True Writer Pen Collection - So Far

[Misfit]

@Carguy I remember B nibs for True Writers in the past. It’s disappointing to only have F and M as the choices. I too love stub and italic nibs. I think it’s possible that the unbranded nibs at meisternibs.com would fit them. I’ve been meaning to see if that’s correct, but other things get my attention. I have one on an Opus 88 Picnic pen I could use to see. I’ll try and do that soon. The nibs give really good line variation. I learned about them from Brian Gray when I was looking at his Edison branded nibs. He let me know about his unbranded nibs at meisternibs.com. 

[Carguy]

17 hours ago, Misfit said:

@Carguy I remember B nibs for True Writers in the past. It’s disappointing to only have F and M as the choices. I too love stub and italic nibs. I think it’s possible that the unbranded nibs at meisternibs.com would fit them. I’ve been meaning to see if that’s correct, but other things get my attention. I have one on an Opus 88 Picnic pen I could use to see. I’ll try and do that soon. The nibs give really good line variation. I learned about them from Brian Gray when I was looking at his Edison branded nibs. He let me know about his unbranded nibs at meisternibs.com. 

Thank you Misfit! I like bright colors in pens and clothes. Don’t know how I managed to get their stub nibs, but I have one for those and 2 for my modern Esties.

[donnweinberg]

Ok, I’m ready now to provide an update on my Levenger True-Writer collection.  To start, I’ll show 4 rows of new ones (a few may have been pictured in earlier posts, and I’ll try to distinguish those from the new ones), pretty much from less recent to more recent.  The Levenger True-Writer pages used to have an internal link that set forth the history of the series, showing each issue and the year (and month) of issue.  I found out today while on the site, that this history link has been removed for about a year.  The lack of that resource makes it difficult for me to identify the name of the “color” and the issue year of some of the pens, except when they remain available on the Levenger site or were ordered recently by be.  As to issue year, I had to look at the earliest review of that particular pen color and pick the earliest year of a review.  I sometimes will identify a pen with my own description, but it may not coincide exactly with its original Levenger name.  In the case of some rollerball pens (RB) and ballpoint pens (BP), I may earlier have had the FP version pictured in my original posts and then added the RB and/or BP versions.

 

1st row, from left-to-right:  

2-tone Herringbone Anniversary FP ; Gold-Plated Herringbone FP ; Black-Herringbone FP (GP trim) ; Tangerine FP ; Light-Blue Cracked-Ice FP ; Black-&-Grey (In earlier photos:  My name for it; might just be a variation on the 1999 black, but looks different enough that I'm not sure; month/year forgotten) ; Lavender-&-Black (In earlier photos: My name for it; not shown in the official listing; month/year forgotten); Green FP (2/99) ; Green RB (2/99) ;  White (04/00) ; Rose (from earlier: 01/04) ; Always Greener Demonstrator RB (5/07); Amethyst Demonstrator RB (6/08); Sapphire Mosaic RB (2021) ; Classic Golden Dark Tortoise (2022) ; 35th Anniversary FP (2022).

 

 

 

2nd Row, from left-to-right:  

Levenger non-TrueWriter BP ; Blue BP (07/99); Red BP (10/99); Abalone (05/02) ; Tortoise BP (8/05); Sea Glass BP (2/07); Pink BP (04/07) ; Mosaic Purple BP (10/08); a creamy coffee color (name & year forgotten) ; unknown color name BP (2020?); unknown color name BP (2020?) ; unknown (but predominantly teal) color name BP (2020?) ; Classic Imperial Blue BP (2020) ;  a swirly-teal-turquoise color BP (name & year forgotten) ; Classic Chromatic BP (2021).

