Bursting The Grail Pen Bubble?

[langere]

I agree with you, Baalberithim, on your thoughts. I have been thinking much the same. The Grail Pen is the one one doesn't have. Once you have it, you realize it's just a pen. We humans are meant to be happier chasing something than possessing it. It's just the way our minds worked.

 

Erick

[Bo Bo Olson]

I agree. A grail is not necessary the most expensive pen in the collection, but rather your favorite, your ultimate. Depending on taste your grail could be a preppy with a stub nib. Who knows?

 

For me, my ultimate pen would be a Montblanc 146, custom cursive italic nib and semi Flex.

 

But it may change... Let's see.

 

How about a '50-60's medium large 146 with an Oblique nib....it will be stubbish.,,,semi or like mine maxi-semi-flex. Very well balanced. The Large '70's 146 I got before that is not as well balanced.I don't have a lot of MB's so only my 234 1/2 Deluxe ('52-54 only) has an Oblique....KOB.

Thin enough to be a writing nib. Real nice nib.

 

The 234 1/2 is a standard sized pen...thicker girth and back when I was more 'noobie' and measured which pens balanced best. It was one of three that had perfect balance...each different. With the brass piston the 234 1/2 is delightfully back weighted and of course I post it. It has to have balance. The medium-long Geha 725 was the second and the standard silver P-75 the other. All those are posted...in they were designed so to have balance.

IMO the medium large 146 has much better balance than the later Large 146.

 

I chased MB '50's nibs very slowly due to LOM. I ended up with rolled gold 742 with a nib between semi-flex and maxi and the 146 with the maxi-semi-flex....that was all I needed from MB....(I do have a Woolf....but that was bought for good looks only.)

 

They didn't have cursive italic back then in the '50-60s when MB still made good nibs with some flex as far as I know.

 

No, the P-75 was never a grail pen....I've had it since the '70's....before I ever heard of a grail pen....or having more than two fountain pens....one in red if into bookkeeping, the other in blue....BB or black. Mostly it was still One Man, One Pen days....and the Snorkel I had been dreaming about since a kid (10-12 years), didn't get bought.

Edited December 26, 2016 by Bo Bo Olson

[dapprman]

Well, I'll ask him, but I don't think he will be very keen. Uh, he's already got one, you see.

 

No mention of grail shaped beacons - else you'll get spanked

 

[langere]

How about grail inks?

 

Erick

[Mrpink]

Any millionares want to contribute? Maybe it just doesnt exist?

I did see an article on a 2 million dollar pen by caran d ache.

Now you need a well armed guard or 2.

[inkstainedruth]

Unlike a lot of people, I'm looking for good writing pens -- not expensive bling. I have no use for a pen that sits in a glass top case. While I've seen some expensive pens that are absolutely beautiful, if they're too large or heavy (or have other issues, such as the maki-e pens which I'd be afraid to touch without wearing latex gloves for fear of having an allergic reaction) -- and that doesn't make them grail pens for me. YMMV

My "grails" have changed as I've learned more and, frankly, as I've been able to acquire them, like a Parker 51 in Plum. That wasn't because it was rare, so much as it was a 51. And, well, purple.... It's sleek and understated, a perfect size and weight for my hand, and designed to be a superb writing instrument. And it's a great pen.for writing with, especially since I think mine has a medium nib (unlike a lot of my vintage pens, which are Fs). And I was lucky in that I didn't have to pay an arm and a leg for it -- far less than I had expected, in fact. Is it minty minty? Heck no. But that isn't what I was looking for. So a user grade grail -- and a Demi-sized pen -- is still a grail.

My ultimate "grail pen" is a Yard-o-Led Viceroy Victorian Standard. Which is expensive (probably not as expensive as what some other people's grails might be, but expensive by my standards). It's just so beautiful. But I fear that it would be too heavy for me to use on a regular basis (I don't want the smaller Pocket size, because I don't want a pen that I can't put a converter in, and only takes smaller sized cartridges). So yes, I have fears of being disappointed ,were I ever to achieve getting one -- even more than fear of it being unobtainable (it's the "when I win the lottery" pen -- and I don't foresee that happening anytime soon...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Cryptos]

I've (sort of) already got my "grail" pen - my Scriptorium Balladeer - though I will have to wait until next August before I see it again.

 

Beyond that I am only really after one more pen, out of these three:

 

1. A Sheaffer Crest - if one in superb condition ever comes up on the market.

2. A Conid pen - if there is ever one that I like AND is in stock (hasn't happened yet)

3. A Scriptorium Idyll - had my eye on this for a while, but 7 months is a long wait.

 

Today I bought a new car (as in new for us, not brand new), so my acquisition of anything pen related is going to be severely curtailed for most of this year (no 52nd birthday gifts - not that there was a 50th or 51st though!).

 

I like the custom pens that take Jowo nibs ever since I discovered the superb grinding skills over at FPNibs.com. Affordable and as good as any other nibmeister in my humble opinion. Besides which, let's face it, I'm never going to be able to try any vintage specialty nibs, so I may as well concentrate on the best of what I can get.

[corgicoupe]

Teri at Peyton street has two sheaffer crest pens newly listed.

 

I'm surprised Scriptorium wouldn't squeeze your new cap into the work schedule, under the circumstances.

Edited December 27, 2016 by corgicoupe

[Cryptos]

Peyton St has two Crests, but one is the thin model and the other is a lever filler - neither are what I am looking for, though I appreciate the note.

 

Renee is very busy - hardly surprising considering the sheer quality of her work - so my beautiful pen is in the queue for the cap change and will come after all teh existing orders are completed. Perhaps if I ordered another pen they could come together? I'll have to think about that.

