One Pen One Month Challenge

[sandy101]

Bump to this nice idea.

 

I will try to use a moonman c1. It has a large ink capacity and though the nib is not spectacular, there will be no excuse not to write, unless the weird shape really wears on me.

 

You may well find that the nib improves with use. Worth giving it a try.

 

Give the nib a rating out of ten now, and then do it again in the middle and the end.

[antarmukhee]

Nice idea - OPOM challenge

[panna]

Sandy, you are an inspiration. 

 

I've started my first OPOM this month with the V'sign-ASA Piston filler, M nib. A reflection will follow once the 30 days are up.

[sandy101]

Good luck with it. I hope it goes well. Do let us know how it goes.

[przeklasa]

Hello all past fellow OPOM’ers. July 31, 2017 was my first One Pen One Month Challenge. My second one was in May, 2019. I am happy to inform all of you that fountain pens have continued to be my first choice of writing instrument and I don’t see that ever changing. For me, fountain pens are a joy to use. The technology is simple on the surface, but to design a fountain pen that glides smoothly on paper and works flawlessly is quite a technical achievement. And this appeals to me. Of course, regardless of the appeal, a fountain pen must work well under many writing situations. And over the years, I have learned that the most basic pen, the most inexpensive pen, the lowest quality pen can provide the writer good performance as long as the nib tines are aligned and the nib pellet is shaped properly. The remainder of the pen simply holds a small volume of ink, and serves as the handle. As I’ve stated years earlier in my OPOM Challenges I have a fountain pen on my body darn near all the time. Thus, I shy away from expensive pens for daily outside-the-house use because of the risk of losing the pen, and the certainty of dinging and scratching the pen. Yes, a low price pen does not typically perform flawlessly “out of the box”. But it does not take much to get a low price pen to write darn near as well as pens costing 50 to 100 times as much. I have more than 50 pens that I paid less than three dollars each, and after I give them my once over, their performance is remarkable. Perfect daily use pens. Albeit, mundane looking pens for the most part.

 

Lately though, I have been wanting a nice looking pen for daily use. Something not too expensive, not flashy, but nice enough to give me a feeling of pride of ownership. A pen that would make me want to look at it twice, even three times, before returning it to its place in my shirt pocket…or my t-shirt collar. After perusing pen shops online (there are no quality pen stores anywhere near me), I was instantly attracted to the new for 2021 (or so) Parker 51. It was an easy choice. I have used Hero 616 pens for many years and the smooth contour of the barrel fits my hand perfectly. I like the look, I like the feel of this shape pen. I like the fact that the new Parker 51 is made in France (I have gobs of low price pens made in China and India, all very good pens, by the way). I have a soft spot for Parker pens because I own three late 1980’s Duofold pens (they are wonderful writers, and beautiful). So I decided to buy this new Parker 51. BUT…after I did a little online research, I found so many people don’t like this pen, and for a whole variety of reasons. Nonetheless, I wanted one, and I wanted to find out for myself if this pen is worth the price, in spite of what I was reading.

 

Now, which one should I buy. I wanted something very nice looking, but not too expensive. So I chose the middle priced pen…the Parker 51 Premium that has a gold plated nib, and gold accents on the engraved cap. I bought the green barrel pen. A very nice green, by the way.

 

It arrived at my house three days ago and I have used it every day so far. It is the perfect One Pen, One Month Challenge pen. So, I choose this green Parker 51 Premium pen for my One Pen, One Month Challenge. Starting today, February 1, 2023 I will use this pen exclusively, forgoing all other fountain pens, and avoiding all other writing instruments.

 

Also, I will provide my unadulterated opinions on this pen as the month progresses. I will share all my feelings regarding the pen and I, and you, will learn whether this pen is worth the money (at least, in my opinion!).

 

I’m excited to give this pen a real workout, and evaluation. It can’t possibly be as bad as some people say.

[jchch1950]

Waiting for your opinions. 😃

[ethernautrix]

Good luck to those who attempt what has been for me a complete (what's the opposite of victory, besides "loss?")... defeat.

 

The best I've managed is two pens for a couple of weeks, usually quickly reverting to three.

 

I've also managed with three for at least a month, probably, but I can't help but dabble -- inking up a fourth (sometimes fifth) pen for a couple of days (or a half-hour).

