I might be slower than the rest of you, but until I read this article, I did not understand where the fascination with yellow writing instruments comes from. For the record, I have two yellow fountain pens - an Omas Emotica and a Filcao Leader.

http://www.heralddemocrat.com/articles/200...ning/good03.txt

Maybe, but I have my doubts about the origin of the yellow color and the source of the best graphite. There's a story that the yellow color had to do with two competing pencil companies in Germany, with the smaller of the two trying to make product that looked like the larger one's pencils. Also, in that time, the best graphite came from England.

Personally, I prefer almost any color BUT yellow for pencils. The pencil cup on my desk contains Mongols in various colors (including "natural"), orange and blue California Republics (Palominos and Golden Bears), and a rainbow of European, American, and Asian brands. Including Mr. Southerland's favorite Black Warriors. The brightest "yellow" in there is the Rhodia and a couple of pencils with yellow leads in them. But there's two traditional "yeller" ones: A Lyra Osiris and a Faber-Castell Autograph.

Very interesting, Bill. Sounds like you have a neat collection of pencils.

I am with you as I am not fussy on yellow and I regret buying the Emotica in this colour. However, it spices up the rest of my collection and my kids like it - they won't let me sell any of my pens as they already have their dibs on them!

I understood the interest in yellow pens stems from the time they first tried to produce them back in the 1920s - the materials became very brittle when the necessary dyes were added, and so were hard to mass produce. In addition, those that were made didn't last so long, for the same reason, or discoloured readily, hence surviving yellow vintage pens are now rare and desirable.

No doubt plenty of vintage enthusiasts will correct me if I'm wrong in that assumption!

Andy

Makes sense about the vintage Andyr, however, I still find that people really like modern yellows as well. For example, the two Duofold LEs, etc.

All I can say is 'ick'... except the yellow Safari is a pretty fun-looking pen. Probably quite striking with some violet ink streaming out from the nib...

I'm very fond of yellow pens. I like the color, and sometimes pens just aren't available in orange.
A couple of these are more orange than yellow, but not what I'd really consider orange.

Omas Return to the Motherland, Bexley Deluxe II, Pelikan student pen, Lamy Safari, Parker Duofold pencil, Jotter 50th anniversary BP


Platignum calligraphy pen, Mont Blanc Carrera, Kullock fantasy 51, Eversharp felt tip, Esterbrook Flow Master, Esterbrook Purse pens and pencil

Best regards, greg