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Where do you buy your pens?

Blade Runner

By Blade Runner
in Fountain & Dip Pens - First Stop

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Blade Runner Donor Pen

Blade Runner

Posted
Posted (edited)

A. Antique/junk/yard sales

B. Ebay

C. Brick & Mortar

D. Pen forum, excluding on line dealers

E. Pen company directly

F. On line dealers

G. Friends

H. Boutique

 

What's your order from most to least?

The order I listed is my order with no purchases from G and H.

 

Edit:

I should add that although the majority of my pens were bought in

category A, that was when i was interested in vintage.

In recent years i've been more interested in modern pens, and B & C

have been my primary sources.

Edited by jeen
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Caboose Rare

Caboose

Posted
Posted

So far, mine have been in this order

 

1. On-line dealers

2. Forum (MarketPlace)

 

If there were a brick-n-mortar nearby that sold fountain pens, that would probably be in the mix.

 

Dean

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PekkaT Near Mint

PekkaT

Posted
Posted

It's F and an (Finnish) on-line auction (like ebay, IMHO) mostly.

 

Then, in some cases, A.

(I have my eye on Pelikan 585 just now ;) :) )

"When you point your finger 'cos your plan fell through

You got three more fingers pointing back at you."

Dire Straits: Solid Rock

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HDoug Antique

HDoug

Posted
Posted

I've bought online at both worldlux and altmanluggage with very good results. But brick and mortar is best because pens should be looked at in person, handled, and taken for a test drive. Luckily, there is one good pen shop in Honolulu, Earl Shigetomi's Honolulu Pen Shop. No staff other than Earl, and he knows a lot about pens. That's the ideal kind of place to buy pens.

 

Doug

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FLZapped Collectors Item

FLZapped

Posted
Posted

Ebay mostly.

 

Bought one mailorder through Walmart on closeout and one at an antique show(actually, it came in a bag of pens and pencls). the one that got me started was inherited.

 

-Bruce

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weepstah Near Mint

weepstah

Posted
Posted

My pens come from the following sources:

 

Ebay

Pen Shows

Pentrace Green Board

FPN Marketplace

Online Dealers (both vintage and modern)

 

Brick and Mortar is only very occasionally at this point.

 

Are there pen companies that actually sell their pens directly? I thought all the major ones worked only through distrubution channels.

 

weepstah

"My shoes were reasonably clean, my rent was paid and I had two boxes of cereal and plenty of coffee at home. The world was mine, and I had plenty of time."

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Blade Runner Donor Pen

Blade Runner

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Weepstah,

I believe you can buy from Cross directly.

Can you still buy from Sheaffer?

Thanks for reminding me of pen shows. :doh:

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Betty Vintage

Betty

Posted
Posted

I prefer trusted online sources becauses the prices are usually very good, but the downside is I don't try out or see these pens in person, so sometimes a pen that looks go in picture doesn't feel so good in hand.

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png
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wimg Ancient Artifact

wimg

Posted
Posted

Hi Jeen,

 

I've actually been going through phases, and when I first rediscovered fountain pens, it was

C. B&M Stores only,

 

next

B. eBay as #1 followed by

C. B&M Stores,

 

and now it is probably about equal between

C. B&M stores and

D. Pen Forum & On line dealers

with a little bit from

G. Friends.

 

eBay I really used at the time because I was interested in older pens. Nowadays it is modern pens only, hence the shift. Even if I do look at eBay these days, I tend to go for reputable dealers and people I know from the Pen Forums.

 

Warm regards, Wim

the Mad Dutchman
laugh a little, love a little, live a lot; laugh a lot, love a lot, live forever

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JRodriguez Vintage

JRodriguez

Posted
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I like B&M stores whenever possible because I want them to continue to exist, but sometimes the price differences are just too great, in which case I buy online or through one of the pen boards.

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Venus NOS (New Old Stock)

Venus

Posted
Posted

Since I am a vintage pen girl it's ebay for me. Then antique shops and estate sales/auctions. It's not just the pen, but the treasure hunt that I love.

 

Venus

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georgem Rare

georgem

Posted
Posted

Most of the pens that I purchased were from online dealers; several were from brick and mortar, most recently from Bromfield Pens in Boston. Other B&M shops that I've bought from are Fountain Pen Hospital, Art Brown, & Paradise Pens.

George

 

Pelikan Convert and User

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Goodwhiskers Collectors Item

Goodwhiskers

Posted
Posted

C. Brick & Mortar = F. On line dealers (tie)

D. Pen forum, excluding on line dealers

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sfeinman Mint

sfeinman

Posted
Posted

Mostly at the followng dealers

 

Pendemonium

Fountain Pen Hospital

Joon

 

a few at Pen shows

 

I've bought vintage pens from

 

Pen Bid

None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try” Mark Twain

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