I buy pens because I enjoy writing with a fountain pen. I use mostly modern pens but do have some inexpensive vintage pens that no one would think are important. I use all of my pens, filling each with whatever ink strikes my fancy at the time.

I have tried to collect pens but find that looking at an unused pen is difficult so most of the time I will sell them to buy a pen that I'll use.

TO my mind I will let someone else worry about the care and upkeep of a pen I will use mine now not worrying whether in 50 or 100 years they will still be working, although I can hope that the pens I use now will be enjoyed by others.

I wonder how many pens that were bought new in the 1920,30,40s were put aside intentionally to keep for the future or were they taken from the box filled with ink and used.


K

I'm a user too.

I once bought an Esterbrook dipless via eBay. When I got it I was amazed at the condition. The ink well was wrapped in Esterbrook tissue paper, and all the components were in their individual boxes. I couldn't bear to use it, so I put it aside, telling myself that I would use it someday. Eventually I realized that I just couldn't do it. I brought it to the DC show and sold it to someone who had a nice display of Esterbrooks. I know I underpriced it because when I told the guy my asking price he snapped up his wallet with a gleem in his eye. I noticed that it didn't go on his table, it went under the table. Once in a while I saw him take it out and show another dealer, pointing out all the details with that same gleem in his eye. Hmmm, maybe I should have sold it to him for $699 That would quarantee that he would appreciate that pen and take care of it.

Tytyvyllus,

Now this is thinking that I like! About a year ago I thought I was a collector, but now I know I am a user, nothing more, nothing less.

If the pen does not 'do it' for me then I either fix it or sell it/trade it. My pens tend to be mainly Parkers and then mostly "51"s with a few 61s for variety, that and a lone Sonnet. (I had two, but then SHMBO liked the black laquer one so that was passed on.)

My thoughts are that with 16 pens in my rotation, I have more than enough to be going on with, so my focus now is to upgrade the quality and variety. Therefore where I have two similar pen/nib combinations, I will try to change one for something different. Maybe the same model ie I have a couple of Black Blue Diamond "51" Vacs, but I want to change one for a double jewel model.

The only pen I am thinking about adding to my rotation and maybe one will need to drop out to make room, is a Parker 100.

I know I should try a Sheaffer and maybe I should own a Pelikan, but when it comes to the day to day use of a Fountain Pen, I have what I need................but maybe not what I desire.

Thinking about the unused pens, I think that maybe more than a few were given as gifts to people who were not users and therefore would never use a fountain pen. I know somebody who worked for Bristish Aerospace and was given loads of different pens over the years, all still sit untouched in boxes. The Golf balls on the other hand all got used.

I think that here most FPNers would ink and use any pen that came within writing range, so from that perspective, we are a very bad sample.

Jim

I have been a user but I am drifting into collecting.
There are couple of pen groups in my accumu-llection that I will not touch.
Not because they are rare but because I enjoy having them in pristine condition
(for example enamel lady pens, e.g., Skriptserts and Debutantes).

With respect to the recent stylophilesonline board "incident", I can not hide that I could under certain circumstances understand the desire of a collector to "fight" for the preservation of a rare item. I find, however, the idea of forcing a high level price on a rare pen will contribute to its preservation to be beyond rediculous. The associated arrogance was what turned me completely off and led me to believe that there were other (less noble) origins of thAT behavior. I believe with all my heart that a person that possesses knowledge (on anything) must couple it with humbleness in order to be effective in using it. Arrogance mixed with knowledge is a "dangerous" combination that I detest with all my heart.

While the case of truly rare pens is relatively clear (at least to me), inking or not relatively common pristine pens (like a mint Vac or a mint Esterbrook) is a more complicated issue. Obviously one has to be rather perverted to think that inking them is a crime. In my opinion, if the owner has a choice it would be better to let the uninked pen aside. But I am not willing to call the SWAT to force my rules.

I think we know my POV by now.

