With no conection to what is the main interest of your collection what would you say is a list of pens every collection should have (for at least one of and not to get too expensive) ?

Here is my "must have" list:

Parker 51
Sheaffer Snorkel
Easterbrook J/SJ
Pelikan M200
Wahl Eversharp Skyline
Parker Vacumatic
Waterman 52
Sheaffer Targa

How sad, only one of my pens makes it on to your must have list!

My own list is quite short really but here goes:

Eversharp Skyline - got it
Sheaffer Touchdown -got it
Sheaffer Snorkel
Parker 51
Conklin crescent filler

. . . . but I will give a second look to most vintage beauties.

Conklin crescent filler

I had this pen.Its a true classic vintage pen and I agree is a nice one to have but not so important to make it to my list.

I don't think there is such a list. I believe people should follow their interests as they develop/change.

Now if you say you want to focus on a particular era, or filling system, or brand, then you could have a list of what pens you need to complete the collection.

I think it's the "for the serious collector" that throws me. Unless you have a whole bunch of money (perhaps even if you do), you have to focus your collection - thus the "must have" list is narrowed.
Now, a must have list for a serious accumulator, that's a different story. I can speak to this list as a semi-serious accumulator:

In no particular order.
1. Sheaffer Flat Top
2. Sheaffer OS Balance
3. Sheaffer Snorkel
4. Sheaffer PFM
5. Parker Duofold Flat Top or Streamlined
6. Parker Duofold striped button or vac filler
7. Parker Vacumatic
8. Parker 51
9. Parker 61
10 Parker 75
11. Waterman 5X
12. Waterman 452 or 552 or larger
13. Waterman Patrician
14. Waterman 100
15. Wahl OS Signature
16. Wahl Gold Seal
17. Wahl Doric
18. W/E Skyline
19. W/E Symphony
20. W/E 5th Ave.
21. Conklin Sr. Endura
22. Conklin Crescent
23. Pelikan 100
24. Pelikan 140
25. Pelikan 400
26. some sort of vintage MB

There are a host of other makers and models that should be considered but this is my quick short list. I still have some work to do on even this short list!

Omas Milord or Paragon, old style.

Lot of good answers...

Got to have at least one of each of these...

Esterbrook Dip-less desk pen. I'm partial to the 407

Sheaffer PFM--model doesn't matter. Inlaid nibs at their best.

Waterman C/F--must be a gold inlaid nib preferable of French manufacture. First commercially successful cart filler. Plus the Harley Earl design is too cool.

Nakimi Vanishing Point--Old style Matte Black--just for the cool factor

Levenger True Writer in an obscure color like Tangerine--great pens. Steve was shooting for a modern Esterbrook and damn near got it. Sort of.


That is about all I can think of early on a Saturday morning...except I would drop the MB. Not worth the effort. But then, I have my bias...as is well known...

Bill

2 people put the Omas Paragon (old style) in there list.
I myself was tempted to add it but because it is an expensive pen I prefered to leave it out.Never the less I am happy to see that other people share my passion to this pen.

Sorry I forgot 2 more pens:

Parker Duofold Big Red
Sheaffer Flat Top Sr

Any pen that you enjoy

I have owned and sold a hundred and a half or so pens in my collecting time and early on I did try to buy all of the buzz-worthy pens.

Most/ all of them have left me because they just weren't what I liked.

You shouldn't buy a pen because someone else says it's the best thing ever because everyone is different and that's the great thing as well- not everyone likes the same pens

Kurt

My must haves would be anything on Brian Andersons web site. He was very kind to put the Esterbrook list together.
Beyond this, I will agree with Kurt, "any pen that you enjoy"

Oups. Of course the capilary filling system was what made the 61 special. But I have read so much about the problems with this, that I sort of disregarded it. To me, a "must have" pen is one that I would be happy using.

I do have a double-jeweled 61, which is a actually favourite. But as the previous writer noted, this pen seems to me to be more of an evolution, than a revolution.

