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What is the best deal you got for a pen ?


goodguy

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I paid US $12 for a 51 with case at a sealed bid auction in the back of an antique store. I was the only bid.

 

An ebay seller sold me two M200's for $40, and the second turned out to be a mid 80's brown tortoiseshell, which I suspected based on the photos, but would have been happy either way. So you could say I paid $40 for an M200 and got the M400 free, but I usually say I paid $20 for each.

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I paid nothing for a Parker '51' that belonged to my granddad. Found it in a box. It's condition is quite good, nary a scratch on it, and it writes very well. But beyond that, it's just priceless to me. I will never sell this pen. I don't know if that counts as a "best deal".

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hi Bill D,

 

We are not allowed to do things like that, all I did was to give him what he asked for, very quickly I must admit as the gloating grin was struggling to get out and it never pays to look too pleased or else the price goes up next time. :D

 

cheers, John

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I went to a farmer market and found it was actualy a flea market.A guy sold me a mint Parker 180 GP for 20$.I didnt even argue on the price I just payd him the 20$ and snached the pen (and he thought he got a good deal).

A Esterbrook Dipless 444 with white glass base & clear taper, 9000 series stub nib, all seals perfect including the inner red fill ring, and filling instructions & box for $11 off of ebay.

 

k

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The two that pop into my mind are first, the near-mint Waterman 42 in BCHR, with two 9K barrel bands. Bought on eBay for $50, later sold for $200.

 

And the capless Waterman 12 I bought for $40 at a local antique store. Sold that a few weeks later to a Waterman collector at the SF pen show for $650 and a near-mint Waterman 12.

 

The Periwinkle Snorkel for $30 doesn't quite touch those highs, but I still love that color!

 

best, Dan

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Not a pen but a pencil.Tiffany 14k magic pencil,late 18 to early 1900's,complete with original box.Got it for £15 on ebay(+£2.50 p+p).Got to be my best deal yet

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/jwassuk/tiff2.jpg

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Best deal? Probably a gold-filled Wahl All-Metal ringtop FP with original flexy Wahl nib for a dime ($0.10) at a thrift store. No dings or damage to it. It just needed resacking. :)

;) OMG!!! That's one of my favorite pens! I hope you love it as much as I do. (Mine cost $34.90 more than that.)

 

I got a Waterman Hundred Year pen at a flea market for $5.00 and it didn't need any work done on it. :)

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Best deal? Probably a gold-filled Wahl All-Metal ringtop FP with original flexy Wahl nib for a dime ($0.10) at a thrift store. No dings or damage to it. It just needed resacking. :)

;) OMG!!! That's one of my favorite pens! I hope you love it as much as I do. (Mine cost $34.90 more than that.)

 

I got a Waterman Hundred Year pen at a flea market for $5.00 and it didn't need any work done on it. :)

Thanks, jbb! I do love my Wahl All-Metal pens (and pencils); I have 11 fountain pens (ringtops and non-ringtops) and 2 pencils in 8 different machined patterns :)

 

Your Waterman 100 Year pen was a super deal. Congratulations!!!

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  • 4 months later...

This is a good place to enthuse about finds . Yesterday while I was pondering a parker 45 in the box, with all the contents including cartridge box my wife asked someone on hte next stall at an antique market if he had any pens. He found 6. I bought 4 for £30 - a sterling capped PArker 51 with blue diamond and vacumatic made in Canada, a rolled gold capped 51 in burgundy made in England, a wahl eversharp skyline - small and black and a a canadian vacumatic black with what looks like some sort of candy stripe in the barrel.

The two I didn't but were a small black conway stewart and a broken rubber waterman ideal 1920s?

 

Its great when your collection takes a leap forward for very little money.

Best wishes

Simon

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Last week on ebay I got myself a Mentmore Deploma (1920s?) pen in great condition for $4, The seller had it listed as "founting pen" and in the discription it just said Mentmore Deploma and he had the wrong photo, the photo was of another pen he had up for auction. And to top it all off he would only post within australia, so I had no competition.

 

I have never had any luck finding anything at flea markets or yardsales.

 

I was talking to one guy at a big thrift store, and he told me if the pen dosnt work (even if it just dosnt have any ink) they throw them out. Now thats crazy.

