YOUR pen of the year?

[agentdaffy007]

My MB 149P O3B. Just the right amount of smooth feedback and inkflow. Just wow!

[como]

@sansenri I wish you a speedy recovery! My pen of the year is no doubt Montblanc 149 Calligraphy. It’s a pen of great value considering the style, MB service and nib performance. I’ve written a lot with it, mostly learning Copperplate and Spencerian calligraphy, but also just learning to write with an EF nib (soft flex and bouncy). I still enjoy writing with a juicy broad nib but now can have a new dimension to the pen fun. I hope you had a good year, in pens and  in other aspects of life too!

[ajoe]

As much as I hate to say it, because I am not a MB fanboy, it is the MB 146 my wife gave to me as a present about 20 years ago. During that time I have had a lot of pens that held in higher regard and put the MB away for a while. But every time I get the 146 our and ink it up, it is still writing like the day it was new. It has a plain M nib, but is always a pleasant surprise and pleasure to use.

[collectorofmanythings]

Mine was my Conway Stewart Duro in Marine Blue. I am in admiration of the design and resin.

[maclink]

No doubt my Montblanc Heritage Egyptomania with B nib.

 

I've had this pen inked with Royal Blue ink since I received it.  It's a lovely stub grind that I can only sing praises for.

[welch]

Mine is a Midnight Blue Parker 51 aerometric with a US medium nib. Surprise of the year: a gray P-51 aero, medium nib, a pen I haven't touched in more than ten years. Noticed it in a coffee cup on my desk, filled it, and, wow, just a smooth delight.

[Keyless Works]

My Hakase with a BB ground into a cursive italic was definitely my pen of the year.

 

I would also like to do a special in memoriam for my Montblanc 149 OBB...loved you so much, RIP.

[sansenri]

17 hours ago, como said:

@sansenri I wish you a speedy recovery! My pen of the year is no doubt Montblanc 149 Calligraphy. It’s a pen of great value considering the style, MB service and nib performance. I’ve written a lot with it, mostly learning Copperplate and Spencerian calligraphy, but also just learning to write with an EF nib (soft flex and bouncy). I still enjoy writing with a juicy broad nib but now can have a new dimension to the pen fun. I hope you had a good year, in pens and  in other aspects of life too!

 

thanks como, getting better already! just bored stuck here without possibility to move before quarantine is over, then needing to be tested, etc.

Must be a nice pen, I still have not had a chance to try 149, but we don't want all surprises at the same time, do we?

In general 2021 hasn't been that bad, 2022 has chances of being better!

[sansenri]

22 hours ago, JulieParadise said:

This collage shows my new pens for 2021:

 

Which one of these or my other pens is my POTY? -- This is tough question, although I have to choose not between all of these but only consider two of them: The most beautiful and noticeable is the OMAS Extra Desk Pen with its Bambi figurine and the calendar module on the black base which I turn forward almost every day. 

 

But when it comes to writing, pages upon pages, I deeply fell in love with the humble, scratched, slightly warped and pretty worn Montblanc Meisterstück 142 that is the first pen on the upper right edge of the notebook.

 

I just love this pen and its nib! It came to me with a flexy F, but since I prefer stubby nibs I turned it into a flat F/M with a noticeably difference in line width between horizontal and vertical strokes (shown next to its entry with some sample lines). 

 

This rather small and slim pen fits my hand perfectly, its ink flow is generous and remains that way over pages and pages of even fast scribbles and note taking, and the lines it produces are crisp and reflect the bounce/flex the nib has. It never hard starts or clogs, and due to its wetness all inks, even those that would be too light in many other pens, wotk well and look great. 

 

Since it is a piston filler with a rather slow working telescopic mechanism, cleaning would be a pain, so I use it with a dedicated (so fall all were blue) ink only, filled into a Pineider Pen Filler or a Visconti Traveling Inkwell, and refill again and again until the 10 ml in the bottle are gone. Only then I clean it and go to a a new ink. 

 

My log shows me that I used up almost 70 ml of ink in 2021 with this pen only, a fill lasting for 5-8 A5 pages. 

 

As has been stated before (above), sometimes the pen of the year might not be the newest, shiniest, flashiest even, but the workhorse that gives you joy when using it, writing with it.

 your 142 looks really cute, Julie, I have a 342 that behaves as you describe. Possibly one of my nicest nibs.

[sansenri]

21 hours ago, Toll said:

I think I only bought two pens in 2021 — trying to show restraint! One of those pens is a Namiki Yukari Royale in vermilion and it has given me a great deal of writing joy. The feel, the size, the look, and the nib are all exceptional. 

A very nice pen!, I don't find it hard to believe it could be the only one you need for one year

[sansenri]

21 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

I somehow managed to acquire more than an average of one pen per week in 2021 (two of which I'm still waiting for), which is not what I intended when the year started. Most of them are excellent pens. There were two big surprises for me this year, so I'm going to include them both.

