Flea Markets, Garage Sales, Etc....

[mrchan]

I always get insanely jealous when I hear stories of people buying fountain pens for next to nothing, having found it at a flea market, garage sales, some random shops etc.

 

I am starting this thread for those who want to contribute some secret spots to other FPN brothers and sisters of where you can occasionally find or have found interestingly cheap/vintage fountain pens in the past.

 

Before I go any further I have to say that, I haven't found any where I live in Brisbane, Australia, though whether it is NOT for the lack of trying I can tell you that.

 

So, wherever you are from, and have one or two of those little secret spots that you'd like to share, please feel free to do so!

[fpenluver]

This would be the question i would like to ask as well. Especially in Sydney. Also, is there any pen show in sydney? Anyone knows? Thank you very much in advance for those willing to share.

[Blade Runner]

The 80s and 90s were heyday of bargains. People were basically giving them away before the brands move to luxury markets which sparked a resurgent interest in fps.

[balson]

i have good luck in florida. there is a big flea market / antique market near my house called renningers most of the time there are no pens to be had other than one vendor who knows what they are worth. i started by asking every vendor who looks like they deal in smalls and all the vendors who sell furniture if they have any pens or if its something that they ever get. most of them don't but there are 10 vendors on the antiques side who will get them from time to time and since i am there every week those vendors will just hold them aside for me. most vendors who dont know the value of a pen will value it based on the gold on the nib and they are usually high on that end. i had heard awhile back that there is $7-15 worth of gold on the nib. if i don't know anything about the precise worth of a pen i value it based off of how much i think the nib would be worth if sold as a replacement so about $25 for one of the big name brands

[jar]

Remember the places that sold fountain pens in the 40s-60s and look there.

 

Find an old family owned (not chain) drugstore, hardware, jewelery, clothing, even places like feed and seed if in small towns. Stop in, look for the oldest person there and politely ask if they might still have some in the back. As recently as a year or so ago I was driving through one of the small towns off the big roads here in Texas and stopped for some BBQ. Across the square was an old drugstore and when I asked at the pharmacy counter they first said "No", then "Wait a sec... there's these." and out came an old cigar box with about a dozen pens a Balance and 5-30 Flat top, a Lucky Curve Duofold Junior, a few Esterbrooks and a couple Wearevers still in the blister packs. I asked "How Much" and the gentleman said "Just take them and give them a good home." Best part was they still had a soda and lunch counter so instead of BBQ I had one of their real chocolate milk shakes and the days special, meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, greens and cornbread. Now that cost me $4.50.

[greenhornet7897]

Just yesterday I scored my first flea market find.I always check all the small cases for fountain pens and to my surprise was a Parker 51 Special laying in one case priced $15.00.I talked to the seller for a moment and as soon as he mention he had used it to fill out his price tag that morning I snatched it up.

[inkstainedruth]

I have sometimes had better luck in antiques malls that are in smaller towns away from major metropolitan areas -- my experience is that I'm more likely to find pens, even if they're junk or overpriced (here in the Pittsburgh vicinity I have seen an awful lot of Wearevers (which I know absolutely nothing about) and I've run across a few Sheaffer school pens.

OTOH, a friend of mine got a Parker 51 at a local flea market for $5 US a few years ago. She didn't even know what it was that she had, so she contacted Parker and they sent her information.

Positively the worst place around here was a "big" antiques store (they did have pens -- but the boxes were piled up in the corner of one case, which was pretty much the same story for everything else they sold). Best way I could describe the place (it's a four story building) is that it was a hoarder's paradise/firetrap.... and frankly, I was happier once I was back outside. And I could almost visualize the dings and dents that were occurring by the pen cases just sitting in the case....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[MarcS]

i have had good luck at estate sales, but persistence is important. in over 20 years of weekend treasure-hunting, i've had perhaps a dozen jackpots.

[JotterAddict62]

I am from southeastern WI 20 miles east of Janesville home of the Parker.

I watch out for the estate sales in the area, the auctioneers will note if there

are pens in the sales. What I do is pull out my state map that is 30yrs old and

get a compass out and make a 60 mile radius from my home and I plan different

routes. I would get to the farthest shop on the list for the day when it opens

and work my way back home. I have at least a dozen or more routes that I take

during the winter months every other week or once a week. I am planning my

route for Sept 13 when I go to Joliet IL for the NASCAR Races and stop at a few

shops on the way down. I do find a few items. I do speed looking when I hit the shops

on Sat and Sun before I get to the racetrack. I do not like to sit in traffic waiting to get in to park.

Sometimes I have a feeling on which route to take and I do find a gem.

