What pen(s) are you using today?

[inkstainedruth]

3 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

I'm wondering if miriapodes think the same. They never seem to collect many pairs of shoes... 😉

Of course, the ones I've found in my house don't last long enough to go shoe shopping.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[OldTravelingShoe]

55 minutes ago, DvdRiet said:

 

BoBo, I know it takes a lot to convince you  but that 'wood-looking' pen really is made out of wood. It is briarwood, the same wood used to make smoking pipes. It was a special edition Diplomat that seems to have sold for DM499 at the time, so not a cheap pen. It's quite collectible these days, as I understand it. In fact, someone at Diplomat recently complimented me on having one in my collection. Rumour (and visual evidence) has it that the pen is actually a Platinum that has Diplomat branding. I have a Platinum converter in mine, for instance, and the 18k nib looks just like a 3776. It's called the Bruyére, but there was also one made for Tiffany, the jeweller, that also has their branding on it. 

 

As an aside, I also recently saw an identical Platinum in (dark) briarwood for sale on the German forum.

@DvdRiet, @Bo Bo Olson, would you mind sharing photos of these pens? Not only the pen with wood-based body, but also the horse, tennis player, etc. There is preciously scarce information about Diplomats and this would be very nice to see. 

[Bo Bo Olson]

1 hour ago, DvdRiet said:

It is briarwood, the same wood used to make smoking pipes.

It is.....DvDRiet....thanks for making me get up and take a second better look.

It has a converter so I loaded it a bit. The 18K nib is a regular flex. same flex rate as a Japanese soft.

I only loaded it minimally, in I had so many other pens to check out in this live auction lot.  In I didn't really expect wood, I didn't see it. Was nicely impressed with the nice springy regular flex nib...Diplomat 18K, M....and that M looks quite narrow.

You mentioned Tiffany doing a briar pen...somewhere I remember another company Cd'A perhaps that had made a briar pen.

Looked it up,on Penboard.de. A number of Omas, a couple Waterman, a couple Parker by Parker Germany and a Viscounti.

 

At that time @ 1990, Japanese nibs or pens were not something world wide. ***

 

I did have a very old '70's thin nibbed nail  Sheaffer made in Japan, but see no reason that Diplomat a quite old pen company could not have made the pen all by itself instead of looking in hidden nooks and corners to have someone make the pen dirt cheap in Japan (like sold in the US telescopic rifle sights.) America was use to buying cheap stuff from both japan and Germany.  A MB was not always that horribly expensive as it now is. Being an army brat over here I was astounded that MB charged more fro gold palates than a rolled gold Snorkel....not a who lot though. I came to Germany in the mid '60's.

 

And a Pelikan only a few very big dollars more expensive than Parker and Sheaffer.

 

The dollar was still Almighty if you could get any. As an army brat when I was 16,  I picked up a nice girl with a taxi, took her down to a better gasthaus in the local town. We had Wiener schnitzel with jager mushroom sauce (6.80 dm,  and a pint of beer DM0.80 and back home by cab, and I had change from the $5,00/DM20..

So a few dollars was a hell of a lot of money in Germany. Draft Privates lived like Princes right after payday.

Mercedes and BMW were small under powered cars. One kid in HS a Col's kid had a 146, and it was said some girl in 8th grad had a Pelikan, the rest of us had US pens. OK, that was late '60's....

 

1 hour ago, DvdRiet said:

Rumour (and visual evidence) has it that the pen is actually a Platinum that has Diplomat branding. I have a Platinum converter in mine, for instance, and the 18k nib looks just like a 3776

Were they making that particular Japanese pen 45 or so years ago???? I know nothing about Japanese pens.

 

Some 15 years ago, Japanese pens were seldom mentioned here on the com except for the Metropolitan, when it took over from Esterbrook as the pen most recommended for noobies.

 

40-45 years ago, I think as far as fountain pens went, Japan was behind the moon. Both Degussa and Bock were still making nibs, if Diplomat was not making In-House. I see no reason for Diplomat to re-brand a then 'cheap' Japanese pen for a fortune. The price of getting caught out would have been catastrophic.

 

 

Diplomat is not listed in Andreas Lambrou's 1989 Penbook...So I can't match finial and clip with any other German pen. The biggest difference is the clip. I did see some flattish topped pens and other with the torpedo/cigar barrel end.

 

I have a ''88-90's nib size chart. From wide to narrow,  Conway Stewart, Parker, Shaffer, the regular Pelikan** and then thinner 800** and Waterman were listed....not a single Japanese pen.

They weren't big time then......Well, Aurora (the thinnest nib in Europe) wasn't either and it was thinner than Waterman, close to Japanese thin from some of my readings.

 

** How times have changed since they came in with the fat and blobby double ball nibs in '97.

 

Now got to dig out some light wood oil. Did, more than likely tomorrow also.

[OldTravelingShoe]

1 hour ago, Tashi_Tsering said:

Montblanc Monte Rosa O42G with B nib (1950th) and Montblanc Monte Rosa 41P with steel F nib (1960th)

 

Beautiful pens, @Tashi_Tsering. Thanks for sharing! 