Edited by auscan
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The most recent was an un-inked Aurora Hastil Fountain Pen and Ballpoint Set in original box for the princely sum of £7.50... about $14.00.

 

But I can also remember paying £5.00 for a near mint CS 85 in Green Herringbone - I was a happy chap that day :lol:

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The best deal...P51 vac for $5. Did a bit of a rinse, filled it with Skrip and it wrote. Was the second pen FP in my collection and is a go-to pen in my quiver...Also a P51 Signet aero for $30 at an antique mall on Cape Code. Also a go-to pen.

 

Worst deal? A $600 MB sterling silver 1xx I got free in a deal on St. Maartins in one of those reputable chain Caribbean jewelry stores. Peg was into emeralds that year. She choses the bling, I get to negotiate. They had nothing I wanted (I usually try for a $400 watch...what the hell) so the only thing I could think of was that stupid MB I had seen. Got them to throw it in gratis as a deal closer.

 

Bill

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The best deal...P51 vac for $5.

Same here. After $35 in restoration costs, and a bit of wheeling and dealing to get the correct cap for it (gold-filled), it's a daily go-to.

 

I'm happy with that one.

 

I got a great deal on a brand new Parker 100 once, too. $60 out the door. If it hadn't been such a heavy pen, I'd still have it.

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I haven't gotten any steals on any really good pens, though I've gotten a bunch of really nice-writing Sheaffer cartridge school pens for pennies, and love collecting the different colors. Just not much monetary value.

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I have a Waterman Ideal that I paid $25 for. The nib has "Waterman Ideal New York 2" on it and on the end of the barrel is 0852 1/2 V. Posted it's 140 mm (5.5 inches) long and there is a gold band on the cap 12 mm (0.5 inches) wide. The band is engraved with initials and has a floral design all around it. I paid an additional $30 to have it restored mainly becuase somebody thought it would be a good idea to dip it in some type of paint and write with it. I feel this was a good deal. In general, I've done pretty good with Esterbrook's of late.

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

Isaac Asimov, Salvor Hardin in "Foundation"

US science fiction novelist & scholar (1920 - 1992)

 

There is probably no more terrible instant of enlightenment than the one in which you discover your father is a man--with human flesh.

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US science fiction novelist (1920 - 1986)

 

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Okay, I can top the cheapest P51 deal.

 

I picked up a P51 Aero in Midnight Blue, Lustraloy cap, F nib, 3Q1949, for two dollars! It's in EX-NM condition. I wonder what it's really worth...

 

Although, I think the cigar box full of pens for $25 may be the best deal I ever got. It included a Waterman OS Emblem pen (#18 nib). Unfortunately, it didn't have a cap. I don't remember what else was in the box, but it was about 20 pens total.

 

Both of these were at the local Palmer-Wirfs antique shows.

 

TTFN,

Grem

Edited by Grem

Bruce Grembowski

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May not have been as good as the ones I've read in the post, but this was a good deal for me, the red Montegrappa for 200$ flat. ;)

sonia alvarez

 

fpn_1379481230__chinkinreduced.jpg

 

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I've had a couple. The first was a bag of pens and pencils at an antique show, which included a Snorkle and a parker 45, of which I'm using both.

 

There were a couple of the old Scripto pens in there, that I have yet to find cartridges that fit, but look in working order.

 

There was an antique solid metal mechanical pencil that I have yet to identify.

 

Finally, a floaty ballpoint.

 

All for $10.

 

Oh yes, there were a couple mint Scheaffer school pens that were in working order, which I sold for $10......

 

Got a mint burgandy P61 capilary at the Miami pen show for $22.

 

Other than that, recently I picked up a P51 aero with a gold cap and a Super 21 both for $23.

 

-Bruce

 

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QUOTE (rroossinck @ Feb 14 2007, 07:49 AM)
Well done, Bruce! Those are all some very nice deals!

Thanks!

 

Helps to be CHEAP! . . . and very patient.... I even believe I'll get my P75 for $10 one day.....hahahahahhahahahaha........

 

Just wish the post office would stop losing things. Looks like a second package has disappeared. That was a $21 P61 off of Ebay.

 

 

-Bruce

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