What Are Your 5 Must Own Pens ....

[MKeith]

Not necessarily in any order.

 

Bexley Corona

Bexley Simplicity II

Parker 51 Aerometric (multiple)

Esterbrook J (multiple for nib and color variations)

Lamy Al-Star (just for the multiple nib variations)

Edited October 29, 2012 by MKeith

[shapkaM]

У меня два любимых с разными перьями "М" и "B"

[shapkaM]

[ArchiMark]

OK, I'll play.....

 

In alphabetical order....easier for me to discuss this in terms of pen makers first, then possible model choices...

 

1) Conway Stewart (modern: Churchill, Raleigh, etc...or vintage pen...)

 

2) Montblanc (149, WE's, POA's, etc...)

 

3) Italians (Delta, Montegrappa, OMAS, Stipula, Tibaldi...)

 

4) Parker (modern or vintage Duofolds....)

 

5) Waterman (modern or vintage...)

 

 

 

 

[PAC 1957]

My top 6 (sorry ,one more) list:

1) Mlontblanc 149/146

2) Omas The Paragon Arte Italiana

3) Omas 360 (pre 2007 piston filled model)

4) Aurora 88

5) Parker Duofold Centennial

6) Parker 75

I would also add Pilot Capless Vanishing Point 2012 limited edition I'm waiting for (that will be probably my 7th "must own" pen)

Best

Piero

[pajaro]

If you have one good pen, what do you need four more for? I keep asking my self this question. Nonethless, the five pens I have owned that I liked best:

 

1. Parker 51, the first good pen I bought, still the best.

2. Montblanc 144, preferably red. One of the finest nibs in a pen sized smaller than a broomstick.

3. Esterbrook M2 with 9284 stub nib. You can see the sac fill with ink, and a marvelous stub.

4. Sheaffer Imperial, 14K fine, mine happens to be a desk pen.

5. Cross Solo. I can't figure out what makes this pen write so well, but it writes better than most pens I have had.

 

I have tried a lot of the other stuff, found them wanting for one reason or another. YMMV.

[jar]

Why back in post #16 in this thread I mentioned what I thought were the five real game changers in modern fountain pens.

 

If you are building a list of the Game Changers in the history of Fountain Pens and really wanted to limit it to five I'd suggest:

 

• Sheaffer Senior Flat Top lever filler
• Sheaffer Balance vacfil
• Parker "51"
• Sheaffer Triumph (early fat bodied)
• Sheaffer PFM

But if I had to pick five pens I currently own the list would be somewhat different.

 

 

 

 

• The Graf von Faber Castell terracotta Intuition fine nib
• A Yard-O-Led Viceroy Grand Victorian Pocket pen medium nib
• A Sheaffer Classic Pens Washington with the OB nib
• Montegrappa Midnight Blue Extra with a medium nib
• ST Dupont Vertigo medium nib

http://www.fototime.com/F69F50F248ED7E3/medium800.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/62A70742DEBE7F0/standard.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/C848681D3476874/medium800.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/1684E735994F8D2/medium800.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/833F8EB2BD606FB/medium800.jpg

But tomorrow the list might be different.

[gregamckinney]

_ LeBoeuf (thumb/ sleeve-filler preferred, but any will do.)

_ Waterman BCHR (ED or lever-filler)

_ PFM

_ Parker 51 (preferably vac and 2J)

_ Esterbrook dollar-fifty pen

 

 

Regards, greg

[tandaina]

I'm a newbie... I only OWN about 5 pens... But of the pens I own the ones I wouldn't be without:

 

Tenny Fall/Spring (Just the the sheer BEAUTY if nothing else, plus it is comfortable to hold AND the nib is beautiful, wet, and reliable)

Waterman Essential

Eversharp Skyline (I tried a friend's and loved it so much I found one in need of restoration, bought it, and am having it restored. As a newbie.)

[humsin]

Pelikan Souveran

Montblanc 149

Graf von Faber Castell Classic

Visconti Homo Sapiens

Edison

[bluejay]

I have to redo my list

 

PFM

PARKER 51

PILOT CUSTOM 823

VANISHING POINTS(CAPLESS)

MB 146

[da vinci]

This has really got me thinking!

 

At the moment I think it would be:

 

1. Parker 51 (I have a black and gold one with a stubbish nib but would like a burgundy one like the queen!);

 

2. Pilot 78g with a broad nib;

 

3. A nakaya

 

4. A montblanc 144

 

5. A sterling silver Visconti art Ellenica

 

However, as I have missed out some of my favourite pens from Waterman, Sheaffer, Montegrappa, Yard o Led, Pelikan and Esterbrook I reserve the right to change!

Edited October 31, 2012 by da vinci

[amk]

Well I'd have to put a Parker 51 and a Lamy 2000 up there as pens you should have, because over time I've come to realise how absolutely excellent they are.

 

But I'd say if you're starting out, there are two ways to do it.

 

1. Trial and error. Buy lots of cheapies, fleabay or car boots or junk shops, and learn how to fix 'em up and gradually learn how to recognise the good ones.

 

2. Buy a really good couple of pens from people who can sell you excellent writers, like Oxonian, Richard Binder, etc. Then you will have excellence and you'll recognise it when you see it.

 

2 looks like the expensive way. But 1 is actually considerably more expensive!

[mhosea]

I'm not sure about "must". Here are some that I have and some that are on my "pens of interest" list.

 

1. Bexley Poseidon Magnum with a variety of steel and gold nibs. This pen fits my hand perfectly and is very sturdy and well-made. I have two of the pen bodies of this model and various steel and gold nibs that I can swap in. Most of the nibs were tuned by Richard Binder, and one of the 18k F nibs was ground to XF by Greg Minuskin. So YMMV, but my Poseidon Magnums are fantastic writers.

