Paper Mate Monogram

May 23, 2007

This is my first review here on FPN, so I try to make the best of it. The pen I want to review here is the Paper Mate Monogram fountain pen. This pen is from 1989 and I bought it new then. I wanted this pen after reading a test of fountain pens in a magazine from the Dutch Consumers Association (Consumentenbond). From the 35 tested pens, the Consumers Association labeled this one as 'best buy'. It was also the cheapest one. And that's why I wanted it.

It is all made of plastic with a steel clip. As far as I know, these are only produced in blue and black (never saw these pens in other colors and never saw one made of stainless steel or metal). This blue one is a little shiny. Bought this one in 1988 for fl 10,- (that means 10 Dutch guilders) in a department store. If these pens were available now, it's pricetag would be probably about € 10,-. The Paper Mate Monogram was sold in blisterpacks (no additional packaging like a box or so). The Monogram has a length of 14 cm when capped. and is quite small (see the picture for a comparison with a Waterman Kultur). It is also very light and uses standard international cartridges (good for the total cost of ownership of course). The first impression one can get from it, is that we have to do here with a very cheap schoolpen. But how cheap it may look, it is one of the most durable pens I've ever written with and also one of the most reliable. Used it for more than 15 years without skipping, without leaking and without cleaning (!). Even when not used for a couple of weeks without a cartridge, the ink will flow without any problem and the pen is ready to be used immediately after the inkcartridge is fitted. It makes no real difference what quality of ink is used in the Monogram, because this pen just accepts all sorts of fountain pen ink. So I always inked it with cheap Hema ink cartridges (Hema is a department store in The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany)

The Monogram was, to my knowledge, only produced by Paper Mate (then owned by Gillette) for a couple of years. It was produced in Germany. Paper Mate did also produce more expensive fountain pens, but never read about it on FPN. One of the first things I noticed using the Monogram was how well this pen is made. It's design is simple, a little conservative, but very effective. It's all steel nib seems to be almost indestructable (fell a couple of times on a hard floor without any problems), it's clip is quite sturdy too and the cap closes still without any problem. In the years I used it, it took a lot of abuse without consequences. The nib has an indication that it is a "1" nib. Probably that means it is an M-nib. The nib is a rigid one. This pen is a very comfortable and smooth writer. It's ergonomics are good. This pen is suitable for use by left handed people. On one of the pictures I compared it's width with the M-nib from a Waterman Kultur. The upper part is written with the Monogram and both are inked with the same ink (Hema blue).

I believe that the Consumer Association was right to label this pen as a 'best buy'. Unfortunately, Monograms (new ones) are not available anymore and a lot of pens with a less positive rating are still on the market. The Papermate Monogram is in my opinion one of the most underrated pens ever made.

Edited May 23, 2007 by mr T.

May 23, 2007

Thanks for the interesting review of this pen. I like the ridges on the section. They look like they would make it easier to hold without being irritating.

May 23, 2007

This is encouraging me to write some reviews for the pile of low-price but big-hearted pens I've got lying around. Heel goed, jonge!

May 23, 2007

It's good to see a rare review like this. Thanks. It really saddens me that Papermate has virtually "disappeared" these days. I just cannot understand why this could be so. Blame it on Sanford??

May 23, 2007

This is encouraging me to write some reviews for the pile of low-price but big-hearted pens I've got lying around. Heel goed, jonge!

Thanks much for the review! "Low-price but big-hearted" -- I like that appellation. I wish there were more competition for it in the fountain pen universe.

Doug

May 23, 2007

It's good to see a rare review like this. Thanks. It really saddens me that Papermate has virtually "disappeared" these days. I just cannot understand why this could be so. Blame it on Sanford??

Just an opinion you understand, but I think Newell Rubermaid acquired more brand names than the market can support. Some of them, during "rationalization," would therefore have to go dormit.

May 24, 2007

Thank you for the excellent review, mr T! I really enjoyed reading about the Paper Mate "Monogram" fountain pen. I grew up using Paper Mate ballpoints (ok, settle down everyone!! ) so I'd always wondering why they never produced a fountain pen until I read Bernie0104's review here: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=29730

and then your own review....

Keep up the good work, mr T...and welcome to FPN!

May 24, 2007

Thanks for all your positive reactions. Hope that a representative of Sanford reads this too and decides to produce these fountain pens again (but that's wishful thinking of course ) Maybe "Low-price but big-hearted" could not only a very accurate way to describe the Monogram, but could be also be used as an advertising slogan for new Paper Mate Fountain pens. Also good to read about Bernie0104's Paper Mate fountain pen and his very positive opinion about it. It is indeed sad to see that Paper Mate only produces very cheap and non durable bp's and pencils now, while this manufacturer is capable of producing fountain pens that in terms of quality can beat most what's on the market. In the test of the Consumers Association (Consumentenbond) the Monogram did in fact beat pens like the Lamy Safari, the classic models from Cross, the Mont Blanc 144, 146 and 149, the Waterman Man 100 (yes they tested it too), The Pelikan M 100, M 150, M 400, M 600, the Parker 15/Jotter and the Parker Vector (just to name a few). They also found that there was really no connection between price and quality of fountain pens.

