

I have never been one to inventory my writing supplies, perhaps I see it as another distraction away from the actual process of writing, obsessing over the "gear", and not what is intended to be made with it...

 

Perhaps I find it as a chore I know I would not keep up with, and thus would be useless after a few days....

 

Perhaps it would be an acknowledgement of all the stories, poems, and plays waiting to be finished in dozens of half filled notebooks, or stacks of dog-eared pages....

 

...or letters I wanted to write, but never did...

 

Perhaps part of the joy of writing, is forgetting what I wrote, and coming upon it many months, or years later with fresh eyes, a better developed sense of "good writing", and enjoying the earlier attempt at it.....

 

Perhaps a pen is just a pen, and if it writes, then I shall get on with it.....

[Driften]

I was prompted to bump this thread by reading in Brad Dowdy's weekly Refill about someone who is using Aeon Timeline as a fountain pen database. I have access to this software through a Setapp subscription, and I hope Brad will give us more details. In the meantime, has anyone come across any software that doesn't require starting from scratch with Excel? I believe Jonro has lost interest in his Fountain Pen Database--it hasn't been updated since 2011--so I don't think the printing problem will ever be fixed.

 

 

Aeon Timeline? That does not seem like a good tool for a pen inventory. Its nice software and I use it for keeping track of story arcs and timelines. It can be well used for project management, but a spreadsheet seems like a much better place for something like this. I would be interested in learning more on how the person did this.

[Antenociticus]

I keep a small notebook in the index card box where I stow my tests and swatches, and in this I note the pens I currently have inked, what ink is in them, and when I put it there. I write it up when I ink them, and I cross it out when I flush them.

 

On Evernote I keep a tracking list of all my experimental Chinese pen orders and the cost of each small purchase.

 

No real inventory, though, and I probably don't need one.

[sansenri]

I have considered several methods of setting up an inventory, in a spreadsheet, or word file, etc. but I tend to be inconsistent especially when it becomes necessary to fill in a lot of data... (I hate data entry...)

so after several aborted attempts, at the moment I find that saving my purchase orders, together with payment receipts, in electronic format in a PC folder called "pens", in which there are subfolders with the names of each pen, is reasonably fast and requires very little data entry (except the name of the subfolders - but even those can be done in cut+paste from the purchase documents).

I try to stay consistent at least in the name of the folders, so that they automatically order themselves, and keep them sufficiently descriptive (eg Bexley 2017 Owners Club purple marble Rhodium trim steel nib M 103).

The number at the end is the purchase price in Euro.

One thing I do like doing is take photos of my pens (and uploading them on FPN too...) so I regularly take photos of new pens and then save them in the mentioned folders under each pen's name together with the purchase orders and payment receipts.

Paypal is useful in this as I can recover previous purchases even when I have forgotten to register them at the time of purchase.

Saving purchase orders and receipts, automatically also helps me know who I bought the pen from, when, what I paid, shipping cost, etc. often including the seller's description, photos of the item, etc.

I find that this method also helps me remember more about the purchase than just a line in a spreadsheet.

Sometimes I have bought pens from people I do like to remember about.

 

One very short story on this. I once bough an Omas pen from a lady called Matilde. I bought the pen on an local online second hand site.

The Omas was advertised as an Omas Extra (Milord size), and seemed to be in good condition. I bought it, paid in advance and waited for delivery.

When I got the pen it was in good condition but it wasn't a Milord, it was an Extra 1930 (Lady size).

I called Matilde up to complain that perhaps I paid a little too much thinking the pen was a Milord size Extra, and that perhaps she should partially refund me.

She apologized, as she was not so expert in pens, in fact at all, the pen had belonged to her aunt, and she was selling it because unfortunately she needed the money for chemio treatment... and at the moment she did not have cash, her medicines were very expensive, but would send me some when possible.

I felt rather bad... I told her to keep the extra money as my get better wish, that I would treat her pen with care and also told her that if ever she felt nostalgia for her aunt's pen, it was here to be returned, no issue.

She thanked me but said she had really never used it and that she would feel happy to know it was in caring hands.

When I use it (and it has an ever so lovely flex nib) I do think of this pen as Matilde's pen.

Edited August 6, 2018 by sansenri