 

The Conid... well, I would have gone for one of the coffee swirl varieties but it was made in such a ridiculously short run that people like me had very little chance of rustling up the funds before they were all sold.

[Noihvo]

I think the problem with grail pens is multi-dimensional, and these aspects can play into whether the grail bubble is burst. First, everyone seems to have their own definition for what constitutes a grail pen, but I think a common thread is that all the definitions tend to track further and further afield as time goes on, rather than having a single, unchanging grail. I think the definition one uses will tend to influence how much the bubble is burst, if it ever is. Another big factor is how much one reads into hype. In a way, I find my enjoyment of my pens increases the more I abstain from the fountain pen community, as I simply appreciate what I have for what it is. If you don't keep it in mind, it's very easy to get caught up in thinking that every truly great pen ought to have been custom made, with a gold nib capable of obscene amounts of flex from rare materials, because you frequently see others very happy with their custom pens or flex nibs, and others suitably impressed by them. It becomes a fountain pen game of keeping up appearances, which is easy to slip into if you don't pay attention. Suddenly you've purchased several vintage flex pens and realized that you don't particularly care for flex (or in my case, you're a left-handed hook writer who doesn't care enough to adapt to underwriting so as to be able to use if properly; I found it easier to just use my right hand), and you have all these pens that are more finicky than you like due to a feature you see no use for.

 

For some, it is simply a pen that is too expensive for a person to imagine purchasing. This, I think, is where you see people that have a TWSBI 580 or a Lamy 2000 as their grail pens, much to the consternation of others who feel these pens aren't worthy of the title. They are, of course, widely available and not necessarily terribly expensive. However, for the person who has been happy with Pilot G2s all their life and hesitantly dropped $30 on a Metropolitan and a bottle of ink, it's easy to see how it may seem like a small fortune to spend on a pen. Since these pens do generally tend to have features that either improve their writing experience (steel versus gold nibs for some folks) or improve their practicality (piston-fillers versus C/C), I think that these individuals generally tend to be satisfied with their grail pens, but their grail pens may shift upwards in price over time as they realize that they do get something more for their money. They may eventually set themselves a hard upper limit, or they might realize that they no longer see significant enough functional improvements beyond a certain price point, and don't value the aesthetic flourishes enough to justify the increased costs. I don't know if these changes are as much disappointment as they are a broadening of horizons in what the person finds worthwhile for their pen purchases.

 

I believe another main camp for grail pens is those who view a grail pen as the culmination of a fountain pen as a fusion of every day tool and objet d'art. For these folks, it's often the uniqueness and the process in combination with it's actual writing performance that make the pen so desirable. I think that the higher end Maki-e pens and Nakayas are a solid example of this sort. You can often get the same materials, nibs, and overall design for substantially cheaper, but it's an aesthetic pursuit as much as it is chasing after a perfect writing experience. I think that these can lend themselves to disappointment for a couple of reasons. The first and simplest is that your tastes may change over time, so that the maki-e dragon you found so aesthetically pleasing no longer appeals to you. You may also find that too much emphasis was placed on the design and presentation and there's too great a dissonance in its performance and its appearance so that the pen is disappointing to write with. Or you might just be too overwhelmed by the pen, worried to use it lest you somehow ruin it. There's also the simple thrill of pursuing the pen, which wears off once you've acquired your long term goal, and leaves you looking for another pen.

 

For either group, I think marketing and hype also plays a big role in this eventual disappointment, depending on how much one buys into it. For such a small niche, there's certainly a great amount of effort put into portraying some brands as the elite or ultimate. There's also a good deal of discussion and praise for many features that each person needs to decide "Do I actually want a pen that does X myself, or do I merely think I should want such a pen?" It seems like a silly question to ask, but in asking it of myself, I find myself avoiding a good many pens that I know I wouldn't enjoy using after a few moments' reflection.

 

I've been thinking about grail pens a lot recently, and more generally pen acquisition and usage. Perhaps I'm simply projecting my own thoughts and experiences on to others. Regardless, I'm increasingly dissatisfied with the term grail pen itself, though I'm not sure I have a good replacement in mind. It certainly seems to have fallen victim to semantic saturation, though, and makes conversation on the topic rather difficult as a result.

 

 

[corgicoupe]

Peyton St has two Crests, but one is the thin model and the other is a lever filler - neither are what I am looking for, though I appreciate the note.

 

Renee is very busy - hardly surprising considering the sheer quality of her work - so my beautiful pen is in the queue for the cap change and will come after all teh existing orders are completed. Perhaps if I ordered another pen they could come together? I'll have to think about that.

 

The Conid... well, I would have gone for one of the coffee swirl varieties but it was made in such a ridiculously short run that people like me had very little chance of rustling up the funds before they were all sold.

Aha! So you are looking for the Triumph nib vacuum-fil?

Edited December 27, 2016 by corgicoupe

[jmccarty3]

My apologies, but I cannot think about grail pens without being reminded of the following:

 

[Cryptos]

Aha! So you are looking for the Triumph nib vacuum-fil?

 

Kinda. Vac fill or plunger. I've had zero luck finding one - I have no doubt that there are baskets full of them at pen show though. It's not exactly a rare pen. My thoughts drift more toward Conid or another Scriptorium.

[max dog]

My holy grail is the Red Ryder BB Gun/fountain pen

[pajaro]

 

Kinda. Vac fill or plunger. I've had zero luck finding one - I have no doubt that there are baskets full of them at pen show though. It's not exactly a rare pen. My thoughts drift more toward Conid or another Scriptorium.

I have one of these Sheaffers, and it still fills. They would no doubt be on the higher side for a restoration, and I have no idea how long they will last after a refurb. Of course, by the time you are through with those others the Sheaffer might look good.