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Your Ugliest Pen


Charles Rice

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Every one here likes to show off their favorite pen, and I'm no different. But deep down in some dark corner I'll bet that most of us have a pen that should never again see the light of day. And it makes no difference how you got it. Maybe it was a gift, something that granny left you, or maybe you got it the same night that your got that really ugly tattoo. Ok, maybe you do use it once in a while, but it's a sure bet that you're never going to bring it to your local pen club.

 

For me, it's an Esterbrook M2. What's yours?

 

(it's OK not to gross us out with pictures)

 

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An Aurora Oceania Limited Edition. It looked wonderful in puctures, I ordered it and waited with emotion. What a disapointment. It looks cheap, it writes awful (very dry). The gold detais are tasteless (looks like something a mexican drugdealer would happilly use).

 

This shows me I should never order a pen (especially if its a 1k pen) whithout seeng it in person and test write with it.

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Hi,

 

Parker 25 : so ugly its cute.

 

A built-in anti-theft device. It sees a lot of use as a casual carry.

 

I don't have any 'decorated' pens, so no doubt other Members can come-up with something far more ugly. I hope they don't post pictures which might offend my gentle sensibilities or frighten those of tender years.

 

Bye,

S1

Edited by Sandy1

The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

 

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Every one here likes to show off their favorite pen, and I'm no different. But deep down in some dark corner I'll bet that most of us have a pen that should never again see the light of day. And it makes no difference how you got it. Maybe it was a gift, something that granny left you, or maybe you got it the same night that your got that really ugly tattoo. Ok, maybe you do use it once in a while, but it's a sure bet that you're never going to bring it to your local pen club.

 

For me, it's an Esterbrook M2. What's yours?

 

(it's OK not to gross us out with pictures)

 

I just got an M2 in the mail...it's a nice design and all, but boy is it DRAB! What happened to our sense of style in the '60s? REALLY ugly.

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Zebra V-301

wouldn't write

horrible design

 

+1

 

Like the Preppie, it looks like its out on a Day Pass from the stationery cupboard.

 

Bye

S1

The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

 

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not so ugly that I would be ashamed of it, but definitely in the lower drawer:

Lamy Safari (too technical)

Pilot Petit (plasticky)

Parker 51, 45 (representing any hooded nib pen)

Pilot Parallel (great invention in an ugly body)

Greetings,

Michael

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My Lamy Safari - it's a good pen and I love the ability to swap nibs at will, but it's not really a pretty pen. Nothing to be ashamed of, but definitely the least favourite of my (admittedly small) collection.

Parker 75, Ingenuity, Premier, Sonnet, Urban | Pelikan M400 | TWSBI Diamond 580 | Visconti Rembrandt



Currently inked: Diamine Apple Glory (Rembrandt), Pelikan 4001 Turquoise (M400), Lamy Black (Diamond 580)

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My ugliest pen is an oxidized Waterman 52 so worn that the BCHR is missing its C, and the clip is broken off. But the nib is beautiful.

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Jean-Pierre LePine Samba. It stays in the dark, and for all I know it may glow in the dark.

 

I'm sure it would appeal to someone (like a 6 year old girl), but it's pearl pink with swirly lines that look like an embedded dark green spaghetti noodle, finished with a chrome asymmetrical wavy cap band and tadpole pocket clip. Surprisingly it's not a cheap pen, and I think it's still available but thank goodness the color has been long discontinued. :sick:

Qui me amat, amat et canem meum

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Hmmm. I try not to buy ugly pens. ;)

That being said, probably the Arnold I paid too much for. It's a weird sort of woodgrain celluloid, and looks (and feels) cheap; it's also smaller than I expected it to be, and doesn't even have an Arnold nib in it.

2nd place on the list would be a black Parker Urban, which is an under-warranty replacement for my original (also black) Urban. Weird shape, a bit on the heavy side, and the nib unit leaks ink that should have long since been flushed out of the pen.

3rd place would probably be the champagne gold Jinhao 599, which is a Lamy Safari clone. Not my first choice of color, and I'm still trying to make up my mind about the Safari-style triangular grip section. OTOH, the pen was free, and is a decent writer.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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I think the word "ugly" gets overused these days, with no middle ground below pretty. I certainly wouldn't call the Esterbrook M2 an "ugly" pen. Very plain and utilitarian looking, perhaps.

 

Nor would I select "ugly" as the best description of this Wing Sung. Unbelievably tacky perhaps. If fountain pens came in gumball machines or boxes of cereal, this is probably what they would look like.

 

http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt221/mapn/Pens/29a6c157-9102-4a67-8012-fbd0f5aabd70_zps0a868fbf.jpg

 

I find my Lamy Safari, AL Star, and Kaweco Classic Sport to be pretty unattractive. Other than that, I don't think I have any pens that I actually dislike the look of. Some are more attractive than others, of course.

 

And to be fair to the Wing Sung, it actually writes pretty well, and only cost $1.75.

"So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do."

 

- Benjamin Franklin

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My ugliest is either the Ahab demonstrator(it's not clear but more of a muddy/cloudy transparent and it looks really bad) or the Kaweco classic. However, the crown for thee ugliest and undignified pen that anyone could ever own must belong to the Lamy Safari, without a doubt.

 

http://imgur.com/mKDYqWD.jpg

Edited by WateryFlow
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OK then...

 

As it seems that the Safari has been singled-out in this Topic, I now accept [end of denial] that I have one Safari with body image issues.

 

It let me know early on that it is a Non-Nudist:

 

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/Sandy1-1/Pen_Scans/PEN659.jpg

 

Bye,

S1

The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

 

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Every one here likes to show off their favorite pen, and I'm no different. But deep down in some dark corner I'll bet that most of us have a pen that should never again see the light of day. And it makes no difference how you got it. Maybe it was a gift, something that granny left you, or maybe you got it the same night that your got that really ugly tattoo. Ok, maybe you do use it once in a while, but it's a sure bet that you're never going to bring it to your local pen club.

 

For me, it's an Esterbrook M2. What's yours?

 

(it's OK not to gross us out with pictures)

 

I collect pens like that. On purpose.

 

Including some no-name thing from Target that weighs as much as a dumbbell and is encrusted with fake rubies.

 

Oh. And I own that Wing Sung, too.

My latest ebook.   And not just for Halloween!
 

My other pen is a Montblanc.

 

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