Whose interest in acquiring FPs is diminishing?

[Dudley]

First, Congrats to KCat, for your daughter's wedding.

 

Now in the topic of aquiring. Hearing about everyone's thoughts about this is interesting, and I agree with everyone's views.

 

I actually first started collecting japanese pens for practicality of school work and normal day use. But when i was welcomed into the world of fountain pens, I consider them not just material possesions, but like your plants in your garden or corals in your reef tank, they are a part of your lifestyle. You have your favorites, you have to remember to refill them and take care of them, there are some that you always want to try, and those that you admire, and those will never get.

 

For me I think i have two approaches to FP aquiring. A big part of me in FP collecting is the usage of them, and I just love how great the variety of FPs there are, and i want least one representative of every major brand and every major type of FP out there. But even if i do achieve that somewhere in the far future, I will still have a side of me that want to collect special LE and vintage peices for display, and this type of aquiring is purely on asthetics and appreciation of craftsmanship, because im big on that.

 

Who knows maybe one day i will make my own fountain pens and wont have the need to aquire others=P

Edited May 27, 2006 by Dudley

[JimStrutton]

I still don't believe that I am a collector in the pure sense, but I am now far more selective in the pens that I want to buy and try.

 

Therefore I am not sniping at everything I spot on eBay, just those where I believe that the pen would add something, quite what is a bit vague and I am convinced that my cheapest user grade "51" writes as well as any pen I could ever want, so I have to accept the fact that I am more going down the 'Pocket Jewelry' route

 

So I want a 75, not any old pen but a silver one with a stub italic nib. I am contemplating a Lamy 2000 and/or a Parker 100, but am wavering, mainly on cost terms. (I am sure I can get three really good "51"s for the price of one of those.) I feel I should get a Pelikan, maybe a 250 or a 400, and I should really get a Sheaffer, just so I can compare and contrast with a "51".

 

So maybe it is just a matter of being more selective

 

Jim

 

PS KCat, new outfit new pen? You will need something special for the day won't you? Enjoy your daughters wedding!

[stan]

Yes and no.

 

I use about five or six pens regularly and have another 100-120 in the collection. Could have many more if the direction of my collection did not periodically change. Almost all are Japanese pens. When I began I never thought I'd ever acquire as many needed to fill a 40 pen storage case.

 

There are always somewhere between 50 and 100 pens available for sale. Some are saved for shows and others for future email sales. Soon, some of my decorated pens will find their way to shows for sale. My focus has once again found a new direction, even in the niche of Japanese pens, and wish to look into another area.

 

Interest does go up and down. As I rely on friends overseas to sell me pens, I always await their daily email and regular packages with great anticipation. Sometimes there is not much for sale or what they have is of little interest. I never know when they will have something that will end up in the collection. Sometimes I get burned as all of my frieends are not pen people. It can be hard staying focused.

[Sparky]

Morphing is a better word, as opposed to diminishing. As I have recently caught the fountain pen bug, I realize that trying to focus on acquisition will just frustrate me, because I will always want more than I could afford. After I realized that I decided to focus on what I actually liked about a fountain pen (and subsequently did not like), so I became more picky.

 

First, I just like their feel on the paper-- I jsut like using them.

Second, when I used my MB at work, I just became more stressed with it because I would worry if I would lose it. THAT really took the joy out of using the FP.

Third, I don't like heavy pens, nor pens that have a screw cap.

Fourth, I realize cheap pens that write well REALLY are a joy. They are typically not ostentatious.. . I use them heavily in meetings and at work, and never worry where they are....

 

True I appreciate looking at and holding a work-of art, very expensive pen. But I realize that if I had it, I probably wouldn't have the joy of writing with it that much because I would just keep it at home.

[Larry T]

I haven't lost interest, but my tastes have changed a lot since I started collecting about five years ago. I used to buy anything I could get at a good price. The result of that kind of buying is that I have over a hundred pens that I use very little or not at all.

 

Lately I have focused more on older pens, specifically Parker(51, 21, 61, Vac), and Sheaffer(Triumphe nibs), with a few others in the mix. I enjoy the hunt almost as much as acquiring the pen. I also love trying new inks. I have well over a hundred bottles, both new and vintage.