This is tough to do as there are a certain number of pens that, while well regarded, I've either tried and they did not speak to me or that I've had no great impulse to try for a variety of reasons (price, style, whatever). I wouldn't mind trying a PFM, for example, but I've never seen one at a price I was willing to pay given that the style doesn't really knock my socks off. I think crescent fillers are also interesting but given my normal use patterns the style just doesn't speak to me.

The best list I know of landmark American and to some extent foreign pens is Richard's collection that he has on his website. He seems to have one of just about every cornerstone pen that I know of, as well as a number of slightly more curious pens as well. It is a fun journey to file through the pages, admire and learn.

For myself, at least, the ones that speak to me are the "51", the snorkel, the Vacumatic primarily.

montblanc 149
parker 51
lamy 2000
pelikan 140
parker vector

Hi all,

To keep it short:

Vintage
MB 138
MBturbo
Parker T1
Pelikan 101
Waterman Patrician
Conklin Crescent nib 6
Soennecken Rheingold
Aurora Hastil
Onoto Magna
Mabie Todd L642
CS Duro
Matador Garant
Osmia Progress
Rotring 600
Montegrappa Extra
Aurora Duplex
Carter large size
Chilton any coloured
Waterman 100 Years
Waterman 7

New

CS Churchill
Omas paragon
Aurora optima
Stipula Etruria
Pelikan 1931
Conklin Glide de luxe
Pilot 823



That is all

rusty

add the old style Pelikan M800

I think that collecting and using FPs are highly personal experiences, so I agree with those who say there is no such thing as "the" list of must-have pens.

So here is a list of 5 pens among the ones I currently own that I personally could not be without:

The exquisite fine line factor: Aurora Talentum, EF nib
The gorgeous design factor: Yard-o-Led Viceroy Victorian, F nib
The cool factor: Caran d'Ache Ecridor Retro, F Nib
The addictive factor: one of my Lamy Safari Al-Stars, EF nib
The overall go-to pen: Sailor 1911 or Sapporo, EF nib

Lets see here...(also in no particular order)
Sheaffer PFM
early Sheaffer OS Balance (pref. in "blue", red veined, or abalone)
Sheaffer flat top in jade
Sheaffer Snorkel (the Masterpiece model)
Sheaffer Touchdown (Masterpiece also)
Parker 51
Parker 61
Parker 75 (yay! I just got one yesterday!)
Sheaffer Imperial (the gold model)
Parker Duofold "Big Red"
Parker Vacumatic
Eversharp Doric
Sheaffer Military Clip (yay! Its shipping right now!!)

Yea thats all that I can think of off the top of my head. As you can see, I want a lot of pens right now.

Evan

I don't think there is one such list.
There are more "must have" pen lists than pen fanciers (a term that can include collectors and accumulators). This could be a very long thread wound around the heart of the hobby, as the passionate likes and dislikes of stylophiles and (admit it) styloholics come to the fore.
I predict no less than 1.5 and no more than 2.7 must-have lists per participant, based on two questions: 1) What pens do I admire that I can reasonably expect to acquire in the short to medium term? 2) What pens would I buy if money were no object?
Some users might require a third question about how much saving they would be willing to do to move a pen from the second group to the first.

This is a very complex topic. Last year I identified a desired pen and started saving toward it. When I accumulated enough credit in the pen budget . . . . I bought a less expensive pen and a lot of ink from a couple of places online. Sure, I haven't fulfilled the pen wish list but right now the pursuit of the perfect blue-black, perfect dark red and favourite bulletproof signature ink beckons more strongly.

Murdoch

I have to agree with the posts that steer you to your own tastes and the many different types of uses different pens can address. The provided listings remind me of a few decades back when classic works of literature used to be confined almost exclusively to Western European and American works. Since then the "canon" has been opened up to "hidden" (meaning not known in Euro-America) treasures from all over the world, and with fountain pens, maybe "must have" lists can be more open too!

There must be some dirt cheap pens whose characteristics make them a "must have" pen, a relative unknown from a pen company headquartered outside of Western Europe that writes like a dream, . . . .?