May 29, 2007

I feel similarly about my Parker 15 jotter type pen. I've had it since grade 3, and it has never failed me. Eventually, I liked it too much to keep it as a daily writer - I was afraid that something would happen to it, since I couldn't see any potential replacements anywhere.

Thanks to eBay, I was able to find a spare one. We're talking a $10 mass-market pen here, but as far as I can tell, it is no longer made. Admittedly, it has no "character" or anything out of the ordinary, but it writes well, writes every time, NEVER scratches, even on totally cruddy paper, will take any ink, rarely feathers even on spongy paper and all-around behaves well. Nor was this a one-time fluke: the eBay ones second-hand ones are just the same.

It's a lot of fun letting someone who is really happy with their $200 pen try it out :-).

All that being said, I have some $200 pens, and like them a lot as well - especially since they tend to be bigger than the 15, of which my hand gets tired eventually (when I was in elementary school, my hand was smaller - I sort-of outgrew the model!).

Another interesting experience was a plastic Sailor, also in the $10 range. The only problem? Too smooth: tended to lead to jagged letters! Again, $200 pens are often worse.

I'm a bit of a collector of cheap fountain pens, I'll admit it. Nobody else really seems to like them :-). I have cheapo plastic Watermans, Reforms and Pelikans... all of which are surprisingly decent. One thing I've found with these - especially the Watermans - is that there is a lot of pen-to-pen variation.

Another all-time favourite wasn't even meant to be a fountain pen: it's a Rotring ArtPen EF. I cut off the ridiculour tail, melted the plastic together and voila, it's postable. It's my favourite pen for writing on Clairefontaine paper: *glides* but never skips. Around $30. This and the Parker 15 are the ones I go back to the most. The Pilot Birdie would be fine as well (I keep one around, loaded with Noodler's black, for signing cheques and the like), but for the fact that it's a little too small for my hand. That being said, it's a great $15 value, if you can write with a pen that small.

Now, I've got to find myself a PaperMate! Another new adventure :-).

By the way, even the $5 Sheaffer school pens don't write all that badly - their major problem is that they spit ink on the slightest of shakes, meaning that their cap is almost always dirty.

July 19, 2007

I feel similarly about my Parker 15 jotter type pen. I've had it since grade 3, and it has never failed me. Eventually, I liked it too much to keep it as a daily writer - I was afraid that something would happen to it, since I couldn't see any potential replacements anywhere.

Thanks to eBay, I was able to find a spare one. We're talking a $10 mass-market pen here, but as far as I can tell, it is no longer made. Admittedly, it has no "character" or anything out of the ordinary, but it writes well, writes every time, NEVER scratches, even on totally cruddy paper, will take any ink, rarely feathers even on spongy paper and all-around behaves well. Nor was this a one-time fluke: the eBay ones second-hand ones are just the same.

It's a lot of fun letting someone who is really happy with their $200 pen try it out :-).

All that being said, I have some $200 pens, and like them a lot as well - especially since they tend to be bigger than the 15, of which my hand gets tired eventually (when I was in elementary school, my hand was smaller - I sort-of outgrew the model!).

Another interesting experience was a plastic Sailor, also in the $10 range. The only problem? Too smooth: tended to lead to jagged letters! Again, $200 pens are often worse.

I'm a bit of a collector of cheap fountain pens, I'll admit it. Nobody else really seems to like them :-). I have cheapo plastic Watermans, Reforms and Pelikans... all of which are surprisingly decent. One thing I've found with these - especially the Watermans - is that there is a lot of pen-to-pen variation.

Another all-time favourite wasn't even meant to be a fountain pen: it's a Rotring ArtPen EF. I cut off the ridiculour tail, melted the plastic together and voila, it's postable. It's my favourite pen for writing on Clairefontaine paper: *glides* but never skips. Around $30. This and the Parker 15 are the ones I go back to the most. The Pilot Birdie would be fine as well (I keep one around, loaded with Noodler's black, for signing cheques and the like), but for the fact that it's a little too small for my hand. That being said, it's a great $15 value, if you can write with a pen that small.

Now, I've got to find myself a PaperMate! Another new adventure :-).

By the way, even the $5 Sheaffer school pens don't write all that badly - their major problem is that they spit ink on the slightest of shakes, meaning that their cap is almost always dirty.

I couldn't agree more! I too am a fan of cheap but good quality fountain pens. I have a Parker Jotter Flighter which I bought for £10 - it's a fantastic thing! Not temperamental in the slightest. Writes well on any old paper. Starts first time every time, even when it hasn't been used in months! Actually a better real-world pen than either of my expensive Parker Sonnets! Not fancy, just a damned good pen!

Bernie.