 

Ken

[ShallowJam]

trick is, there isn't a trick. There aren't any hotspots, any reliable sources, any repeat bounties.

 

Vintage finds are scattered, they are usually there because they've been sitting there and no one knows their value. Once they're bought they're bought and that spot has no more. Flea markets are a good place to hunt, but no where is better than anywhere else. They have to be selling old stuff, but thats about the only requirement.

 

Also, if there was some sort of reliable source for old vintage fountain pens at great prices, a) do you really think anyone would tell you? and do you really think that the entirety of FPN wouldn't buy them up in a hearbeat?

 

just some food for thought

[Beechwood]

Remember the places that sold fountain pens in the 40s-60s and look there.

 

Find an old family owned (not chain) drugstore, hardware, jewelery, clothing, even places like feed and seed if in small towns. Stop in, look for the oldest person there and politely ask if they might still have some in the back. As recently as a year or so ago I was driving through one of the small towns off the big roads here in Texas and stopped for some BBQ. Across the square was an old drugstore and when I asked at the pharmacy counter they first said "No", then "Wait a sec... there's these." and out came an old cigar box with about a dozen pens a Balance and 5-30 Flat top, a Lucky Curve Duofold Junior, a few Esterbrooks and a couple Wearevers still in the blister packs. I asked "How Much" and the gentleman said "Just take them and give them a good home." Best part was they still had a soda and lunch counter so instead of BBQ I had one of their real chocolate milk shakes and the days special, meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, greens and cornbread. Now that cost me $4.50.

 

 

Just a perfect day

[mrchan]

trick is, there isn't a trick. There aren't any hotspots, any reliable sources, any repeat bounties.

 

Vintage finds are scattered, they are usually there because they've been sitting there and no one knows their value. Once they're bought they're bought and that spot has no more. Flea markets are a good place to hunt, but no where is better than anywhere else. They have to be selling old stuff, but thats about the only requirement.

 

Also, if there was some sort of reliable source for old vintage fountain pens at great prices, a) do you really think anyone would tell you? and do you really think that the entirety of FPN wouldn't buy them up in a hearbeat?

 

just some food for thought

I do disagree, sometimes people find faraway antique shops with people selling off stuff all the time, I wouldn't expect old vintage pens in the same flea market to be there sitting untouched after a FPN member has waltzed past it but if they've seen some being sold and didn't want to purchase it, who knows, it might be one that I like/want? Some people like esterbrooks/kaweco/Italian pens, but I wouldn't go anywhere near it. If I saw it being sold I'd share it as I have no interest in it.

Nonetheless there are people who would like to share, and this is the thread for those who do.

Edited September 3, 2013 by mrchan

[mrchan]

Thanks for all your input btw guys and gals

[Gloucesterman]

As Mark Twain is purported to have said, "the harder I work, the luckier I get".

 

The stories posted here do create a certain amount of pen envy BUT, they also remind us that the opportunities are all around us. we simply have to take more initiative and ask people for assistance. One of the other important factors is to remind people regularly AND TACTFULLY that we appreciate their help.

 

The other advice added to some excellent suggestions previously given is to simply check out dealers, flee markets, long time independent drug stores, old independent jewelry stores. get into the habit of traveling off the beaten track, and even in the regular antique store ASK where else they may have some old pens, pencils, inkwell etc.

 

Final advice, if you want to consider it, feel free to negotiate. My example is as follows -

Was in a local antique store that was having a sale. Saw an old ring top pen, price tag $28.00. The guy showed it to me and mentioned it was 1/2 price. Left to get my loupe. Returned, inspected the nib - 14k w/ some flex - lever seemed to be okay. Thought I would gamble a bit. offered $10.00 cash. walked out with the pen. I've been using it ever since, no restoration necessary (for now anyway).

 

I had been in the store several times and found nothing.

 

Good luck, Think positive and keep us up to date with your successes.

 

Just my .02 cents worth.

[Centopar]

I travel a lot for work, and I've had *infinitely* better luck with flea markets in mainland Europe than I have here in the UK - there seems to be more of a flea market tradition there than we have here. (And I don't go to car boot sales in the UK; perhaps I should.) I've had success at flea markets in Bremen, Germany; Helsinki; and just this weekend in Copenhagen, where I found a tortoise shell Pelikan 400 from the 50s for about £40. (It needs a replacement clip, but otherwise it's perfect, and it's a beautiful smooth writer with a little soft flex.)

 

UK antique and junk shops, or little antiques fairs, are not great hunting grounds: you may find dip pens, and for some reason the country is BRISTLING with overpriced Parker 51s. But I've seen totally unremarkable pens at antique shops here - lots of school pens like Vectors and so on - often for stupid prices. Worse still is when you see a Wing Sung of about £5 value in a cabinet at an antiques shop for £100...