 

Currently...five. Five seems to be my upper limit, and I leave two of them at home when I'm out and about.

 

I can carry only one pen (the favorite favorite) when out and about, along with one długopis żelowy (gel pen), typically a Pilot or a Uni-Ball retractable, sometimes a Pentel EnerGel. 

[przeklasa]

Hello again everyone! I have a few early opinions on this pen that I want to share. And these are based a lot on how I acquired this pen rather than how the pen performs.

 

I ordered the pen from a very well known and respected company that has a brick and mortar store and a website. Within a few days I received the pen at my home and the very first thing I did was inspect the nib with a 20x loupe. To my disappointment I saw the slit in the nib was cut off-center to the pellet. It wasn’t cut just a teensy bit off to one side, it was WAY off. Okay, through a 20x nib it looked WAY off. But I’ve inspected, adjusted, aligned, reshaped, and smoothed many nibs over many years of using fountain pens to know that this nib would always be scratchy and no amount of nib work would fix it. So, I returned the pen asking for a replacement. Seven or eight days later, I received another pen. Immediately I grabbed my 20x loupe. After careful inspection, I deemed the nib good. Not perfect, but good. The tines are just a bit misaligned. The slit is ever so slightly off center. And the slit is a touch wider at the bottom of the pellet than it is at the top. Just a touch. Now, in the past I’ve taken nibs and feeds out of brand new pens before I fill them with ink to fix just this sort of thing. I like my nibs to be as perfect as I can get them taking into consideration most of my pens are very inexpensive and the nibs on this price level of pens always need attention…and sometimes replacing with the small supply of nibs I have on hand. But since this is my OPOM Challenge with this “special” pen, I don’t want to change anything. I want to use the pen as it comes out of the box. And see for myself if this new generation pen is what some people say it is…or is not.

 

Except for two things: 1: Instead of using one of the two cartridges or the converter that came with the pen, I am using one of my old Parker slide converters that I have modified by attaching an ink sac to the end of the converter (with the slide portion removed from the end of the converter) which now holds a total of 1.4 ml of ink. I have modified converters this way for years. These hybrid converters, as I call them, hold more ink than any stock converter and fills just as easily. 2: I used my fingernail and gently pushed on one tine to align it with the other. I allowed myself to make this simple nib tweak since this no-tool method of aligning nib tines is done by fountain pen veterans and novices alike. Other than what I have just described, I am keeping the pen as-is-out-of-the-box.

 

So, I’ve used this pen for a few days now. Here are my initial impressions:

The pen is really quite attractive. The engraved cap, with its gold highlights is a real looker. The vertical and horizontal engraved lines make the pen very classy. The green barrel is also quite attractive and this color will fit in with both formal and casual occasions.

I would describe the ink line as wet. Definitely not dry, but not a gusher. And the ink line width is Fine to X Fine, depending on the paper. I prefer to make my nibs write with an XX Fine line width and I adjust the nib to be on the dry side. I do this so there is little to no bleed through on cheap paper that one often encounters with daily use away from home. I have already encountered annoying bleed through on some papers. It will take me some time to get used to this. I’ll do my best. Nib feel is quite nice. There is feedback on some paper, on others there is very little. I would rate the nib as very good. I am quite happy with the nib.

 

Since this pen is so much nicer looking than my usual everyday pens, I find myself being very careful when handling it. I look before I set the pen down somewhere, as opposed to just plopping it down on whatever surface is near, which is my usual behavior with my daily writers.

 

I performed an impromptu test regarding nib drying while uncapped. I wrote a couple sentences, then place the pen nib up, uncapped. I left it that way for 20 minutes. Ink flow started immediately upon touching the nib to paper. I won’t worry about this nib drying out on me while writing. The pen was half empty when I performed this test.

 

I am using Pilot Black ink.

 

The cap posts VERY securely on the barrel. Too securely in fact. I have to be careful to not push the cap on the barrel to firmly.

 

So far, the pen is great. I find no problems at all with it. But it’s been only a few days. We’ll see how it goes as the days progress. Right now, I’m glad I bought it.

 

One last thought. Had I kept the original pen I was sent, I am sure I would not be happy with it. I wonder who will receive this original pen with its sub-standard nib. Perhaps this person will write a far less than positive review on the new Parker 51. Perhaps some of the less than glowing reviews on this pen are due to issues straight from the factory. Too bad fountain pen quality control isn’t better.