 

@DvdRiet, this is an excellent opportunity to test your knowledge about the 3-digit (1st generation) and 2-digit series (2nd). (G typically indicates a smooth finish and is often, possibly incorrectly, associated with gold nibs. P indicates a cartridge filler.) 

[Bo Bo Olson]

Diplomat is the top wooden one.

When I buy a pen I take the photo. The lighting of this old photo, is poor it's a silver plated pen, not a gold plated one.

 

I just trash canned a camera that a half a dozen years ago, I spent for me $$$ on a camera that never took pictures as good as the modern smart phone. Putting in a new battery didn't do a thing. I got tired of the thing not loading and the unsharp pictures..

 

 

I'm going to have to learn how to use my wife's smart phone. Don't have one my self. No need, to waste pen and ink money.

 

 

 

 

[OldTravelingShoe]

1 minute ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

Diplomat is the top wooden one.

When I buy a pen I take the photo. The lighting of this old photo, is poor it's a silver plated pen, not a gold plated one.

 

I just trash canned a camera that a half a dozen years ago, I spent for me $$$ on a camera that never took pictures as good as the modern smart phone. Putting in a new battery didn't do a thing.

I'm going to have to learn how to use my wife's smart phone. Don't have one my self. No need, to waste pen and ink money.

 

 

Thanks for sharing, @Bo Bo Olson, these are pens I know nothing about! I'm not collecting Diplomats, heh, someone else does, but I have a few and am puzzled by the lack of information (and photos). This helps a lot. 

[OldTravelingShoe]

1 hour ago, inkstainedruth said:

Of course, the ones I've found in my house don't last long enough to go shoe shopping.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

😉 Hehe, emphasis on found. 

[Bo Bo Olson]

I don't like nails, and back when I was a 5 pen noobie, I had a light aluminum very, very well balanced Diplomat, I sold. It was one of those pens with such great balance, I almost could have held on to it. I was too new to think about swapping nibs or grinding half moons into nibs.

 

Not that I care for Krone, but non fountain pen users with more money than taste like them. That's another brand that gets no play here.

[Daniel_K]

Karas Kustom Ink V2 (tumbled aluminum with brass section / Fine nib) - inked with Diamine Oxblood

Gravitas Pocket (raw stainless / Medium nib) - inked with Diamine Blue/Black

 

[OldTravelingShoe]

TL;DR: A triplet, consisting of Pilot Capless Matte Black with 18k-gold M nib with Pilot Black ink, Pelikan Level 65 with steel F nib with Pelikan Royal Blue ink, and a Kaweco Clasic Sport Red with gold-plated BB nib inked with Diamine Pumpkin orange. See Figure 1.

 

Figure 1. Three pens chatting during a work break. 

[DvdRiet]

2 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

@DvdRiet, @Bo Bo Olson, would you mind sharing photos of these pens? Not only the pen with wood-based body, but also the horse, tennis player, etc. There is preciously scarce information about Diplomats and this would be very nice to see. 

 

I took some photos of my pen, so I did a little write-up for them here: 

 

Edited August 23, 2022 by DvdRiet
'took' photos, not 'made' them! oh my! I guess I've lived here too long!

[Arthur Pewty]

3 hours ago, DvdRiet said:

there was also one made for Tiffany, the jeweller, that also has their branding on it.

Is this the one you mean? The cap band reads "Tiffany & Co" and the nib is marked "Diplomat 18K M".

[DvdRiet]

19 minutes ago, Arthur Pewty said:

Is this the one you mean? The cap band reads "Tiffany & Co" and the nib is marked "Diplomat 18K M".

Yes, that's the one! Is this your pen?

[ParramattaPaul]

Conway Stewart Duro.

[Arthur Pewty]

4 hours ago, DvdRiet said:

Yes, that's the one! Is this your pen?

Yes, I bought it last October. It's in immaculate condition, so $130 seemed like a pretty fair price.

[ParramattaPaul]

We've seen a previous list, so...  18 Famous Authors and Their Fountain Pens - LuxiPens™

[ruby.monkey]

Today seems a good day to pull out the Summit S.175.

[mallymal1]

14 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

TL;DR: A triplet, consisting of Pilot Capless Matte Black with 18k-gold M nib with Pilot Black ink, Pelikan Level 65 with steel F nib with Pelikan Royal Blue ink, and a Kaweco Clasic Sport Red with gold-plated BB nib inked with Diamine Pumpkin orange. See Figure 1.

 

Figure 1. Three pens chatting during a work break. 

 

Liking that red and black theme. 

 

Do you keep these pens in a chatterbox?  😁

[Misfit]

Once I switched the B nib the pen came with to an unbranded Edison 1.1mm italic nib, I filled and used a Fine Writing International Jupiter pen.  The ink I put in it is Graf von Faber-Castell Violet Blue. 

[ruby.monkey]

35 minutes ago, ruby.monkey said:

Today seems a good day to pull out the Summit S.175.

Change of plan - the S.175 is playing silly buggers, so my Aurora 88P will take over for the rest of the day.