Well folks, there you have it. It came home.

Oh, what a luscious writer. The XF nib is absolutely nothing like a typical XF that I enjoy, yet I absolutely love writing with it.

I'll take better pictures when I have a chance (nothing I took today really captured the color very well), but I thought I'd post up some quick shots.

Now...what to do with the medium nib they sent back with it? Anyone know about what size that nib is? I'm trying to figure out what else it'll fit into so I can have a hacked Omas with a spiffy nib.

Ryan:

That is one sweet ride!!! The color in that last pic almost looks like a dark green(?) the others look black.

Alex

AJ, your eyes weren't deceiving you. The pen is hunter green. The first bunch of pictures were all taken in black and white.

The black and white pictures look very cool IMHO. So glad to hear that the long wait is over.

It looks awesome. The 360 is an amazing pen.

Ryan, that top pic, the b&w of the nib comin' atchu, is outstanding. Ya know, you look at pics like those, at a pen like that, and you really have to wonder why EVERYONE doesn't love this stuff as much as we do.... Enjoy your pen; it's a beauty.

So dude -- where's the story?

Wow. I love the b&w shots. Beautiful.

Nice pen! You can't confuse it with any other.
Here are a two quick shots of mine, a 360 vision.
This one has a beautiful 0.6 mm Binder stub which jives with the edgy pen shape.

All right, all right...here's the story.

Roll back the clock to mid-November. It's right around noon, and I'm going stir-crazy working at home in my office in the basement.

Decided to grab a Diet Coke and an oatmeal raisin cookie, my iPod and phones, and out for a long lunch. Headed down to a pseudo-historic area of West Des Moines called Valley Junction to poke around. I've found Esterbrooks there before for a song, and figured that maybe I'd find something else. At least it'd get me out of the house for a bit of fresh air.

Didn't bring a dime with me. I don't normally carry cash anyway.

Looked around one store and didn't find anything other than overpriced garbage. Same thing with the second.

Walked across the street and poked my head into this big hodge-podge flea market. I've never found anything there before, but figured that I'd at least look. This rather brassy-character'd lady looks over the top of her glasses and says, "What'cha lookin' fer, son?" I told her I was looking for old fountain pens to restore. She responds, "Well, I ain't got much, but you can take a look at these and see if there's anything in there."

I look in the first of the two plastic bags she produces, and found a bunch of garbage, and one rather pedestrian Sheaffer TD. Nah...I'll pass.

Then I look in the "other bag" and my heart literally skipped a beat. Two pens. One is a Stipula Ventidue with a Ti nib (which Deirdre is now enjoying). The other was the 360. Looked at them, and God only knows how I kept a poker face when I saw the pricetag. $90 for the both of 'em. I continued to look at one or two other pens, but fully understanding that I was leaving the store with that bag one way or another. I asked if the prices were firm, and she said, "I ain't runnin' a museum, buddy. What'cha got in mind?"

"How 'bout $60 for the both of 'em?"

"I'll do $60 if you'll pay cash."

"All right; I can make that work. Where's the nearest ATM? I'd hoped to pay with my credit card."

After a minute of thinking about where the nearest one was, I hopped in the car and nearly melted the tires driving the five or ten blocks to the nearest Hy-Vee to get the cash from the ATM. Came back, took care of business, and then got into my car and went home. Nearly ran off the road twice while I was looking at the contents of the bag.

Truly, I thought I'd bought a fake. There was just no way that I'd bought an Omas 360 for $30. But as soon as I got home, I called Kenro, since I was working with them on a project for work anyway and told Liz my story. She said, "To the best of our knowledge, there's no one faking Omas; the brand isn't well-recognized enough. But if you want, we could take a look at it." Well, after cleaning it up, I still wasn't sure, and at any rate, the pen didn't start very well anyway. So I boxed it up and sent it out.

Liz called me back about three days later and said, "Everyone on the Omas side in the office has looked at it and we all agree; it's the real deal. We're sending it back to Bologna to get it fixed for you." Since it was headed out there, I figured I may as well swap it out to an XF while it was there, if they still had 75th Anniversary nibs.

And that was the last I saw of it, until today.

So...whaddya think? Am I at least in the top 5 for SUMGAI of the year?

I've looked and looked and looked, and frankly, I have no idea what it's worth. In three months of searching, I've never seen another one like it for sale. Glenn-SC is the only other 75th Anniversary 360 owner that I know of, and his is red. Never found another picture of a fountain version (in any color), either (even searched through the Archives of the internet). Found one yellow rollerball, and it's still on MartiniAuctions today (where it's been for the past two/three months).

Dang, that's a great Sumgai tale! I know all about the Ventidue, it's enjoying Kuprin ink these days.

I'm glad you're enjoying that one, Deirdre. I know I'm enjoying the Omas. It's my first (and only), and I guess that makes it a little special. The story doesn't hurt either, though.

Ryan, I would love to see one of your new fangled video reviews of this pen.

Excellent! I've a Vision in a B that's closer to a BB and adore it. Be aware it doesn't hold as much ink as a regular piston, but they're such a joy to write with that you won't care.

Omas! Oh Yes! Oh MY! Great find, great story. Enjoy!

That is a beautiful design. I think it may be my favorite of any I've seen.

Fred

Congrats, Ryan!! I haven't been to Valley Junction probably about ten years, but should stop by sometime

Don't bother. I cleaned 'em out.

Do shoot me a note tomorrow with your availability (and your phone number...I forgot it again).

Gezz, that's a deal!. What an awesome pen, anyhow.... you guys are really lucky. I could never find anything close to that even in my dreams. And a very nice story, by the way. Enjoy.

Congrats, Ryan, on a great pen, a great deal, and a great story!

Warm regards, Wim

That is one amazing pen, and an amazing story to boot. Enjoy!

Well done, I wonder where it came from, maybe you should pop back and ask, and show her what it looks like now...

Part of me says that I should, but then again, if she finds out what it's really worth, I may never get another deal there again.

Plus, there's part of me that knows that she wouldn't really care all that much.

A delightful story and smashing deal on that pen!!!!
Congrats Ryan!!!!

Jim

Color me GREEN with envy, my friend. That's beautiful!

When I go to Valley Junction, all they show me are the pens that have been used as doorstops or somethin'. Seriously abused pens.

Well, you can't fight karma.

Nice photos too.

Yep, that's basically all that's there, as far as pens are concerned.

Time to find a new antique mall to pillage.

Onward and upward!!!

Yo yo yo,

I hope it does work out for you, as we talked about. Lovely looker!

R.ticle One