I am trying (for the sake of nostalgia) to find one of the fountain pens I used to learn handwriting with in the early 1980s at school (in the UK). It was an all plastic affair, blue, full-sized and tapered I think. The cap was small and only covered the nib. I think that the nib was replaceable, and that the pen took the small, international size (?) cartridges - so that you could put one in and store another upside down in the end of the pen.

Does this ring any bells with anyone? Any ideas gratefully received! I may of course be wrong with any part of the description which may not help.

Mr B.

Not being from the UK I'm not sure I can be of much help - just please don't cut off my ear!

I think it may well be a fruitless search anyway... I do have fond memories of handwriting lessons, and all school work had to be completed in fountain pen.

Needless to say, your ears are safe!

While I used a fountain pen early in my writing life it was due to my fathers interest in pens - schools were at that time (and still today it seems) quite attached to pencils for early writing and then the ubiquitous ballpoint pen reared its head. I wish we in the US followed the lead of some of our other world colleagues and mandated fountain pen use for penmanship.

Alas times have changed. When I asked my friend about getting a nice fountain pen for my goddaughter upon her graduation from high school he replied that, while he appreciated the gift and would value it, he was not sure she would as, quote "I'm not entirely sure that she knows how to write! If it doesn't have buttons on it she does not appear to know how to use it..."

Did the pen taper to a point? If so, I had a calligraphy set in the early '80s that sounds a little like what you are looking for. I have no idea of the brand, though.

My school insisted on Sheaffer pens with italic nibs, fed on washable blue Parker Quink via a converter. There's no way that you could consider the cap "small", though.

sounds like you were there the same time as me

I know the pens we used in school were either parker or stypen. I used alot of stypens they were very easy to write with for beginners to FP. You can still buy them now in a school stationary store for about £3 or £4 just go and have a look and see if the nib looks the same.

After looking at calligraphy pens on the internet they do look familiar, especially the Platignum starter and desk sets... Maybe my search is over?

http://hans.presto.tripod.com/scan/fountain02.html

You know what? I think the set I had was from Platignum! It don't think it looked exactly like the one in your link; but I owned it close to 30 years ago, and ranges change.

It certainly doesn't remind me of any pens I know of (I too did my schooling in the UK in the 80s). Everyone I knew had Parker's. Usually the 45 or the 25, and with the cap you describe it is neither of these.

Your description of a changeable nib, does make me think you are heading in the right direction of calligraphy pens though.

Good luck on your searching.

- Mark

I remember those Platignum desk pens. The ones I used were in blue. I hated them, horrible & scratchy, and my complaints ended up with my mother buying me a Parker 17 Lady.

They don't use ISO cartridges though, they're a Platignum special.

Regards

Richard.

These were pens that we were given as part of our handwriting lessons, not pens that we had to buy ourselves. Later on you are quite right, I remember people mostly owning Parkers, but not at the age of 6 or 7. The calligraphy pens are the closest to what I remember, and it was a long time ago so that's probably the answer.

I wasn't the only person who remembered them then! Can't remember how they wrote, just the pen with the changeable nibs.

Thanks Richard.

Mr B.

Well, my Junior School (ages 7-11) was considered eccentric for insisting on fountain pens and teaching italic handwriting (among other reasons). Pencils and Berol Handwriting Pens were also allowed, especially if you weren't considered up to using the Sheaffers; but I remember a girl getting told off for writing on the label for her drawer with a ballpoint. However, as far as I know all the other schools in the local area allowed ballpoints. Ironically, when we went on to Senior School (11-16) our handwriting was generally considered worse than people who went to other junior schools', because it went to hell under the pressure of having to write quickly.

Don't fool yourself into thinking that Britain is some kind of fountain pen utopia. Sure, we can buy international cartridges in big bags for under £2, but you are not missing out by not being able to buy crappy 50p-£2 'school' cartridge pens. You'd be better off with a disposable gel pen.