 

 

 

 

3rd Row, from left-to-right:  

 

a dark orange with black and few white highlights BP (name forgotten - 2021?) ; orangey-red sparkle BP (name forgotten - 2021?) ; green sparkle BP (name forgotten - 2021?) ; blue sparkle BP (name forgotten - 2021?) ; Obsidian Gold BP (09/06) ; unknown color that’s partially transparent (2022?) ; Jade Ocean BP (2022) ; Light Coral BP (2022) ; Americana BP (2023) ; a gorgeous green & gold color BP (name forgotten - 2023) ; Evening Sky BP (2023) ; Majesty BP (pink color 2023) ; Carrara BP (2023) ; Acqua Rossa BP (2023) ; Blue Lagoon BP (2023) ; Blue Grotto BP (2023).

 

 

 

 

4th Row, from left-to-right (after 6 blank spaces):  

 Wintergreen Herringbone FP (2023) ; Classic Il Paradiso (2023) ; Northern Lights BP (2023) ; Midnight Spark BP (2023) ; El Dorado BP (2023) ; Ivory Sapphire BP (2023); Elements - Earth (2023) ; Elements - Water (2023) ; Elements - Fire (2023) ; Elements - Air (2023).

 

 

 

Now, I’d like to highlight my recent favorite colors by providing a separate photo of each:

 

3rd Row, 10th Pen:  Green & Gold color, in two levels of lighting:

    

 

Il Paradiso from two perspectives.  This is really a gorgeous color.

    

 

 

Here’s a comparison of two very similar designs.  On top is the Acqua Rossa, and below it is the Americana.  Different lighting conditions for each photo:

 

    

 

Northern Lights:

 

 

A comparison of the popular Seaglass design (lowest pen), which is the 6th pen in the 2nd Row, with Pens 11 & 12 in the 2nd Row.  I’ve never particularly liked the Seaglass design, but I’m showing it hear with its “cousins."

 

 

 

 

If you know the “missing” names and uncertain or unknown issue years, please post here to let us know.  I’m hopeful that Levenger will restore the True Writer history page, as without it, it is extremely difficult to track down the color names and issue year (and month).  That page is a must for most True Writer collectors.  I had to look at my four most recent orders to figure out some of the colors, but it’s not the same as the history page.

[Misfit]

I’m sad to read the history page is gone. That is disappointing. I’ve looked at that before. 
 

I did a search for History of True Writer pen. I think I found it, but the images are the dreaded ?  
 

https://www.levenger.com/pages/true-writer-history

[Misfit]

I have the Java Truewriter, which was produced before one called Cappuccino. Java was discontinued in 2015, while Cappuccino was discontinued in 2018. I hope this helps for one of your pens. I think the first coffee pen was Cafe au Lait.. 

 

One other is from the Select series called Macchiato.

 

 

I suspect your unknown coffee pen is Cafe au Lait, and to the right of it is French Impressionists, and Spring Bouquet is right of it. I’m looking At Speerbob’s True Writer pens on eBay. 

[Misfit]

Here is my small True Writer collection including an L-Tech.

With flash

 

without flash 

 
from top

Seaglass

Spring Bouquet

Pinkly demonstrator

Java

Wintergreen

Turquoise

the Excalibur L-Tech

 

I had to wait and wait to get the Seaglass on eBay with the mechanical pencil. The Spring Bouquet and Pinkly also came from eBay (Speerbob). Then, Levenger brought back Seaglass. The main difference between them is the finials. The original has black, while the new version has matching.

 

The Spring Bouquet and Java pens have B nibs. 

 

 

 

[Misfit]

I promised earlier to try out an unbranded Edison nib on a True Writer. 
 

Here are the nibs side by side. The Levenger nib is on the right.  It has a wider, uh, collar.  The unbranded Edison has more of the nipple exposed.

 

Here is a bit out of focus look at a newer True Writer with the nib it came with.

 

And here is the pen with the unbranded Edison nib, converter attached, and pen put together. 
 

 

I’d say it would work. The unbranded Edison nib had to go back to the Opus 88 Picnic pen since it has a lot of ink in it. 