I'm a user. If I were to stumble upon a rare pen that I felt worth preserving - I would sell it and would probably, in my sale, note that it is "MIB" (whatever that really means) or stickered or whatever. IF I knew that much about the pen. After all the goings on in the other discussion, if I had it underpriced and someone came backchannel to me about it, I'd probably say "pay what you think it's worth, otherwise suck it up." Otherwise, I buy pens to use and don't buy with the intent to collect. I am a bit pickier these days and try to buy pens that are not like others in my collection (exceptions are Pelikan Old Style 200s or Cities pens if I ever could actually break down and buy one.) I have all I need and then some. There are pens I have that I don't use much. But most of these were gifts or were pens I wanted for a long time and worked for and therefore have trouble parting with them.

Hubby had said maybe a new pen should be bought with the idea of getting rid of one I have and don't use much. I said "fine" and sold a few cheap pens. Then he said "Maybe you shouldn't sell them. Just keep them and maybe make a display for them like other collectibles we have."

Make up your mind, Bear!

So... dunno. I have two pens I'm still waffling on getting rid of and promise of a Dromgoole's trip this month. But I'm not really looking for any particular pen. We'll see - if a good deal just jumps out of Larry's hands then I may change my tune. Sometimes I think it would be cool to buy something so totally out of character for myself (Omas - the smaller 360 for example) but then we're talking about surpassing my stated minimum of $200 per pen. hm... i think I need to set a goal and make it happen then reward myself on that pen store trip.



I would not *knowingly* buy something that I wouldn't use. I do like the term "enthusiast" though - because I also love to admire pens that are out of my price range or worthy of preservation.

I've heard different stories on the way pens were treated back in the "old days" - depending on the pen, it was either a necessary daily tool (let's say of Bic Stic level of importance) or something pricey like jewelry given as a gift or purchased for special occasions. I'd imagine that the amount of "preservation" that went on in early FP days is equivalent to the amount of Ballpoint preservation going on now. There are people who buy very pricey BPs and RBs for use - but probably also treat them with care and hope to pass them on to their kids or something. But actually buying an FP back then that would not be used at all - seems unlikely. Now FPs (in the US at least) are luxuries to most folks and I don't think you can compare the FP collecting world with the early days of FPs at all. But I'm no expert on that one. Just seems like common sense. Did folks buying Model T's think "someday this will be collector's car?" Pro'ly not. Very few anyway. But they did see them as luxuries.

I am a reluctant collector! I have assembled "ranges" of several pens, meaning an array of colors or model variants that are not meant to be complete or all inclusive, but that have meaning to me. A good example of that is my Esterbrook "range." I have a black HR Dollar pen, the 5 basic colors of the J, two of them in transitional (flat bottomed barrels) mode, and a skattering of the late models: CA 101 and A 101, Safari, a plunger filler, etc. No purse pens, I sold those when I stopped buying smaller and lady's pens, nor the variant green or brown. Just enough to say "this is what Esterbrook was all about" to my own satisfaction.

I also put together a collection of Parker Flighters and even though I did not pursue the trim or model variants (didn't try to get a bandless 51 Flighter nor did I try to get each model that offered both chrome and GP trim, just went with which ever I picked up first), I was quickly bored with it. Why? Because many of the 1980s and 1990s Parker pens that were offered in Flighter mode were pretty shoddy pens, IMO. So I now have pens I would never buy on their own merit in my collection.

On the other hand, my 45 collection continues to interest me, even at 40 plus models. I go in and out of collecting mode and have not begun to collect the CT and De Luxe models (plastic capped, made in the U.K. with chrome trim and GP trim respectively) with any focus. But when I look at them, they make me happy.

I do not buy mint pens, because I ink ever pen I owe, ah, if and when I can get around it! I understand part of the collector mentality and respect it but I am a pen user at heart. On the other hand, I don't think I could get down to 20 or 10 pens as many true users do. I like to open the cases and play with my pens!

