Good evening everyone

I use various fountain pens depending on my mood. So instead of just collecting pens I felt the need to learn a little more about them and this network seems to be an excellent place for that.

Kind regards

Wendy Austin

Welcome, Wendy. What sorts of pens make up your collection?

Ray

Apologies if this reply appears twice, I used 'fast reply' but it doesn't seem to have gone to the list.

The pens I can find at the moment Ray, include my very first, a Parker, a Montblanc Meisterstuck 146, a couple of Lamy pens, a beautiful glass dip pen which I found in Venice (and which one of my cats is trying to bat off the desk) and a Montblanc Meiserstuck Limited Edition Voltaire.

I often look at pens in antique shops but am reluctant to buy them because I have no idea of their worth or use. I am hoping to gain some knowledge from this list.

Wendy

As a rough rule of thumb, pens in antique shops are priced at about twice what you'd pay through normal pen channels. There are exceptions -- sometimes battered low-value pens are priced at about 10 times their value in the knowledgeable market, and sometimes you see real bargains.

Have a look at the market place here, and the trading board at PenTrace. A book would be nice, too -- Paul Erano's book has lots of pictures, tells a story, and isn't too expensive.

Have fun. You have nice pens to start with.

Best

Michael

Welcome to FPN! Glad you found us and hope you enjoy yourself. You've got some really nice pens in your collection there. See ya around.

Welcome to our nest of penatics, Wendy. The knowdedge and hints available on this board is astronomical.

Enjoy,

Wow, Mauritius!

Do you have ready access to many new fountain pens and inks or do you have to import these items? Is it too costly to import?

I think you will find as much as you want to here (and can spend as much time as you want). Everyone is great, so enjoy!

Thank you all for such a warm welcome and advice. In answer to MikeW's question about availability here in Mauritius, everything is readily available here although I have never bought a pen here, just ink. I am lucky enough to be able to get off the island regularly so have always bought my pens overseas.

Wendy

Hello and welcome.

May i ask what you do in Mauritius?
Are you a native or transplanted?
Do you get much rain?

Regards,
Jeen (rain lover)

Hi Wendy and welcome to FPN!

As MikeW said..."Wow, Mauritius!" Well, 177 km of tropical paradise coastline can't be wrong

If you can find some cheap vintage pens that you like, with good nibs and in good shape (no cracks, etc) but just need resacking, then I am sure you can pick up some pointers here on how to get them working again. It's fun hunting for pens "in the wild" (as they say)

(edit: added "coastline" to sentence above)

We are transplants from Australia, have been in Mauritius for fifteen years with another couple to go before returning to Tasmania. We came here for my husband's job as an airline pilot. I worked at the Australian High Commission, also on numerous endangered plant and bird projects and now I supervise external students sitting Australian university exams.

We don't get lots of rain, but I am a rain lover too so I could be biased. However we are now in the cyclone season and they bring in a fair bit of rain. We have just returned from holidays in Norway which satisfied my love of cold, wet and foggy weather!

Wendy