[Misfit]

I was looking at True Writer fountain pens on eBay. I got an offer on the Amethyst transparent (the seller called it violet) with B nib. There is an ink stain in the cap between the cap and cap liner. Looks purple. Maybe it will soak out, as I did decide to buy it for $35, plus $5 shipping and tax, or $42 and change. 

[jchch1950]

Thank you for posting the additions to your true-writer collection. Impressive.

[donnweinberg]

Thanks so much, Misfit, for your very helpful information, which is correct; it refreshes my recollection about the names.

[Misfit]

@donnweinberg I’m so glad I could help. I like True Writers, and thought I had more. But I had a good look, and think I found them all. 
 

I might will bid on a couple I saw on eBay.  I didn’t buy some of the older editions for whatever reason.  Unfortunately Speerbob has mostly rollerball and ballpoint versions of True Writer pens. I’ll be looking at the first page to see if I can find one that is on eBay. 

[Misfit]

The Amethyst demonstrator fountain pen arrived today. It was bought knowing there was ink in between the cap and cap liner. The cap is in the ultrasonic cleaner. 
 

I set an alarm for eBay auctions. In my haste, and grogginess, instead of upping a bid, I bid on another pen. That means I ended up bidding and winning three auctions when I planned on two. Two of the pens look the same, sigh. I think they are the Oceanic, but there was only one photo.  One looked pinkish.  The other True Writer is the French Impressionists fountain pen. It has a metal section, which will be a first among my True Writers. 
 

I’ll post a photo once all the pens are here. The three today come from a seller who lives in KCMO, while I live in a suburb thereof. 

[Misfit]

The Amethyst cap is still needing ultrasonic cleaning. 
 

Here are my new True Writers. At top is Oceanic Blue with a M nib. Middle is Oceanic Gray with M nib. And at the bottom is French Impressionists with F nib. 

My favorite of the Oceanic pens is the gray version. It is the pen I accidentally bid on, and am very glad I did. It has little bits of color in blue, red, maybe orange and pink. A blue bit can be seen in the barrel just over halfway.

[donnweinberg]

Nice new True-Writers, Misfit.  

[Misfit]

@donnweinberg Thank you for starting this thread. It’s nice to be able to share my small, but growing collection. It was weird. The auction photos were not color accurate. I had no idea what I was bidding on with the Oceanic pens. They looked pink in the photos. I thought I was possibly getting the same pen twice. But instead it was the two versions of Oceanic. 

[Misfit]

@donnweinberg I decided to contact Levenger, and ask if the photos could be restored to the History of the True Writer page. I’ll let you know if they reply. 

[donnweinberg]

8 hours ago, Misfit said:

 I decided to contact Levenger, and ask if the photos could be restored to the History of the True Writer page. I’ll let you know if they reply. 

 

I'm glad you did, as I did the same by online "chat".  We collectors of True Writers really need the history page.  Perhaps the Levenger folks didn't realize how important the page was to us.

[Misfit]

I tried to let them know that when we go looking on eBay for past models, their True Writer history is a great resource. 

[donnweinberg]

On 11/19/2023 at 6:53 PM, Misfit said:

I tried to let them know that when we go looking on eBay for past models, their True Writer history is a great resource.

 

You inspired me to do the same, so I emailed customer service about it.  They replied that they are working on restoring it to their "Blog" section.  They didn't say how long it would take.  

 

I have found, as have you and others, that without it there is some chaos.  For example, it appears to my eyes that the only difference between the November, 2008 "Water Lilies" and the July, 2021 "Sea & Sky" is that the latter has the color of the pen continued on its cap crown, but the former has the typical black cap crown.  What is your impression?  If I'm wrong, so be it, but if I'm right, why the name change?  If I'm right, is it worth it to purchase the same pen as before for such a small difference?

[Misfit]

I tried to buy a water lilies fountain pen version from Speerbob, but it turned out to be out of stock. I haven’t seen it in person. I do recall thinking a new pen they had reminded me of water lilies. Must have been the one you mentioned.  Levenger’s response to me was they would let the marketing team know that the page was requested to be restored.