 

Wing Sung 698 with a soft Fine gold nib, piston filler with what seems to be a very large ink capacity (I've had it inked since July). It starts every time no matter how long (a couple of weeks or more) since I last used it. The nib is a little soft and a little bouncy. A pleasure to write with, even as the esthetics are kind of meh. 

 

Pineider La Grande Bellezza with one of their quill nibs, I think they call it. There are some things about this pen that some people don't like (magnetic cap closure, material and shape of section) but they don't bother me because the nib is the star of the show for me. A Fine that is both wet and truly Fine, it has cutouts but it's not flexy just very soft and bouncy and luscious to write with. It makes me want to write with flourishes. 

 

My pen resolution for the new year is to finish 2022 with fewer pens than I have today. I won't even say how many fewer, it will be a victory if it is only one (I know my weaknesses). 

 

Paul, I'm not that bad... but almost.

I own a Grande Bellezza, yet I've never tried it... I don't even have it with me! My sister bought it for me time ago in the US during a sale, but still has it with her... It will eventually reach me, sooner or later...

[sansenri]

17 hours ago, ajoe said:

As much as I hate to say it, because I am not a MB fanboy, it is the MB 146 my wife gave to me as a present about 20 years ago. During that time I have had a lot of pens that held in higher regard and put the MB away for a while. But every time I get the 146 our and ink it up, it is still writing like the day it was new. It has a plain M nib, but is always a pleasant surprise and pleasure to use.

I do understand you. I'm not a MB fanboy either. My 80's 146 was a runner up for the title though!

[NicoleLSnyder]

I picked up an Esterbrook Peacock pen this year and love the diamond cast look. It has quickly become a favorite in my collection!

[ajoe]

On this 2nd day of January in the year 2022, let it hereinafter be so declared and understood. that my pen of the year will be the same as last year.

 

I can say this with the utmost confidence since I will not be buying, shopping for, lusting over, reading reviews of, going to pen shows, or otherwise partaking in activities that might entice me to purchase, any new pen.

[brokenclay]

40 minutes ago, ajoe said:

On this 2nd day of January in the year 2022, let it hereinafter be so declared and understood. that my pen of the year will be the same as last year.

 

I can say this with the utmost confidence since I will not be buying, shopping for, lusting over, reading reviews of, going to pen shows, or otherwise partaking in activities that might entice me to purchase, any new pen.

 

Bravo!

[sansenri]

1 hour ago, ajoe said:

On this 2nd day of January in the year 2022, let it hereinafter be so declared and understood. that my pen of the year will be the same as last year.

 

I can say this with the utmost confidence since I will not be buying, shopping for, lusting over, reading reviews of, going to pen shows, or otherwise partaking in activities that might entice me to purchase, any new pen.

if you go by the quote in your signature it will be hard sticking to your declared rule...
anyway, pen of the year was for 2021 so still valid

[I-am-not-really-here]

My pen of the year for 2021 was a Dinkie Limited Edition "Commemorative" made in 2000(?). A short pen that only takes small cartridges,  it has been inked continuously with Caran d'Ache Divine Pink.  There's just one cartridge left in the box but no matter as there is a 75ml bottle of it waiting.  (And a bottle of Kaweco Ruby Red to maybe see, eventually, if CdA is rebadged, plus a bottle of the prior CdA Amazon series Sunset just for fun.)

[Runnin_Ute]

Of the seven pens that arrived in 2021, the one that has seen the most use is the Newton Elizabethan. Is it my favorite pen? Probably not even my favorite Newton.

 

The most interesting pen is probably the last one that arrived in November. A Parker Duofold streamlined with factory stub in jade celluloid. Absolutely gorgeous pen and writes better than many pens made in the 90 years since it was made. It's seen a lot of use in the past six weeks. I'm on my fifth or sixth fill already.

 

I just purchased my first pen of 2022, I expect to have it in the next week or so.

 

 

[Tashi_Tsering]

My Top-3 in 2021:

 

3. Visconti Kaleido Voyager, F, 18k 
2. Vintage Parker Duofold "big red", ~ EF, 14k 
1. Montblanc Meisterstück 149 "75 Years of Passion & Soul", M, 18k

[ajcoleman]

My personal pen of the year would have to be be my Forest Green Pilot 74 with a medium gold nib that my wife let me pick out when she surprised me with a trip to Appointments pen store in Cincinnati for my birthday. Nice and smooth, very comfortable in my hand, a great size, and a slick converter with large capacity. I enjoy being able to see the ink level I have, and I like the dark green color even more than I thought I would. It has been nearly the only pen used since I picked it up in August. This one is my favorite acquisition and my most used pen of 2021 by far.

 

My nomination for THE Pen of the Year, however has got to be the Next Generation Parker 51 I acquired early in the year. It is by far the most highly anticipated, most passionately "discussed" pen I have acquired in a long time. I have two, a black and a midnight blue, and the blue one is actually a pretty decent pen,  The black one never had very good ink flow, in spite of my best efforts. It does not live up to its namesake, but it is very sharp looking, very comfortable, and if you get a good one and judge it on its own merits, it is a very respectable pen.