And I hearby give notice that I am appropriating Antonios' term of "accumu-llection" and that this is my first and final acknowlegement of such theft!

best, Dan

I most certain do not own a pen I haven't used, and I sell those that don't get used often. My problem has been that lately my stash of pens has gotten too big to use each often - but each is getting used. I like some of the terms getting used here - accumulation, assembled, accumu-llection - I like it. Of course, someone could say that these little distinctions are trivial, but I would disagree. I'm taking up assemblage, which is also an archaeological term for "tool kit". My pens are tools to me; they don't sit around looking pretty and gathering dust (not that there's anything wrong with that!) - I use them all, just like my hominid ancestors likely used all of their stone tools . (Hey KCat - that Place de la Concorde can be had for just under your limit ).

Yes, a fancy-schmancy Krone limited edition pen is all pretty to look at...but would you be brave enough to ink a $4000 pen? And if not [I certainly wouldn't], then what's the point of buying a pen if you're not going to use it?

That's why I buy fountain pens-- so I can write with them!

Definitely a user here. If I ran across something rare and uninked, I'd almost feel obligated to sell it, take the money and get a nice user of the same pen, and take the left over money and get another pen(s).

No collectors on FPN?

Very interesting thread...
I also am definately a user....
I guess the fact that I like to use old Sheaffer pens also makes me a bit of a collector...
But first and formost I am a user...
I have a couple of Pelikans, a load of Sheaffers and even a Parker 51 that I use on a somewhat regular rotation.
Do I have pens that are somewhat collectable... of course... I may not use them as much, but that is mainly because I have too many pens to use on a daily rotation as it is...
I have some nice flexi nibbed pens that I rarely use... mainly because I have to learn to use those nibs without ruining them... at least two of them will remain in my "collection", the others will eventually be sold to others who will probably appreciate them a lot more than I do now.
But the bottom line is that every pen I have purchased has been used at some time or another.. some users have been sold, but only after giving them a fair trial as a user.

User here!

I tend to not go after the most pristine models. While none of the pens I've gathered I bought to collect as an investment, a few of them are pretty nice.

I will often bow out to the collector on an auction bid. I do have respect for the collectors, I think of them as private curators . I don't even deduct too many points from a pen if there's a monogram or the original owner's name on a pen.

Sometimes I'm after a model and sometimes a nib, but every pen I buy is to be used (gracefully if possible).

Anyone with more than 15 pens is not a user. Period. Maybe not a collector but not just a user.

PS> I used 15 on purpose, because according to this post 57% of the FPN participants have more than 15 pens. If you dont like 15 put 0 or 30. It does not change the essense of the argument.

Per Antonio's definition, I am not just a user, but I own no pens that I will not use. There are some that I am not using now, but I am not going to purchase any with an eye toward keeping them MIB; like KCat, if I were to run across a MIB model, I'd take it to a pen show and offer it to someone else who collects.

I'm a user of pens. Every pen that I own gets used. I take care of them and seem to have a knack for keeping things in nearly new condition after years of use but, at least at this point, I only buy ones that I want to accompany me to work or whatever. The only pen that I don't take with me is my Parker 75 that I got in jr. high in about 1965 that used to go everywhere with me for years and years. I don't lose pens but that pen has so many memories that if I were to lose one, it would be that one. I carry my Dandy with me daily and use it all day long and have no problem with that, but now that I'm getting in to vintage British pens I have not bought some unused models with the sticker on them or still with the tissue and chalk marks because I would feel funny taking them with me and spoiling their pristine condition. Maybe some day I will want both.

Hmmmm, interesting thought. I have a little over 100 pens. (How did THAT happen?!). They all get "used". (Ok, I'm lying, I do have a few mint stickered Esties, but those are for my Esterbrook display case.) (Ok, so my husband says that the display case filled with pens alone qualifies me as a collector) (How many sentences can be put in parenthesis) (English teachers must hate me!) (Hmmm, I think they did)

So, if I'm not a "user" and I'm not a "collector" what am I? I've used the term "accumulator" in jest, but how else could I be categorized.

BTW, I'm ok with not being categorized.