 

2. Visconti Homo Sapiens Bronze Age -- have held it at a local pen shop and dry wrote with it to feel the flexibility of the nib (did not see the need to dip it, as I wasn't serious yet, and I don't like to make work for pen shop people unless I am serious). It's on my mind. The only thing that gives me pause is that the fancy grooved part just behind the grip that holds the cap interferes with my enjoyment of the grip section. It's just a little too prominent for my taste.

 

3. Montblanc 149 or 146. I have not been able to bring myself to purchase one of these yet because they cost about 2x what they are worth to me, but the flip side of that is that is that I still think they are worth quite a lot and would like to have one.

 

4. A made-to-order Edison pen. I'm thinking of an ED-filled Glenmont with a black grip section, probably with an 18K F nib. I like ED fillers more than pistons, bulb, or cartridge converters for various reasons ranging from loving the simplicity of them to the ease with which I can switch colors without wasting ink (just dump the ink into an empty sample vial).

 

5. A lot of people like Parker 51's, but I really don't like hooded nibs. The closest I can come is my Parker VS with lucite feed (which I think is cool if you stick to lighter-colored inks). I converted my Parker VS to ED after an internal failure of the plastic that holds the sac. I could have dug out this tube and replaced it, I guess, but I've already expressed my appreciation for ED pens, and I was not a fan of the contraption-in-a-black-box filling system it used, anyway. This seems to me a system better designed for a lifestyle that I do not have, i.e. refilling (topping off) the pen every morning with the same ink to use during the day's work. As an ED holding 3ml of ink, it is a great example of form, functionality, and simplicity.

[woghd]

- Cartier LOUIS

- Waterman EDSON

- Graf von Faber Castell Classic

- Montblanc 146

- Aurora 88

[tomgartin]

I have to revise my list now that I've had more experiences with pens:

 

1. Dressy (black) pen. Mine is a Namiki Falcon. Classy, elegant, and one of the nicest modern nibs in production.
2. Workhorse EDC pen. Mine is a Pilot 78g. Smooth nib out of the box, and a real workhorse. Another one that's better than its price range.
3. Custom pen. Doesn't matter who or where, but everyone should have a pen built for them. It's a really special experience. Mine is a Ranga #3, with the section threaded for JoWo nibs. I ground the medium nib myself into an italic.
4. Red pen. Sometimes you need something to mark up a document. I chose to get a 78g for this so it matches my workhorse.
5. Project/giveaway pen. Us pen geeks occasionally encounter someone who wants to convert. My current project pen is a Hero 616 (okay, a 10-pack of them) that I can tune up and give away to curious friends.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8238/8417394941_ba22ba6902_b.jpg

 

 

It's dusk here so the light is bad, but here they are^^^

 

ETA: haha, you can see my gingham shirt in the reflection

Edited January 26, 2013 by tomgartin

[UK Mike]

In my 50 years of fountain pen use I have tried many of the readily available pens and found some of them sadly wanting. So my list of 5 (really ONLY 5?), tends to concentrate on those I want to own before I finally depart. Maybe I can sign my Last Will and Testament with one of these.

 

1. Nakaya Writer

2. Visconti Homo Sapiens

3. Conway Stewart with Henry Simpole overlay (its good to dream)

4. Caran d'Ache Ivanhoe

5. Graf von Faber Castell Guilloche

 

Some of those are only dreams, but that is one of the joys of this addiction, there is always a long long list of pens you would buy if you had unlimited funds.

 

What is not on my list is any Parker 51 - I really don't like the hood design and I have the much more elegant 61 which I bought new in about 1965 and a Parker 65 a few years later. I tried the 51 and it always felt too snub-nosed for me so I passed it on over 30 years ago.

I also don't have any MB pens in my collection anymore. I don't need to be "seen" with a modern executive pen anymore and the 3 I have owned over the years were rather average, particularly when the stupidly inflated price was taken into account. I have no wish to offend satisfied users of these pens but my take is that there are better pens out there, it remains however one of the pens to be "seen with". (And no, that resin is not "precious" - don't get me started). They are decent pens but way overpriced.

 

The pens I have chosen could turn out to be turkeys of course and write like sharpened nails, in which case, in the unlikely event that I find myself owning one off that list, I would have no remorse in selling it straight away. The beauty of fountain pens is that everyones dream list is different and that nothing is irreversible.

 

Enjoy your pen collections for the pleasure they give YOU - nothing else matters.

Edited January 27, 2013 by UK Mike

[Edwaroth]

1. Bexley Cities Delaware

2. Pelikan M600

3. Platinum 3776

4. Faber-Castell Ondoro

5. Franklin-Christoph 1901

[ele]

Pelikan 400 Vintage

Parker Vacumatic 1st Generation

Mont Blanc 142

OMAS Vintage faceted pen (with vacumatic filling system)

Aurora 88 Vintage

[Cyber6]

My 5 MUST Own pens.. in no particular order..

 

1. Montblanc 149 with an Oblique Double Broad

2. Nakaya Tamenuri with vintage Super Flex nib

3. Pelikan M800/M1000 with a semi flex B/Stub

4. Waterman/Mabie Todd with vintage Super Flex nib

5. Parker 51 with a Minuskin stub (1.3mm at least)

 

 

I have used/experienced all of them at one point or another... the nibs are to DIE for. The first three.. I will have to wait until finances are more in my favor.

 

The Waterman/Mabie and Parker 51 are more in my reach.. just waiting for the right deal.

 

 

C.