Grail Pens 2014

[85AKbN]

but choose wisely, for while the true grail will bring you life, the false grail will take it from you.

[Apprenti]

I've got mine, thanks to a wonderful friend of mine: A Nakaya Naka-Ai Shobu with John Mottishaw's Spencerian nib.

 

It's very pretty, but the real joy is when it's used. It's just beautiful!

 

http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/DSC_0218.jpg

[sotto2]

Actually, one of the benefits (?) of going to the LA Pen Show a few weeks ago was getting to handle and try a bunch of the desireable and expensive Japanese-made urushi fountain pens. John Mottishaw had several of them at his booth. Anyway, after lusting after those badly for years but never actually seeing, handling, or writing with one in person, I'm kinda "meh" now about the whole thing. I mean, if I happened to stumble across one at a really really good price, yeah. But now they are no longer a "grail" pen to me.

[UK Mike]

I have some Grail pens that turned out to be really disappointing so I don't bother looking nowadays.

 

I prefer the pens I use everyday to the ones I used to dream about.

[wiglaf]

I have taught a course on Arthur- History and Myth and I have come to understand the meaning of the adjective "grail"- (which by the way is Welsh for bowl- there is neither grail not any noun modified by it- so- no grail pen, but certainly the esoterica that would have been-

 

Tony

[Ecriveur]

I wouldn't mind a Pelikan M1000 or a Yard-O-Led Victorian.

[Zillaxila]

The grail pens that I want are an OMAS 360 Vintage in Turquoise cotton resin. I love the unique design and that blue green color is amazing.

The other pen that I wish I had is a Nakaya Decapod Twist in Kuro-Tamenuri color. Another great and unique design, a work of art.

Why are they soooo expensive!!!!

 

 

[Edwaroth]

Not sure about the Grail thing...What I would like to have someday are: Pelikan M605, Aurora Optima in GFT, and a GvFC Intuition. With a Lamy 2000 EF tossed in along the way. Those are my heart's desires.

[Aysedasi]

Not looking for too much really. I just want a nice writing, decent condition vintage Aurora 88 (any variant) with a medium non-flex nib.........

 

My next real grail pen will arrive when Shawn Newton sends it to me........

Edited March 23, 2014 by Aysedasi

[kenshiro]

The problem with having disposable income and a slightly obsessive personality is that if I want something, I usually don't agonize over buying it. The price point has to be quite high for me to think twice, and right now the only one that falls into that category is a 2001 Aurora 88 demonstrator I found for an astronomical $950.

 

Really the pens I'm most interested in right now are, naturally, the ones I can't find at all - an Omas 360 Vision HT and (comically) the Pilot Petit1 2nd generation clear (SP-20F-NC) which I could've bought on my last trip to Japan for something like $2. Oh, the long hours I've spent looking... sigh...

[amk]

A couple of Hakase. Maybe a Joe Cali.

 

And then there are the 'oh I wish' pens, the Parker wooden ones, the Pelikan 100 in those bright orange and green colours, the Waterman 20... but those aren't grail pens. The Hakase I know, some time, I will buy.

[inkstainedruth]

Well, I have several of my "grail" pens already (not too shabby for just a couple of years of involvement with FPs, most specifically a plum Parker 51. Next up in the "OOH, WAAANT" category is a Parker Vacumatic Shadow Wave. I've been scoping a few out recently, to see if any are in my discretionary budget price range, and the answer is "well, maybe...."

Still of course lusting after a Y-o-L Viceroy Victorian, but that is most definitely *not* in the budget. And after getting a Pelikan 400 brown tortoise a couple of months ago, I would not be averse to getting another 400 (maybe blue striated this time, which is what I *originally* thought I wanted until the brown tortoise came my way) -- especially if it has as nice a nib as the one I got. And I also would like getting another pen like the Morrison ringtop overlay, only maybe in sterling silver this time (hmmm -- need to put the GF overlay pen back into rotation soon ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[logantrky]

My grail pen is my MB 149. I haven't had a desire for another "grail" since then.

 

However, I wouldn't mind branching out and getting some more Pelikans in the future.

[Stu L]

Is it bad that I don't have a grail pen?

 

I want a Pilot VP, but that's way out of my price range (gosh I feel like the poor relative )

If you lust or something that's everyday for most, it doesn't feel though it can be called a grail...

[inkstainedruth]

Is it bad that I don't have a grail pen?

 

I want a Pilot VP, but that's way out of my price range (gosh I feel like the poor relative )

If you lust or something that's everyday for most, it doesn't feel though it can be called a grail...

Don't feel bad. My first year I think the most I spent for *any* pen was around $24 US. Last year, I went a little crazy on vintage pens, but a lot of them were Esties that I got on Ebay, and some of those I got for around $10.

I keep looking at VPs -- I think my husband would do really well with one because he has a really bad tendency to not recap pens. Which might be okay with BPs, but not FPs. So the price of a VP is making me leery of getting him one -- he's been promised an Esterbrook J with an EF nib swapped in for the one it came with, and (maybe) a Parker 51 that I got from Pendleton Brown at the Ohio Pen Show last fall, which also has an EF nib. But both pens combined didn't cost as much as a VP.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[BT-7274]

As of this year, I already have two grails, even though they were never 'grails' for me in the first place: a first year Snorkel (Crest!), and a cartridge/converter 51.

The Snorkel, of course, was restored on my own. Works like a charm. Whenever I get a Parker 51 case one of these days, I'll probably have the 51 set up for a shot...

 

As for the rest of the year, I'm current juggling what I'd like to get - an M605, M320 Ruby-Red, a PFM IV, a (used) MB146, or perhaps a 1911 Realo. It's all in the air, although I'm saving my 'real' grail pen purchase for my 21st birthday, which is still two and a half years off. And with that one, the sky's (well, probably something reasonable for a college student that's actively collecting) the limit.

[WilsonCQB1911]

I have some Grail pens that turned out to be really disappointing so I don't bother looking nowadays.

 

I prefer the pens I use everyday to the ones I used to dream about.

 

This is where I'm starting to get. I've dropped too much money on "grail pens" that turned out to be disappointing. This has been reinforced by my $15 Metropolitan being as good as some of them. I generally sell them on ebay, take a bath on the sale price, and chalk up the loss to learning and growing wiser.

 

I may purchase another MB 149 because that has been such a wonderful pen for me, but even that I'm a bit leery of.

[zchen]

At this point I really have enough pens so while there are still grail pens I want, I'm only going to get them if they fall in my budget, basically Pre 2000s MB 146, 149 , Pelikan M800 (80s), and Sheaffer PFM II.

Edited March 25, 2014 by zchen

[Guest Ray Cornett]

Ray, your Waterman must be a 512PSF, if so it was made no later than 1917.

 

My grail is a Waterman 420 with a stub nib. And while I'm dreaming I'd like a pony.

Correct, 512 1/2 PSF slim model between 1915 and 1917 since they didn't introduce levers until 1915 and the wording on the nib as well as the numbering system point to before 1918. I got the section off a few days ago and sac replaced. I love how it writes but still need to get used to how to properly write with a flex nib. I am absolutely amazed how lucky I got with replacing the sac. The old one came out basically in one piece except for a few tiny chunks that broke off when it fell over as I had it standing on end to get a picture of the number on the butt. All it took was grabbing it with long narrow tweezers.

Edited March 25, 2014 by Ray Cornett

[Guest Ray Cornett]

Love seeing peoples grail pens and finding out that even if you get your GP it doesn't stop the addiction,lol.