What Is Your Oldest Pen?

[putteringpenman]

I'm curious what FPN's oldest pens are. Not necessarily vintage pens, but the pens you have owned in your collection the longest that you still use regularly. Being new to fountain pens, mine is a Pilot Metropolitan I got in 2015.

 

Does anyone have pens they used regularly for 10, 25, or 50 years? If so, what pen models are they, how long have you had them, and any secrets to maintaining them?

[jar]

I have lots of pens I've used for over a half century and most had decades of use before I got them. And no secret maintenance. Fix when needed and use reasonably.

 

Some examples:

 

1941 "51" that was the engagement gift from Dad to Mom.

 

http://www.fototime.com/88BDC37701598D8/large.jpg

 

1943 Parker Vac Mom sent Dad when he was in North Africa.

 

http://www.fototime.com/ADBA5FC6832510B/large.jpg

 

A Sheaffer Striated Marine Green Vacfill Balance that was my Grandfather's.

 

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

 

A Conway Stewart that belonged to my Grandmother.

 

http://www.fototime.com/F67A61C72971884/large.jpg

Edited July 3, 2018 by jar

[bongo47]

I think the longest owned pen still in regular use is my Pilot Prera sitting on my desk right now. I’ve had it since June 2009, just a few months after I reignited my collection. I had a few pens older, including a couple rotring fountain and triopen sets, but I don’t find myself using those anymore. The Prera pretty much still looks like new and has always been reliable. I keep now keep it as a easily refilled cartridge backup for the office.

[Bo Bo Olson]

The oldest pen I have is either of a couple of Waterman 52's with a patent date for the clip of 1912...I'm sure the pens are younger than that....perhaps '20s.

 

The 'family' Snorkel got lost. I of course was going to get one when I got grown up and had a job. (One bright sunny summer day, I was 7 when my father took a black government issued Skillcraft ball point to work on the USAF landing barge he was the crew and driver for instead of the Snorkel. I asked...even at 7 I knew a Snorkel was best....but it didn't write well on greasy engine maintenance cards that hung at various place on the diesel motor. I remember that clearly....as part of my world crumbled.) It may have been the very first ball point I ever saw.

 

Instead, I bought a P-75 in @ 1970-71 for $22 in silver dollars, one day when I had more money in my pocket than good sense. ...that I still have.

I'd gone over to the Base Exchange to buy the 'high' status and at $8.00 black and gold Cross sure was higher status than a $3.75 Jotter.

I over a $12-14 black and gold Snorkel ....then got mugged by the P-75 brothers. And the $18 ball point sure was better than that Cross ever dreamed of being.

 

That was way back when the Dollar was Almighty and our money worth silver dollars.

 

Only took me some 48 years to get my Snorkel.

Edited July 4, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[77kath]

I have a Sheaffer from the teens of the 20th century that’s new to me, and a Sheaffer from the 50s that I used in eighth grade. Also a couple of Parkers that I’ve brought with me from the 60s that my husband used when he was in high school in the 50s. Graded a lot of papers with those.

[max dog]

Does anyone have pens they used regularly for 10, 25, or 50 years? If so, what pen models are they, how long have you had them, and any secrets to maintaining them?

My oldest pen that sees the most continuous use would be the Pelikan M200 (blue marbled) I got in 2008 when I began getting into fountain pens. Other than it's size, I would say it doesn't really get that much better than this at any price point. It has a nice springy wet nib, and it's built like a tank. Other pens I have that I would rank close to the M200 would be the Lamy 2000 and Pilot Custom 74. The latter 2 have 14K gold nibs, with the Lamy having a stubby M nib, and the Pilot with a soft flexy fine medium nib. I still gravitate towards the M200 the most because of it's all around better versatility and ergonomics.

 

Only maintenance I do is apply a minute dab of silicone grease with a q-tip along the inner wall of the piston chamber occasionally to keep the piston smooth as butter.

Edited July 3, 2018 by max dog

[goodpens]

The pen that truly got me into fountain pens: an Esterbrook SJ that belonged to my mom. It has now been mine, in use, for 20+ years, which is hard to believe. I have older pens, but this is the one that has been with me the longest and used most actively.

[Fuzzy_Bear]

Just found out.

 

1929-1934 Sheaffer Balance Petite, non lifetime, pearl and black with #5 nib. Picked up for don't remember how much, re-sac done when I got it.

 

Played with that pen many times never knowing its age.

[Tseg]

My MB 24 and Sheaffer PFM III are both 50-60 years old. Not which sure which on is older? Two of the best writers in my collection. Since I've been buying pens for only 6 months these are as old as old as any I've owned. Do you really want to see my 5.5 month old Metropolitan? Granted, it is the special black on black one.

 

Edited July 4, 2018 by Tseg

[flipper_gv]

My Sheaffer Balance from the late 1930's.