I think this is a more "honest" classification: User, accumulator, collector (which is I guess a continuum rather than a discrete classification) (I guess I am also using too many parentheses).

I'm a "Jay Leno" style of collector. Leno is a so-called "collector" of cars. He has modern, vintage, common, as well as extremely rare vehicles. His collection is not the largest, but certainly one of the more interesting.

BUT, unlike most car collectors, he is known to actually drive them. Sometimes, he breaks one. He wants to know how they work. He wants to feel the driving experience of the oddball short-production pokey commuter car as well as some of the fastest machines on earth. He is not afraid to drive his rarest cars. He has an insatiable curiousity about all sorts of vehicles and wants to experience them first hand and not through someone else's description. He is not interested in chasing down every variant of every model. He simply loves cars and can't stop playing with them, accumulating a number of them along the way.

That's how I feel about fountain pens.

Bill

Another "user" here. I used to be an "accumulator", but I recently came to the realization that I'd rather have a small collection of nice pens that I "love", than a large collection of pens that I only "like". My target goal for the size of my FP collection is 12 pens. Why 12 pens? Well, my desktop pen case holds 10 pens, and I always have 2 pens my CS leather case.

I've been busy over the past couple of weeks consolidating my collection. I've sold off a lot of the pens that I own that didn't get much use, and I'm saving for a couple of pens that I've lusted after for a long time, (a Conway Stewart 58 and a Visconti Van Gogh.)

TMann

Another user here. Some may disagree with me on my viewpoint, but what good is a fountain pen if you're not going to use it?

Hi, my name is Sidney and I'm a user. And my problem is getting w... better, I'm turning into an accumulator.

First, I've heard that collectors put a numeric value on the car's condition. 100 pts. being perfect. I've heard that Jay Leno will buy a car and drive it until the points lower some and then rebuild it back to a high point value. I guess the car sits after that.

Since Elaine asked...I'm a collector.

I use half a dozen pens or so. I like studying the different models that Sheaffer and Boston made (also early Wahl since they bought Boston and were slow to change anything). In this end I have a collection of examples which helps me figure out where they fit into what the company was doing. Sometimes that helps when folks here or elsewhere are asking about particular pens - I like to share what I have found out. Not only that, questions often make me look at a particular thing in a different light and helps me to better understand an issue.

I like Antonio's more than 15 pens you are a collector. Honestly, though, I'd put it more at 100. At that level you are probably not rotating them and using them all (though I think there are a couple of people that do even with this many). I stopped resacing them a long time ago. On rare occasion I get one that I want to use. Several weeks ago I got a stering Edward Todd that I saced and used to sign audit reports - nice little ring top.

Pens may have been made to use but, it's OK to collect them too .

Roger W.

At least for me in my current place in life a pen not being used is equal to capital tied up that could be put into something I would use. I have 9 pens - and not enough free cash flow to stomach having pens sitting around unused. So I am a user - by both choice and circumstance. I don't really collect anything, but I suppose I might be more of an accumulator verging on collector if my pen budget were higher!

I'm a user. I have an accumu-lection of about 10 pens, and I use them all regularly. Why 10? Well, I have an 8 pen case on the bookshelf, one pen is inked with red and travels in my briefcase, and another sits in my pen cup at work, inked with Noodler's black for use in my lab notebook. When/if I find a pen that has fallen out of favor, I sell it. I don't break even, never mind make a profit on the sales, so I think that pushes me away from collector status. Like OldGriz, if I sell something it is only after giving it a thorough testing first.

Would I buy a pen that I didn't want to use? Probably not. I look at it as being similar to "would I buy a pair of shoes that I wouldn't wear?" or would I buy a bicycle that I wouldn't want to ride. IMHO, pens were made to be used. However, 'humble opinions' are like noses, everyone has one, and they are all a little different, which is what makes life interesting.

french

I am both a Collector and a User.

I have some pens I've bought that I will probably never use again. I could sell these.