 

And, yes, I have not touched any other writing utensil since February 1.

[przeklasa]

Well, it’s been 10 days now in my One Pen, One Month Challenge. I do have some interesting observations to tell.

 

One thing that bugged me since my first ink fill with Pilot black ink was the bleed-through when using cheap paper. I’ll accept some bleed-through with bad paper, that’s just the way it is with bad paper. But this pen with this ink with bad paper had much-to-much bleed-through for my liking. So when my second fill of ink was depleted, I decided to use Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black ink. I understand Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black is known to be somewhat dry. To my surprise, the pen was immediately and totally transformed into a perfect everyday, all day, use-everywhere pen. Bleed-through diminished by 75% (roughly). Bleed-through is now quite acceptable on poor paper. I can live with this now. And the ink line width is narrower. It is apparent to the naked eye the ink line width shrunk, but to be certain of this I viewed my writing with my 10x loupe with metric scale, and the ink line width with Pilot black ink varied between 0.5 mm to 0.4 mm. With Pelikan ink the ink line width is now 0.4mm to 0.3 mm. The nib still writes “wet”. Nib feel seems the same, the same feedback on some paper, the same smoothness on other paper. So, I can conclude that this nib needs a drier ink to eliminate an unacceptable amount of bleed-through. (Now, I feel confident that I can get the nib to write less wet if I were to tweak the nib tines a bit. But I will not make major nib adjustments during this month. Afterwards though, I will give the nib my usual working over to get it just the way I like it.)

 

BUT………now the pen fails my 20 minute, nib up, cap off test for nib drying out. It failed the test even after 10 minutes. But it did pass after 5 minutes. This Pelikan ink is definitely drier than Pilot ink. Happily, the nib started flowing ink when I gently pressed the nib to paper. So it needs a bit of help when the pen is idle for several minutes. This is a trade-off in performance I will easily accept…I have very little bleed-through at the price of giving the nib a “push-start”. I accept this.

 

One last thing. I have very fine, very difficult-to-see scratches on the end of the barrel where the cap posts, and also very fine, very difficult-to-see scratches on the grip section where the cap seals onto the pen. I am surprised to see this so early in the pen’s life. But I have gone through about 3 ml of ink and have posted the cap and replaced the cap onto the pen many, many, many times in the last 10 days. (I must admit that my 1980’s Parker Duofold pens have many scratches on the end of their barrels. So this happens to high quality, high priced pens.) We’ll see how these scratches increase in the next 20 days.

 

I still admire this pen when I hold it. It is quite attractive. I love the silver and gold cap with the engraved lines. Quite nice. And the pen writes very well. Especially now that I am using Pelikan ink. I have no complaints about this pen. So far, it is worth the money.

[przeklasa]

Hello all!! This is day 20 of my One Pen, One Month Challenge using my new Parker 51 Premium with a green barrel and Fine nib.

 

Yes, I have used only this pen for the last 20 days for ALL my writing needs. I have not touched any other writing instrument at all. It’s been easy for me since I do use fountain pens for everything and have been doing this for years. I must admit that I do not miss using my other pens because this pen is so much nicer looking than what I usually use on a daily basis. I do have a real sense of pride of ownership in this pen. Interestingly, because of this pride of ownership, I am much more careful using this pen and I am so AWARE that this pen is on me. I don’t want to lose it, not due to the price, but due to its attractiveness (as compared to all my other everyday pens). This extra care and awareness is slowly waning as the days go on, and I am sure I will get over this in due time. I just need more time to consider this pen as “just” another fountain pen I own. Perhaps it needs more scratches and couple dings.

 

The Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black ink works great! Bleed through is acceptable. Nib feel is acceptable. Ink line width is acceptable. Overall, after 20 days, the pen is VERY acceptable in every way. I still really like the way it looks. It is so much more attractive that 95% of my pens. Heck, maybe 98% of my pens.

 

A few days ago I repeated my uncapped, nib up, nib drying out test. It is now easily passing the 10 minute mark. It has been snowing here at my location in New Mexico. So more humidity in the air versus when I made my initial nib drying out test when it was bone dry, and DRY is the norm in New Mexico. We who live in the Southwest area of the US have to deal with our nibs drying out. I’d wager that fountain pen users in the Southern States of the US (Tennessee, for example) seldom experience dry nibs.