 

Richards post near the top of this topic mentions an A.A. Waterman RRHR pen that he restored for a client. I am that client, and I could not be happier with Richard"s work. My wife found that pen at an antique store in western Michigan. She wound up with three fountain pens, a Sheaffer mechanical pencil, and a nice dip pen for forty bucks. She's a keeper.

 

Larry

[Sonnet]

It's really only in the last year or so that my collection has expanded, from 1 pen to 12. Since I made two fairly major (for me) pen purchases in 2006, I plan to hold off on acquiring any more pens right now until I prune my collection a little bit. I want to take the time to really enjoy each pen.

[kilkil]

Since I just started acquiring fountain pens, it will be a little while before my interest diminishes and moves onto other things. I'll keep acquiring until I'm satisfied with what I have, probably sell off some of the ones that don't really satisfy me. As of now I'm not really focused on what I want, there are several directions that are of interest... I do like the earlier (about 50+ years ago) pens so that will probably be my focus for a while.

[kissing]

i'm a highschool student who is going thru a quest-like pen phase. It appears as though I had been looking for fountain pens - and it was inevitable that i finally discovered them.

 

From Primary school to early highschool - I loved the Mechanical Pencil

 

Middle Highschool - My dad got me a nice Cross Ballpoint (which started my interest in fine pens)

 

Later on i discovered more fine pens as gifts and eventually i got interested in Fountain Pens after using Parker Rollerballs for a while.

[Anne-Sophie]

As a tangent, many of you have discovered FPs in your adulthood.  While I can easily imagine many of you losing interest in accumulating pens, are any of you starting to lose  interest in using them?  I hope not 

Definitely no loss of interest in using them.

 

But in acquiring? Yes. I see a lot of pens I really like and for a few weeks I may even drool over them and plot and plan how to acquire them. But that feeling just fades as time goes on and I realize that as long as I don't give in to the "immediate gratification" thing, getting that next pen just isn't that important.

 

Funny thing, hubby wants to "spoil" me a lot right now and if I wanted to I could probably acquire at least two significant pens (including that lovely yellow 200) - but it isn't in my heart to do so. My heart is focused in other areas. Not the least of which is my daughter who is going to attempt to help me pick out a Mother-of-the-Bride dress this weekend.

Oh KCat that's wonderfull!!!!!

 

Do keep us posted on all the planning and your outfit and all the wedding exitement

[Slush99]

Congratulations, Kcat. please keep us posted.

 

 

now, I'm not losing interest...

[M. Stuart]

I've been into fountain pens for three years now, and have about 40. There are still a few I want, but it's getting harder to justify to myself! I'd like a Big Red, a double jewel "51", and maybe an English duofold. And okay, if you twisted my arm I'd take a gold-nibbed Targa and a silver TD Imperial. But I already have more pens that I love than I can use as much as I'd like: a PFM V, a carmel-colored OS Balance, a Legacy 1, several "51"s and Vacumatics, a Lamy 2000, and an Eversharp Skyline. My latest acquisitions are a capillary filling Parker 61 and a "51" Flighter. So I definitely feel like I'm moving out of the acquisitory phase. I still enjoy using them every day, and almost look forward to taking the minutes at committee meetings.

 

A similar thing happened to me with old manual typewriters. I have 10 working machines: a couple of old standard Underwoods, a Corona Four, a couple of Royals, a Remington Quiet Riter and a Hermes 2000. There are a few more I'd like, but how many letters can I type per week anyway? After I took those minutes, I typed them up on my old typewriters. Then I had them scanned and turned into pdf files. Good grief.

[KCat]

PS KCat, new outfit new pen? You will need something special for the day won't you? Enjoy your daughters wedding!

does yellow go with chocolate brown?

 

Actually - the Piazza Navona would be perfect for that day. Fortunately, I have one already.

[Betty]

I think I've reached a peak of getting all the pens I wanted already, but it's not "lost interest". There are only so many pens I like (I'm so picky) and I have most of them already (which is very comforting ) In fact, I always feel like I should downsize a bit since I can't use them as much as I like.

 

I think over the past several months, I've gotten a lot of selective. I now prefer to pay the price for a nice pen rather than accumulating several cheaper ones.