I have some pens I've bought just to complete a "set" of some kind. I will keep these and pass them on to the kids.

I have some pens that I use when the mood strikes.

I have some pens that I bought and set aside because they are too valuable (to me) to risk breaking or damaging or roughing up. I enjoy these as "art" and will pass them along to the kids.

I consider pens as both tools and as art and can enjoy them a either or both.


PS: I have probably close to 300 pens. Thats what happens when you have disposable income and no adult supervision.

I just had to say I love the comment Glenn about lack of adult supervision .

I'm with Glenn, though my numbers are only around 70. But I'm trying to cut down my number. I'm trying hard, Ringo... I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd...


raf.

user/accumalator.

i started out as a user. Then they suddenly started accumalating.



But right now for some reason they stopped accumalating.

<_<

I like Roger's comment about 100 being somewhat of a definition where a collector starts. That's a lot of pens and even if they all work and a person uses them for one filing, it might take a year to go through them all. That's not really a rotation.

Best-
Brian - Collector, user, accumulator, probably in that order.

I'm with Glenn. I'm both a user and a collector. I think I have over 150 pens although I haven't counted lately.

Maybe 4 or 5-- I would never ink( mint pens too perfect to even ink once)I try not to buy these anymore but they show up, eg. - someone just gave me a never used, perfect Rexall monogram with original sticker.

Maybe 30-40 --- I Have inked and tried but would never use regularly( too fragile or suseptible to damage, too valuable also)

The rest --Fair game for my rotation.

15-25--- The current favorite users. These seem to be constantly in or coming back into rotation. Italic nibs, Binderised mostly or old flexi'es., a couple esties with cool nibs 9788, 2314's, etc., great looking old celluloids with nice nibs, a skyline or 2, always something from my parker 75 collection. a few favorite new pens, my nakaya, my pelikan 600 or Berlin, my sterling dragon, my fidelio (just binderised to an crisp italic --unbelievably nice!!) ...

... so as I reflect on all the above I would say I am also an accumulator.
--- but maybe some of us are what I would call amateur dealers -with our personal collections/users and then a variety of other pens that pass through our hands as time goes by.

If 100 is a collector then I am a few collectors.
Or maybe two collectors and a user.
Or just obsessive about pens.
I'm confused. But I have rules:
If a pen works I use it.
If it's my favourite "51" I use it all the time.
If it's broken I repair it or get it repaired. Then I use it.
If it has a sticker on it I take it off. Then I use it.
If it was hugely rare or of historic importance I'd sell to a serious collector or pass on to a museum. Then I'd use the others.
I cannot for the life of me figure out why I should want a pen I couldn't use.

Thank you (bows). I shall now go and take two of the big red tablets that nice man in the white coat gave me.

I threw that limiting number of 15 (then it became 100) as a possible demarkating limit between a user and an accumulator. I was struck however by another comment of Roger W that might serve as a possible demarkation of accumulator and collector. He said that he stop resaccing long time ago. Therefore a possible definition is that
if someone enjoys a pen even if it is not working then he/she is a collector. I am not talking about pens that we do not find the time to fix it but about enjoying a pen even in the unrepaired condition...

Of course the field of collectors is probably wide. It starts with the amateur collectors (who will only keep uninked the occational "mint" pen), to serious collectors who systematically pursue a specific brand or model/submodel. There might even be some "crazy" ones that collect FP and never write with an FP. Do you think such species exist?

Ruaidhri,

As I agree totally with your comments, can you ask the nice man if I can have a couple of pills too

Jim

I think I am in the accumulator catagory. Or am I a user with collector ambitions? A collector with user ambitions? A collector wanna-be? a pen-freak?

There are lots of good thoughts in this discussion.





I can live with 15 as the difference between accumulator and pure user. Even if you allow for several different nib styles, there are other considerations than pure writing going into having 15 pens - with the exception perhaps of a calligrapher.

