To ink or not to ink

[nana_kathy]

By all means, use it... I'd much rather write with and really enjoy my pens. My kids will probably sell most of them after I'm gone, but at least they won't open a box someday and say "wonder why Mom never used these great old pens? What was she saving them for?"

BTW... I use the good dishes, glassware and vintage table linens, too!

[ethernautrix]

I used to be knee-jerk USE IT USE IT USE IT! But now I'm more relaxed and take it pen-by-pen. I still ink up all of my pens, and chances are I will never buy a pen I won't want to use, but I never know. I might happen upon a pen that is so marvelous that I'll be unable to use it. Just because I can't imagine that scenario doesn't mean it can't happen.

[Ajsam]

I enjoy using a pen just as muck as admiring it.

[Sasha Royale]

Get your camera and take a set of photographs of the pen in its

pristeen condition. Put the pictures into the safe and look at

them as you would the new pen (just as good). Then, fill from

a fresh bottle and write to friends and family, " You won't believe

how the murmur of the nib on my pen creates a ribbon of color that

yields more joy than I can keep to myself."

:roflmho:

[Truman]

Stickers are an interesting topic. I have a couple of Sheaffer Targas with a lacquer finish that came to me with the original stickers still on them. They were older models, probably late 1970s. The adhesive in the sticker had destroyed the lacquer underneath. So, stickers are not necessarily harmless and should not necessarily be left on for extended periods of time. They were only meant to to be on the pen from the time of manufacture to the time of first use, which was not anticipated to be an extended period. Depending on the finish material, the sticker may or may not damage the pen over a long period of time.

 

Thank you for that piece of information! I did not know that.

[tonybelding]

When I got a Sheaffer Imperial VI pen-and-pencil set with the stickers still on, I wrote an entry in my collector's journal (as I always do when I get a new pen) and then peeled off the stickers and pasted them onto the journal entry.

 

Keep in mind, though.... I got that pen off eBay for peanuts, and it doesn't have great collector value anyhow. (Although, I do think they are more scarce than I realized at the time when I got it.)