[kestrel]

My first fountain pen, an Elysee purchased in 1985, survived two extended deployments on aircraft carriers including two trips through the ship's laundry and was finally retired when the clutch ring assembly quit clutching. My next pen, a 1994 Sonnet, is still in regular use.

 

The oldest fountain pen in my collection is a McKinnon Stylograph from the mid 1870s. It works but not well enough to ink more than once. The oldest that sees regular use is a nice Conklin S-3 made around 1905.

[Pichak]

My first fountain pen is a Sheaffer Fashion 240, my grandfather gave me for 5 years ago.

 

[JulieParadise]

My two no-name BH©R safety pens are from around 1925 and get regular use. These are amazing as their nibs are quite soft, offer nice flex, the cap seals still works well and the corks are intact. This filling system has the advantage of being foolproof and no-fuss. Love 'em!

[praxim]

Oldest use of a fountain pen by me? Around the start of the 1960s I think. A Sheaffer of some sort. I no longer have it, nor the Sheaffer after that. Before, I used dip pens. After, ballppoints until...

My longest standing use of a pen I still have would be over twenty years, a Waterman Expert.

 

Maintenance tip: do not leave a steel nibbed pen inked for six or seven years unattended.

 

Switching to pen ages rather than longevity of my use of a particular pen, my oldest was made some time in the period 1905-1920, a plunge filling Onoto which may yet fill after I get around to servicing it.

 

Until that happens, the oldest I use seem likely to be about 1921-22 based on minor changes in labelling on Onotos around then, and some 1920s Watermans production.

[mitto]

I have pens I used in my school days in early 60s. Parker 45, Parker 75, a few Sheaffer c/c pens and Parker Jotters. I was introduced into the P51s in 1991 and every since I am collecting pens and especially the P51s. I have never ever sold a pen in my whole life. But I am afraid that could now change as I now have reached a stage where the number of my pens has literally became unmanagable.

[inkstainedruth]

Oldest to me is a Parker Vector from 2013 (my first "good" pen), and is the pen that sent me down the rabbit hole. The barrel cracked at the threading a couple of years ago, and I didn't realize how hard it was going to be to match that cobalt blue color. Right now I've improvised with the translucent blue barrel from a Vector rollerball I got at a pen show for a buck.

Oldest I own (non-working condition) is a 1926 Parker Duofold Lucky Curve ring top. Oldest in working condition would probably be either the Sheaffer Balance Oversized which belonged to my husband's grandfather (with a replacement cap) or one of the Morrison gold-filled filigree overlay ringtops. I'm guessing that those are all from the 1930s. Those would be followed by the 1937 Parker Vacumatic Red Shadow Wave Lockdown filler, which has been in constant rotation for nearly three years.

Don't recall the date codes on the Parker Challenger (I think mid-1930s) or the two Parkettes, and don't know enough about the Craig (BHR?) ring top to narrow down the timeframe for it (Craig was a budget sub-brand for Sheaffer, the way Parkettes were low-end Parkers).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ENewton]

The pen I have had for the longest time is also my oldest--an Aikin-Lambert dip pen from around 1900--but I seldom use it.

 

Of my fountain pens, the one with the earliest date of manufacture is a Parker Duofold Junior from the 1920s, but I bought it only last year.

 

The fountain pen I have owned for the longest time is a Waterman Gentleman, which I received as a gift in 1995. I still use on a regular basis with no special maintenance other than flushing it and letting it dry if I won't be using it for a while.

[sidthecat]

I have dip pens that probably date back to the middle of the 19th century, and my ringtops are probably clustered around the first two decades of the twentieth. Maybe one Ahab from this century...Im a retro girl.

 

That said, I have a Montblanc Classic that I bought in the late 70s...my tastes have changed, but I still thought enough of it to send it to Texas when the barrel broke in half.

Precious resin, my eye!

Edited July 5, 2018 by sidthecat

[carlos.q]

My oldest pen is a 1920's Mabie Todd Blackbird with a wonderful italic broad nib.

 

 

 

The pen that I have had for the longest time in my possession is probably the 1980's blue-green Waterman Forum Agora you see here in the middle of two Forum Atriums:

 

 

Edited July 4, 2018 by carlos.q

[sansenri]

I started using fountain pens at school in the mid 60s.

My first pen was a Pelikan 120. I went through all of elementary school with it. Unfortunately I do not remember what happened to it... I re-bought one about 4 years ago.

 

I also had a Pelikan P478 (probably that was the model number) which also got lost. This is the pen I have used longest, possibly from the age of 10, for about 15-20 years, without alternatively using other fountain pens. I recently re-bought one a couple of years ago

 

my father had a Sheffer PFM which also got lost, and I re-bought in same colour (burgundy) some years ago (no picture)

 

my granfather had an Aurora 88, I am not sure where the pen ended up, I re-bought one few years ago

 

the oldest pens I own (although recently bought) are probably these two Fendograph safety pens (so vintage, but I am a recent owner)

Edited July 4, 2018 by sansenri