To me thought the difference between collector and accumulator has more to do with intent and focus than with any arbitrary numbers. A focussed collector in an obscure area may not have that many pens - A collection of 20 Triads, or 20 Mabie-Todd solid gold overlays would probably take years of focussed collecting. On the other hand, one can easily accumulate well over 200 pens in a scattershot manner that does not really qualify as a collecting. Collecting has a focus of some sort. It has a reason (well at least a rationalization ). However, I don't think "pens that write well" is a collecting focus - that is more of an accumulator. One could systematically collect a number of different nib styles, but that is different from just "pens that write well".



Well, if you filled two pens each morning, put them in your pocket to use for the day and emptied and flushed them each night, then you could keep 730 pens in rotation over the course of a year. But then you would definitely need medication.



We should also add the type collector, who collects representative examples of different types of pens - be it historically significant pens, certain technological developments, one of each type of filler, etc. There could even be method collectors - like someone who only collects pens that they find below a certain price in the wild. There are a great many ways to collect.



Definitely - though the inverse is not necessarily true - a collector can use all their pens and still be a collector (Richard Binder, who in some ways is a quintisential type collector, comes to mind).

I probably have to call myself an accumulator with collector leanings. I don't have a real collecting focus - I have a few brands I "collect", but not in a systematic way, mainly due to budget constraints. I am coming to terms with the fact that I just don't have the budget to be a systematic collector, so I accumulate certain brands when I find them at a real bargain.

I do try to restore and use everything I have, and there are many pens I have gotten rid of because I don't like the way they write, or I don't find myself using them enough. On the other hand, there are some that I wouldn't get rid of just because I don't like the way they write.



I think many of us fall into multiple catagories. Like I would say Antonios collects Lady Skripserts and probably Parker 45s (I think that qualifies as a collection) but is mostly an accumulator/user.

John

I don't think you can compare a fountain pen "back in the day" with a bic stic today. Fountain pens weren't considered disposable, at least not until after WWII. For one, the price point is different - an Esterbrook Dollar pen bought in 1935 would be $14.78 today - inexpensive, but not on bic-stick level. A Sheaffer Jr would have been $36.91, as much as a Pelican 200 BP. Pens were used and used well, sometimes abused, and I am sure many were trashed when they proved not to work well, but I don't think anyone bought a dozen fountain pens with the idea of tossing them after they ran out of ink one time.

A more accurate comparison might be between FPs in the past and the Cross pens that people use in offices all the time - tools that are used, but not disposable.

FPs in the day were tools to be used, but that is part of the reason why vintage pens in mint or near-mint condition today are valued so highly - not many have survived because they were used. That is why a stickered pen from the 1920s is so rare. Frankly I think that is a much better reason to collect or to value something, as opposed to modern LEs that are designed to be collected.

A comic-book collector I know made a similar point about comic books. He felt the limited edition hard-cover comics being sold today would not appreciate much in value. Why? because the only people who buy them are the types that keep them in plastic sleeves, so twenty years from now there will be almost as many in mint condition as their are now. But an original #1 Super-man is worth thousands, because they were read and shoved in back-pockets, and traded, and passed around classrooms, confiscated by teachers, rounded up for newspaper drives in the war and generally trashed. To find one today in any condition is incredibly rare.

I suspect the same thing may be said for many pen LEs today - they won't be worth much more in the future than they are today, because they won't be used.

John

you are right of course. your comparison is more valid.

and still supports my thoughts that most FPs were not bought in order to save for future generations, but for use. Maybe some of our Cross BPs and Parker Flighters will get passed down - but is that why we buy them? Who would buy an M200 (if we're going to compare using your price points I think that fits in fairly well) and put it in a box and never use it? These are "nice" pens, but still not "collectibles" anymore than they were when FPs were purchased "back in the day".

Yes I believe they actually do exist. Last fall I bought a large lot of 200+ pens from a guy who collected them for years because he found them visually interesting. Never wrote with one of them, never restored one of them, although he was probably old enough to have at least seen his parents use them when he was a kid. Of course, one could probably argue it wasn't really a collection per se, due to lack of any conceivable focus in those 200, but he did buy them and never use them. I thought it awfuly wierd.