I read somewhere that the threads on the metal cap and plastic barrel are a concern for some. I am no expert on thread wear with dissimilar materials, but I can report that the threads are as smooth feeling as any pen I have used. I don’t think anyone should feel that the threads on the plastic barrel will wear unduly. I just can’t imagine the plastic barrel threads wearing to the point where they don’t work. The plastic used in the barrel feels much higher quality than on a lot of my less expensive pens and I have yet to have a thread problem on any pen I own regardless of price.

 

I have used two fills of Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black ink so far. SO…four days ago I did something wild and crazy (for me, anyway). Since the Pelikan ink worked so well, I decided to make the next fill of ink with Sailor Kiwaguro. The last time I used this ink was around three years ago. I bought this ink several years ago just for the heck of it, just to try something different and special. But because I use fountain pens for simple writing purposes, I really can’t see any reason for me to use this ink. BUT…I like to try different things so I filled my new Parker 51 Premium with it.

 

What a shock!! The pen is noticeably smoother on all paper. This ink bleeds through even less than the Pelikan ink. The nib dry-out test passes the 15 minute mark. Interestingly enough, the ink line width is ever so slightly wider than with the Pelikan ink. With the improved bleed through, I would have expected the ink line width to stay the same. I am so surprised at how nice my pen feels now on every paper I can get my hands on. I can honestly say that this pen using this ink can be used successfully as an everyday, all-day, any-type-of-paper, all-the-time pen.

 

BUT…I am not at all happy about the price of this wonderful ink. I am used to buying Pilot ink in 350ml bottles. I tune my nibs to get the best out of this relatively inexpensive ink. I use my fountain pens as most people use ball point pens. The vast majority of my pens are utilitarian. I marvel at the people I read about in these forums who are artists and calligraphers. They are the ones who can use the benefits of high priced inks.  I can draw stick men, and my chicken-scratch cursive handwriting is somewhat legible to most people. So what I need from my fountain pens is simple: a nice feel on paper, a nice ink line that does not bleed through very much, no blurping even with my eye-droppers, low maintenance, low price. It seems I will have to do some work on the nib before my standard-use, inexpensive Pilot ink performs up to my expectations in this pen.

 

Regarding the scratches appearing on the pen…I think it is a combination of the very smooth, very shiny surface finish on the plastic barrel coupled with my using the pen many times a day for 20 days. Most of my daily use pens are definitely not so finely finished and scratches are something I never worry about and I never LOOK for scratches on those pens. This new Parker 51 is special to me and I am giving it much more scrutiny. Thus I do notice the scratches.

 

So, what am I to conclude at this 20^th day of non-stop use? This is a very attractive pen. That cap…the cap is just so good looking with the gold highlights on the silver with the lines engraved. The pen performance is fully satisfactory. I will work on the nib after this month is over to get the ink line width a bit skinnier and drier with Pilot ink, but that is how I personally like my pens. As it is now, the pen is very, very nice in every way. I am glad I bought it.

[Mercian]

19 hours ago, przeklasa said:

BUT…I am not at all happy about the price of this wonderful ink. I am used to buying Pilot ink in 350ml bottles.

I justify the high price of Kiwa Guro to myself by thinking about its unique (in my experience) ‘silkiness’ under the nib, in addition to its good water-resistance and lightfastness.

 

I envy you your ability to buy the 350ml bottles of Pilot ink - I would like to buy some Pilot Blue/black, but the company refuse to sell it in even 60ml or 70ml bottles here in the UK, let alone the 350ml bottles.
They only offer it in their proprietary cartridges 

 

As for ‘reasonable-price-per-ml’ ink - and with my ‘Evil Enabler’ hat firmly on - are you aware that Pelikan sells its 4001 ‘Brilliant Black’ and 4001 ‘Royal Blue’/‘Königsblau’ in 1-litre bottles? 😉

[Karmachanic]

2 hours ago, Mercian said:

I would like to buy some Pilot Blue/black

 

Stilo&Stile would be happy to help you.  Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

[Mercian]

13 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

 

Stilo&Stile would be happy to help you.  Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Indeed yes - but my Yorkshire blood means that I still get put-out by the fershlugginner import process/costs  😁

[mizgeorge]

7 minutes ago, Mercian said:

Indeed yes - but my Yorkshire blood means that I still get put-out by the fershlugginner import process/costs  😁

I get ink from them pretty regularly, and find that as long as I'm not too greedy (I try to keep to under 50 euros, and just use the cheaper shipping option rather than a courier, they get through every time. A lot of their inks are significantly cheaper than they are in the UK, which more than justifies the postal cost. 