[pompa]

How about for free? I currently work in airport security, and today I saw that a colleague had a MB and a Parker (roller balls) in his vest pocket and commented on it. It turns out they had been left behind in security and after they had been lying around for a few days and were to be thrown in the trash he had grabbed them because they looked shiny, not knowing what they were...apparently he'd had another MB before (also left behind) but had thrown it away when the cartridge ran out of ink

 

Seeing as he saved them from the trash can, and he didn't know what they were,I don't know if I can call it theft (if he'd known what they were though, I'd be inclined to call it theft as I'm of the opinion that he should've pointed it out and suggested they'd be taken to the "lost and found"), although I'm pretty sure that he'd get fired if found out. It also makes me wonder how many nice pens "we" have thrown away. They really should go "lost and found", but I guess it's the "it's just a pen"-attitude and ignorance that leads to them being thrown away, and that also makes me wonder how many people contact the airport about their lost pens only to get the answer that none have been found. Btw, I've seen many passengers with MB rollerballs, but the only FP yet was a Lami Safari.

[Paul Raposo]

I asked "How Much" and the gentleman said "Just take them and give them a good home." Best part was they still had a soda and lunch counter so instead of BBQ I had one of their real chocolate milk shakes and the days special, meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, greens and cornbread. Now that cost me $4.50.

 

Great. Now I want to go pen hunting, and I'm hungry

 

But jar makes an excellent point--look for the oldest person in any location you walk into. They will know what you're talking about. When I collected watch fobs, the older the person I was dealing with, the more knowledge they had about the hobby, and what I wanted.

 

Personally I have not had luck with garage sales, estate sales, or auctions. Others have. Clearly I'm not going to the right places. I have had luck with antique malls, occasionally.

Edited September 3, 2013 by Paul Raposo

[ANM]

Last month I stopped in an antique mall in Lawrence Ks., and found a red Parker 51 for $18.50. I can remember in the 80's spending the day looking for fountain pens and coming home disgusted because I found nothing. Everyone pens but they were all just those junk pens... you know stuff like 51's and Esterbrooks! Several years ago I saw a boxed set of vermeil Parker 75 FP & BP in a booth, just setting out, not locked up with a tag of $5.00. They said it was just one of those old cartridge pens. When I got home I peeled off the price from the box and under it was a yard sale price written with a marker that said 10¢!

Edited September 3, 2013 by ANM

[Florida Blue]

I've never had much luck at garage sales or estate sales. Probably because I don't wake up early enough

 

Asking older people does seem to work. It worked once for me. There was a garage sale that had a lot of old office items (old metal staplers, boxes of leads for pencils etc.) and I asked the older man (I assume it was his home) if he had any fountain pens and he did. He brought out a Parker 21 Super set in black in its original box and a bottle of old Solv-X blue/black Parker Quink. He sold them to me for $3. The set was practically mint. He told me that he didn't think anyone would be interested in them and that's why he didn't bother to put it out.

 

Pawn shops can be another place to look in addition to flea markets and antique shops. People often pawn FPs received as gifts or pens inherited from family members.

 

I was friendly with a local coin and stamp dealer that also bought scrap gold and silver. Unfortunately many people, not knowing anything about Fps brought in old pens with gold nibs to be scrapped. I got a Parker 45 and a Parker 51 from the shop after I mentioned that I collected FPs. I assume these nibs didn't get scrapped because they couldn't figure how to pull them out of their hoods

 

It's a real shame. I'm sure some good pens were destroyed so people could get $10 for the scrap gold having no idea that the complete pen was worth several times that.

[kestrel]

When I was in high school we had a foodaholic dog. She was part beagle, part poodle, part airedale and part vacuum cleaner. Whenever she found a morsel of food on a walk she made a mental note of that spot and contined to check it daily for years. That sometimes included digging through several feet of snow to make sure the crumb gods hadn't made a recent visit.

 

So, as several others have said, be persistent. My three best found in the wild pens were all found in antique stores that had, for more than a decade, produced nothing more than junk. In each case I went in looking for parts pens to cannibalize. I found my Conklin Halloween pen in a plastic shoebox filled with Wearevers and assorted nameless pens, all without nibs. It wasn't there when I passed through the month before and I have never seen another pen in that store worth buying since but, like that dog, I still check regularly. Someday lightning will strike again.

 

I always let the owners of the stores know I am looking for pens. If I buy a pen from a person who cares about antiques I always bring the restored pen back to show the owners what happened to it. If I have it inked I let them write with it. That personal touch has produced a few more pens from sellers who remembered me and took the time to call me when something came in between visits.