Just knowing you actually thought of that makes me wonder about you John...




Could be, but we've all seen plenty of completely wrong nibs in other brand pens to know people sometimes went out of their way to make sure they had a working pen. Even if there were inexpensive alternatives, someone was always trying to find a way to fit that old nib into another pen so it would write, not to mention the dip-pen-nib-in-the-fountain-pen-holder scenario. Now that's desperate.

Best-
Brian

Actually, Mark Twain claims to have thrown a Prince's protean Pen out the window out of frustration with it's irregular feed mechanism.



True - you don't see people doing that with disposables.

Actually, from what I understand this was the norm in the really early days. Early Waterman and other pens from pre-1900 could often be purchased nibless, or an existing nib could be brought in to install on the new pen - even a dip pen nib. That way you could bring in a treasured dip-pen nib, and get it installed on a new fountain pen. I think I have even seen a Waterman ad that mentioned it could be used with employer-provided steel nibs.

John

This also reminds me of something I've seen in some older Esterbrook catalogs, the not often heard (or seen) x233 (available in gold plate or two tone plate) and x263 (osmiridium) series Esterbrook nibs, which were manufactured solely for the purpose of being used with other manufacturers nibs. "For Repairing Ordinary Fountain Pens" made in 2, 4, 6, and #8 size nibs. No actual Esterbrook name stamped on them unfortunately, but they are identifiable by the actual nib number at the base of the nib.

Best-
Brian

KCat said;



That is true with most new things, but if they happened to stay unused and the item became a collectable it is that much more valued by the collector. I know pens were made to be used but that does not preclude them from being collected and quite frankly not used or used very carefully. Coins were meant to be spent, cars driven, stamps to mail letters. That doesn't preclude them from not be used or used very carefully. It is indeed a very special find for a collector to acquire a 1920's pen with the sticker still attached. Much information is gained from such models and a premium is often paid for such.

I think there is a fuzzy area between vintage pens that are quite collectable and modern pens which may never exhibit the same level of collectability. Modern fountain pens are often more about prestige than use whereas the pens of the past were mostly all about writing (still solid 14K is hard not to put some bling value to even back in the day). Maybe it is just a certain nostalgia for another age that eludes recapture even though the fountain pen experience of today would try.

Maybe that is an aspect to collecting - the fact that the pens were made as writing tools and survive to this day that makes them special. Something that can be studied in an hinstorical perpective. Appreciation for a forgone age and people that preceded us. I've always loved history. I wonder if all collectors have a love of history? As pens were generally produced in high numbers many of them should still be used for the purpose which they were created. Though many vintage pens are more than simply writing tools to me and some of them should be preserved.

Roger W.

I couldn't have said it better! Applause from my corner!

Correct me if I am wrong Roger, but I believe those solid gold models were also partly for their investment value. Back in the early part of this century, it was illegal for Americans to own straight gold as an investment. Wealthy Americans got around it by buying lots of gold and silver object - jewelry, silverware, cigarett holders, etc. It provided portable wealth and a hedge against inflation, market crashes and bank runs. I think that many of the solid gold overlays were in part aimed at this market. Of course, showing off ones wealth was also a major part of it.

John

John;

I have my doubts - two reasons. Firstly, 14K pens are rare and tend to be ringtops. A large Sheaffer collection I have access to has precious little 14K pieces which tend to lean towards the ring top or small pen variety. If this was going to be a store for wealth you think the big pens would be all over the place. They were very expensive new and the price would have been well above bullion value which brings me to reason two. While almost all of the 1933 gold coin production was melted down (and presumably whatever else was laying about the mint) gold coin would have been a much better store of wealth than pens and was available. I could always be wrong and my data is more anecdotal than based on a set of otherwise known facts, so ymmv.

Roger W.

Roger,

Your probably right. For some reason I though the prohibition on gold was much older than 1933 - failed to do my homework again.

John