Hi from Georgia,Tbilisi!

September 8

Hi everyone,

I’m from Tbilisi, Georgia, and I recently found myself diving into the world of fountain pens. Just a few days ago, I discovered a Montegrappa 1055 VI 925 Sterling Silver pen that’s been with my family for years. I’m completely new to this hobby, and I’m eager to learn more about how to care for and use this pen.

I’d appreciate any advice on how to maintain it, change the ink, determine its value or just general tips on getting started with fountain pens. Looking forward to learning from this great community!

Thanks in advance for your help!

September 8

Hello and Welcome to FPN!! So glad to have you as a member!!

September 8

September 8

Welcome @arcchiebald! You have a nice looking pen there.

I’ve found it helpful to look at youtube. Try searching for “fountain pen care” or something similar. Also look for videos from jetpens and goulet pens; they cover fountain pen basics. If this pen has not been used for some time, it’s likely you’ll want to start with a good cleaning. Nothing like seeing someone on youtube go through the steps. Do you already have ink?

September 9

Welcome @arcchiebald, from New York City!

As Mechanical says, start by cleaning your "new" pen. Nothing fancy about it: just let it sit for a bit (overnight?) nib-down in a lettle water. You only need enough water to cover the nib and a little higher...maybe up to the grip. That will get rid of dried ink.

Try searching for descriptions of your pen...how to refill it, especially. Find some ink, fill the pen, and try it out.

The pen should write without you needing to press it down on paper. That is, unlike a ballpoint or a pencil.

Then enjoy it! I grew us writing with a fountain pen (I'm that old), but gave it up when I became a computer programmer. Fountain pen ink would go right through the "green-bar" paper in the "line-printers" we used. (Incidentally, the printer in your computer today prints through its "lpt" port, which was short for "line-printer".) Eventually, my hand went bad from using the mouse for so long, that I tried a fontain pen. It was like therapy for my hand.

And one final tip: when you are comfortable writing with your pen do not buy more. Maybe one more, but do not follow the rest of us here. You can only write with one pen at a time, and only one ink. If you do as we have done, you will spend too much money buying more pens, and then more. And you will go nuts trying to decide from all the hundreds of beautiful colors with many different sorts of properties.

September 10

Hello and welcome to FPN.

September 23

Welcome from Missouri!

:W2FPN:

September 23

On 9/10/2024 at 2:04 AM, welch said:

Welcome @arcchiebald, from New York City!

And one final tip: when you are comfortable writing with your pen do not buy more. Maybe one more, but do not follow the rest of us here. You can only write with one pen at a time, and only one ink. If you do as we have done, you will spend too much money buying more pens, and then more. And you will go nuts trying to decide from all the hundreds of beautiful colors with many different sorts of properties.

Welcome to this friendly group. The quotation is a very wise one, but many of us could not follow it.😉