I was rinsing out my black Vanishing Point the other day, and I thought, hey, wouldn't it be neat to get a red one, and put the red bottom on the black top and vice versa? Then I thought, hey, wouldn't that be neat to do that with other pens of the same make? Why not do that with Lamy Safaris, since they have such nice colors? And hey, wouldn't that be neat to do with Pelikans and Namikis? Then I though, hey, maybe I should ask the guys on FPN? Then I thought, nah, they'll think I'm nuts and flame me. But you guys wouldn't, right? Anyone mix and match caps and barrels and are willing to confess? Plus, I wouldn't mind seeing photos.

Please don't flame me, just asking, I love you guys.

Doug

I don't believe it would be inherently bad.
There is a inner cap that seals the nib and keeps it from drying out.
Any VP cap should work with any VP barrel.
Sqitching Safari caps should work, worst that would happen would be the nib drying out.

Some years ago there was an ad on that auction site. It was a set of Esterbrooks, but they were the @LOOK@ "R A R E"!!! two-tone models. There was a grey pen with a red cap, and a blue pen with a grey cap, and a green pen with a red cap, .... You get the idea. It was one of the funnier ads to appear (deliberately so, of course), and got a lot more exposure for its wit.

You, of course, can do whatever you like in the privacy of your own home, though I find it a bit hard to think of a cap colour that would go with most coloured barrels, except for black. But hey, baby, whatever boils your broccoli.

Best

Michael

Yeah, black would go well with anything. A VP that's black and red, or black and blue, or black and green... kinda Pelikanesque. Safaris could be mixed with more fun. Maybe.

Modern mass production techniques pretty much guarantee that a cap of any pen will fit on the barrel of the same model -- just as nibs can be swapped from same model to same model. Esthetics are a different thing altogether, though. Luckily, as the "what is the most hideous pen" poll shows, there is no accounting for taste, particularly bad taste. Like a blue and red Safari. Hmmm, actually...

Doug

I'd probably do that out of necessity, if something broke and I had a cap and pen that could fit but were of different colors.

In fact I did that. But that was back in grammar school. I got bored a lot on grammar school. Swapping pen caps on my fountain pens was sometimes the fun part of the day.

I recall once that one of the cheap pens broke and I got the exact same one to replace it. I had caps on both ends of it.

But now that you mention it maybe I'll consider swapping caps and pen barrels on purpose. I'm not bored as I was in grammar school, however, so I may take a while to get around to that experiment.

If the results are pleasing, why not?

S.T. Dupont had a Classique model with red laquered cap and black barrel - if they can, we can do, too.

Actually, havin a gold or silver cap and a different barrel with gold or silver trims (or vice versa) should work well too, as alot of pen makers offer simmilar variants.

I think that it is not only okay, but in many instances, cooler than the solid-color pens alone. Just check out the "Poor Man's Pelikan"



Green marbled barrel, black cap, smooth interchangeable nib...What more could you ask?

This whole FP thing is about YOUR pleasure. If you want to mix caps, nibs, ink colors, etc., go for it.

If you like it, leave it. If you don't, swap them back!

If you are building a museum-quality collection, or are concerned about resale, then you probably want to respect original equipment. If not, go have some fun.

Andy

Yeah and if you put in a pelikan nib, it really is a poor man's pelikan.

Best-
Brian

Oh, and yes Doug, I think you're nuts.

That's so 5th grade old news...
I did that with my humble 45 collection way back then...
and thought I was a weirdo. So I am glad that I am not alone but only several decades late in finding a pen-soul-mate.

Of course it's fine, it's the beginning of pen design genius IMHO, not that I own a manufactory myself or a pen designer in any way.

I'm sure it's fine.

I have been experimenting with the same thing on my Parker 51s. I picked up a Grey Aero with a GF cap and busted nib for $10, since parts are always good, and I wanted a Gf cap for my black Aero...and started playing around with barrels. The grey body with Black hood was RATHER attractive. Haven't gotten myself to take it out of the house that way though... yet...

I've done it but seen how I can swap them with unrelated pens. I was going to post some pictures and get people to guess how I'd mixed them but some work suprisingly well. But I didn't.

For example, Sheaffer NN's and Wality's.

Is there a pen fashion police like there is for watches? Hmmm. I think I'll start a thread asking for the "rules and conventions."

I'd love to see pictures!

Doug

I did something similar a couple of years ago when I hybridized a Safari cap+barrel and a Lami Joy calligraphy stub nib+section, which is interchangeable with the Safari's section. The reason was not for aesthetics but because the Joy pen has a very long tapered barrel that's hard to carry around. So now I have a blue Safari with a stub nib, which I like very much for ordinary use.

Don