[Karmachanic]

What @mizgeorge said.

[Mercian]

1 hour ago, mizgeorge said:

I get ink from them pretty regularly, and find that as long as I'm not too greedy (I try to keep to under 50 euros, and just use the cheaper shipping option rather than a courier, they get through every time. A lot of their inks are significantly cheaper than they are in the UK, which more than justifies the postal cost. 

 

8 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

What @mizgeorge said.

Thank you both for that info 👍

[AceNinja]

On 2/21/2023 at 5:10 AM, przeklasa said:

...The Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black ink works great!...

...I am used to buying Pilot ink in 350ml bottles. I tune my nibs to get the best out of this relatively inexpensive ink....

...  low maintenance, low price. It seems I will have to do some work on the nib before my standard-use, inexpensive Pilot ink performs up to my expectations in this pen.

 

you can get the 1 litre (1,000ml) bottle of pelikan 4001 brilliant black or royal blue.  Just saying.

Cultpens has it.

[przeklasa]

Mercian and AceNinja, thank you for the Pelikan 1 litre bottle information. I can’t imagine what I would do with a litre of ink. The Pilot 350ml bottles are plenty large for me and I have one in black and one in blue/black which is a total of 700ml. I purchased them almost 2 years ago and they are both now about 40% full.

 

I am pretty darn certain I can get this Parker 51 nib to perform up to my expectations with Pilot ink when I give it my “special treatment”! The nib writes wet due to (I believe) the fact that the slit in the pellet is wider at the bottom of the pellet than the top. I’ve been playing with nibs for a long time. I taught myself nib “tuning” using the trial and error method…lots of trial and lots of error. Years ago, I would purchase 12 packs of Hero or Jinhao or similar inexpensive fountain pens. My method was to take one pen from the pack and work on the nib until I either destroyed the nib or made the nib write the way I wanted. If I destroyed the nib, I’d take out another pen and start the process again. I tried to get at least 3 of the 12 to write smoothly with a true XXFine ink line width (0.3mm was my goal). I also tried several ways to grind and smooth the nibs. I considered myself successful if I wound up with 4 decent pens and 8 pens destroyed. It was an inexpensive way to learn. Most of those pens cost less than two dollars each when purchased in those 12 packs. I suspect prices are more nowadays for these pens but still, if someone wants to learn nib tweaking, as I call it, this is a great way to learn in the comfort of home at a nice easy pace and at relatively little expense. So, now I can make most any (inexpensive) pen write wonderfully with common inks. And I am pretty confident that if I adjust the nib tines to touch each other, the wetness will dry out a bunch.

 

Sheeeesh! I just looked around online for 1 litre bottles of Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black. The price of this is actually less per ounce (er…..ml) than Pilot ink in 350ml bottles. If you make me buy a litre of this ink………

 

You people are a bad influence on me.

[Mercian]

13 hours ago, przeklasa said:

You people are a bad influence on me.

The Fountain Pen Network - you will never find a more-friendly hive of hints and Enabling 😁

 

On which note…

 

…if you are intent on using only dye-based inks (not iron-galls or pigment-based inks), and you like the styling of your c/c 51, I strongly recommend the purchase of a 1950s aerometric-filled Parker “51”.
(The 1950s pens were machined out of ‘Lucite’, not injection-moulded from polystyrene like the 1970s ones were, and their ‘pli-glass’ plastic sacs are, it seems, eternal).

 

If one is using dye-based inks, I regard the aerometric-fill “51” as still being the ‘ultimate writing machine’.

The original “51” is perfectly-balanced, lightweight, and reliable - they were totally ‘over-engineered’.
I own two of them. Other people here own many more than just two.

The nearest current equivalent would be the Lamy 2000 - but some people find the 2000 to be rather ‘nose-heavy’, and the choice of colours isn’t exactly ‘huge’ 😉

The various Chinese knock-offs of ‘homages to’ the “51” are not made to anything like the same quality - but they are much less expensive.

