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What Is Your "grail Pen"?


mongrelnomad

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I was talking with my wife today: fountain-penning (yes, a verb) is an illness, umbilically attached to our desires, our needs, and our usages.

 

Each of us has a theoretical "grail pen" - not the one pen that will make us complete, but the one pen that will (temporarily) satiate our desires. Me? I have a nascent property development business (together with my RIBA prize-winning architect brother) and a thrice-drafted novel that will (hopefully) have their potential realised... so I use fountain pens every day. That said, my grail pen is a Mont Blanc L139 with a palladium war-time nib (is this my Jewish self attempting to reach parity with the wartime German?)

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4914957501_513c6773f1_z.jpg

 

Each of us has our histories and our desires. What's your 'grail' pen?

Edited by mongrelnomad

Too many pens; too little writing.

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Wahl-Eversharp Gold Seal Senior (oversized, deco band) in either Lazulitic Blue or Rosewood.

 

http://zobeid.zapto.org/image/pens/wahl_deco_01.jpg

 

Really nice ones are quite hard to find. I saw a couple of fantastic blue ones on eBay that originally sparked my desire. Since then I have found one (1) in blue, but it's a bit more discolored than the first ones I saw. Plus, I've seen how pretty the Rosewood is, so that got me waffling. Plus, all of them are quite pricey.

 

I just got a couple of less precious (non-oversized) Wahls that are quite good with flexible nibs, so they should calm my desires. . . . for a while.

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I have my grail pens. Everything else is icing on the cake. These pens have spoiled me, and just about anything else I want from here on will also be custom. However, I reserve the right to change my mind at a future time.

 

There is another thread on grail pens here, too.

 

Always good to see how people's tastes and minds have changed, though, so I'm looking forward to many new replies here.

Scribere est agere.

To write is to act.

___________________________

Danitrio Fellowship

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I forgot all about that thread, kiavonne. Mine is still the Torre di Pisa. I can't find one anywhere and right now I don't have the funds. However, after that Pic I added a Modigliani and Eternal Bird which were other mini grails.

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Funny, but I've been consistent on my choice -which means I haven't bought the pen yet :ninja:

Edited by alvarez57

sonia alvarez

 

fpn_1379481230__chinkinreduced.jpg

 

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Since the last time we did this, I got two of mine. Well, almost, since once of them doesn't exist. But I did get a Homo Sapiens and I got a Visconti Kakadu (they only come with platinum trim, so no gold-toned furniture for me). I also picked up a Visconti Didgeridoo, which is more lovely in person that I imagined.

 

The only thing left is an Edison. Someday, I'll know exactly what I want. Between now and then (while the budget recovers from the recent serious hits), I design and re-design the Edison on a regular basis.

I came here for the pictures and stayed for the conversation.

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Mont Blanc Dumas!

PAKMAN

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I saw what I thought was my grail pen earlier today, a Montblanc Elizabeth 1st, I looked again and saw that it was just jewellery, at a price that was more to do with jewellery than pens too.

 

Back to the hunt for an oversized Burgundy Vac.

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My Spirit of Life pen. :cloud9: It's even better in person than the idea was during the year long trek from initial obsession to holding it in my hand. :wub: Couldn't have done it without Henry Simpole and Salman Khattak. :wub:

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Wahl-Eversharp Gold Seal Senior (oversized, deco band) in either Lazulitic Blue or Rosewood.

 

http://zobeid.zapto.org/image/pens/wahl_deco_01.jpg

 

Really nice ones are quite hard to find. I saw a couple of fantastic blue ones on eBay that originally sparked my desire. Since then I have found one (1) in blue, but it's a bit more discolored than the first ones I saw. Plus, I've seen how pretty the Rosewood is, so that got me waffling. Plus, all of them are quite pricey.

 

I just got a couple of less precious (non-oversized) Wahls that are quite good with flexible nibs, so they should calm my desires. . . . for a while.

 

Beautiful pen.

sonia alvarez

 

fpn_1379481230__chinkinreduced.jpg

 

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Oversize vintage Sheaffer's Lifetime Balance in Roseglow with a medium nib.

Dave Campbell
Retired Science Teacher and Active Pen Addict
Every day is a chance to reduce my level of ignorance.

fpn_1425200643__fpn_1425160066__super_pi

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2 tone 18K Montblanc 149 is my grail pen :puddle: :puddle: :puddle:

 

http://images.montblanc.com/products/images/02246_s.png

Respect to all

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I can think of all sorts of aesthetic things that would do it for me (especially oni/mononoke themed maki-e) but honestly my "grail" is a pen with good ink capacity that gives me a little bit of flex, a fine/medium line with a bit of wetness and good shading with poussiere de lune. well, it fits the definition you've given anyway.

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Lamy 2000.

 

No other pen, aside maybe a 61 Flighter, really excites me. Smooth writing, huge capacity piston filler, minimalist aesthetic.

 

baaaah, I'm no fun. I don't collect anything.

10 years on PFN! I feel old, but not as old as my pens.

 

Inked up: Wing Sung 618 - BSB / PFM III - Kiri-same / Namiki Falcon - Storia Fire / Lamy 2000 - Fuyu-gaki / Sheaffer Triumph - Eclat de Saphir

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Awhile back I saw replacement acrylic barrels for old Pelikan 100s and recently decided to create a demonstrator from parts pens I'd accumulated. Having come close to putting it together, I told myself that unless something significant happens to merit another purchase, that would be it for the foreseeable future.

 

Aside from a 1st year 100 or one of the funky coral/lapis versions, I think I may retire from fountain pen accumulating to spend more time enjoying them, and slowly coming to terms with the fact that I ought to pass on the ones I rarely use and spend more of my money in places where it will make a real difference. Not that I have any sort of moral high ground, but I do feel more than a touch guilty when it occurs to me that there are families who live on less money a year than I might spend on a new M8xx.

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As I have said elsewhere before, it would have to be a NOS 1951 Parker 51 flighter with factory bold stub nib.

 

Thanks,

Mike

inka binka

bottle of ink

the cork fell out

and you stink

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I've got mine, a Pelikan M910 in yellow with a ground to cursive italic nib. The weight, balance, feel, ink capacity and quality is fantastic and I don't regret the daft money I paid for it (it's an investment isn't it? ;) ).

 

I've bought other pens since, some I like, some I like a lot, and I continue to buy IF they grab my attention or if I find them interesting, my latest is a Bexley Anniversary style pen currently with Mike-it-Work awaiting a grind. I have a bit of vague interest in owning an MB 149 (it's a size thing) but no real desire for it.

 

I've recently realised that the level of desire "grail pen" implies is for me a perfect ink (that search has a level of cost my income can cope with!), and the ability to write well, regardless of how good I get (and I have a lot of room for improvement) I'll never be as good as I want to be.

 

Craig

"Those Who Know What's Best For Us, Must Rise And Save Us From Ourselves."

Witch Hunt - Neil Peart

 

http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/8703/letterminizk9.png

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