The “51” was made in huge numbers, in a few different colours, and with a few different cap-styles (some gold-filled, some stainless steel, some patterned). And with nibs ranging from F to B, including obliques.

One can find them in very good condition on auction sites for less than the cost of the current-production c/c 51.

 

Next time you find that you have some money ‘burning a hole in your pocket’, you could do far worse than investigating the “51” 😉

[przeklasa]

My One Pen, One Month Challenge is officially over. I can inform everyone that during this past month, I have used only my new Parker 51 for ALL my writing requirements. I have not even touched another writing instrument in the past month. In reality, this is not much of an accomplishment for me. I’ve been using fountain pens darn near exclusively for many, many years.

 

This new Parker 51 fountain pen has been wonderful. BUT…I did have to return the first pen I was sent due to (in my opinion) a defective nib…the slit in the nib pellet was cut WAY off center. Then, when I received the replacement pen I found the nib pellet was still not perfectly cut on its centerline. And the nib was not perfectly aligned. This nib (in my opinion) was not defective, but it certainly wasn’t up to standards that I think Parker should aspire to. Nonetheless, I accepted this second pen because I knew the nib was okay (again, in my opinion). And after I subjected the nib to tweaking with my thumbnail, the nib performed well.

 

During this month that nib slit has bugged me…it is wider at the bottom of the pellet than the top. So in the past few days, I’ve worked the nib more with my thumbnail to try to get the two halves of the pellet better aligned, and I have succeeded to a degree. The slit in the pellet still is a bit wider at the bottom of the pellet than the top, but the nib writes smoother now on all paper of various quality. The biggest improvement is on cheaper paper. The acid test of a nib is how it feels on cheaper paper. Most any nib will feel wonderful on Clairefontaine 90 gsm paper. But use a poorly aligned nib on thin, absorbent, cheap paper…there’s no hiding nib flaws on cheap paper.

 

Something else. And this has really surprised me. This pen has not dripped even one drop of ink from the nib and feed. All of my pens, when used daily for a long period, will have a drop or two of ink inside the cap, once in a while, due to rough handling or temperature changes, or whatever. I simply expect to find a drop or two of ink inside a fountain pen cap periodically. And I blot it with tissue and accept it as just how fountain pens are. This occurs with all my pens. But not with this pen! The nib and feed and section must be assembled exceptionally well on this pen.

 

Now that the month is over, I will break out my nib adjusting tools and get that darn nib adjusted to perfection. I’ll get that nib slit parallel. Then it will be perfect.

 

I understand that many fountain pen devotees are not proficient in the art of nib tuning. Being able to tweak a nib to attain alignment perfection is a skill/art that, I firmly believe, fountain pen users need. It is an unfortunate fact that, in order to get many fountain pens to write to their potential, one must inspect the nib and perform nib work that should have been done at the factory at final inspection. This is a problem that many fountain pen manufacturers have…lack of good quality control. But the end user can make up for poor quality control by performing do-it-yourself nib tuning.

 

Bottom line…the pen is absolutely beautiful, and with a properly adjusted nib, it writes great. I know I have said the following several times…I love the cap. The gold trim on the silver is beautiful. The barrel is shiny and smooth and the green color is stunning. Those scratches accumulated on the barrel are less scratches and more like scuffs. You cannot feel anything but smoothness when you run a fingernail on the “scuffed” areas. I have many pens with scratches on the barrel where the cap posts. I am not concerned over this.

 

I do not compare this Parker 51 to the original Parker 51 of yesteryear. I compare it to modern manufactured pens that typically use cartridges and converters…this is how I see this pen. This new Parker 51 just appeals to me in many ways…it’s so darn attractive, it’s made in France, it’s a modern iteration of a classic pen, the shape and size feel good in my hand, it uses a cartridge/converter. If you get one that is properly assembled and adjusted, you’ll love it.

 

So…is this new Parker 51 worth the price? For me definitely yes, because this pen is so much more attractive than all of my pens that I have for everyday use. I was in the market for an upscale daily use pen, and this pen just caught my eye and I had to have it. I am glad I bought it.

 

I have no affiliation with Parker at all. I am just like all of you, I love fountain pens.