The Allure Of Vintage...

[Lovely_Pen]

By the way, what're you getting?

 

I bought a WASP Addipoint from Richard Binder's March Pen Show Tray. It was supposed to have arrived today, but alas USPS has not updated their tracking and I imagine it's going to arrive on Monday due to poor weather.

 

Image is taken from Richard Binder's site.

[inkstainedruth]

I blame it on FPN....

When I first got into fountain pens (just over 3 years ago, now), I had a Parker Vector that was probably NOS in the store where I got it (date code of 2003). When I thought I'd lost it I went online looking for a replacement and eventually found my way here. Read a lot of posts about vintage and semi-vintage pens, and then about 4 months in I found a Parker 45 in an antiques mall in NW Pennsylvania (I'd only really had new pens at that point except for the Vector). It was such a lovely writer that I was hooked. Then the following spring I saw a blue Esterbrook J series skunk in another antiques mall (which I'm now kicking myself for having not gotten). The next one I actually got was an Esterbrook SJ that was in yet another antiques mall ("honestly dear, I'd swear I walked past that case and hadn't seen it the first time...") a couple of months after getting the 45. From there it was off to the races. And Ebay (dangerous place -- almost as dangerous as some of the threads here).

Why do I prefer vintage over modern? A lot of reasons: the look; the feel in my hand; the nibs; the more "interesting" fill systems (although c/c pens have their uses); the sense that I have "saved" a little bit of history from a landfill -- and that something that's at least as old (if not older) than I am still works with only a little bit of maintenance or repair. And there's a little bit of the "aha" moment -- the thrill of the hunt, say -- when I find something "in the wild", like my Snorkels, or the two sumgai 51s I lucked into last fall because the booth holders didn't really know what they had -- and I did because I bothered to actually pull the (seriously not-right) caps and look at the pens: in the case of the Cedar Blue 51 Vac, I was expecting to find another junker, like the other two pens in the case, because it had some third-tier cap on it, but had been tipped off by a friend that even no-names could have good nibs on them.

Also, I'm kinda a cheapskate: If I have, say, $50-75 to spend, I'd rather spend it on something that has proven its worth -- a Parker 51 or Vacumatic, rather than something "new" that is of somewhat dubious quality over the long haul (and a lot of the acrylic blanks just don't appeal to me aesthetically somehow). Especially in these days where half the time my really expensive laptop needs continual patches and upgrades (none of which ever seem to fix the formatting issues I am constantly fighting with in iPages or iNumbers). Yet my favorite Parker 51, which is from 1949, just needed to be flushed out well and works great -- it's a bit of a beater pen, but that's okay with me.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: I should say that I currently live in a 130 year old house, inherited my great aunt's Limoges china, and still have most of the vinyl record albums I bought in the 1970s (rock -- *not* disco). Plus my non-FP hobby -- and how I met my husband -- is medieval recreation/reenactment, so my house is full of books on castles and medieval art and literature and heraldry and translations of pre-17th century cookbooks (okay, my house is full of books in general...).

Edited March 8, 2015 by inkstainedruth

[sombrueil]

I blame it on FPN....

 

 

I, too, blame everything on FPN. It's all their, or its fault. Or faults. Whatever.

 

You're still using iPages? Well there's your problem.

Edited March 8, 2015 by sombrueil

[inkstainedruth]

 

I, too, blame everything on FPN. It's all their, or its fault. Or faults. Whatever.

 

You're still using iPages? Well there's your problem.

Hey, I'd *rather* still be using Appleworks but Apple no longer supports it (I felt old when the 20s-something guy in the Apple Store Genius Bar said he'd never used it). iPages and iNumbers *combined* don't give me the same functionality -- I miss having the "drawing" and "painting" functions, and even though I never used it, it was nice knowing that there was a database function in there as well. Plus, I feel as if iPages was "dumbed down" (my background is in traditional layout and pasteup).

And if you're going to suggest something like Adobe Illustrator, well, that's too darned expensive, especially when the major expenditure this spring is going to be a new roof.... (Besides, I'd rather spend any disposable income on ink and working pens.... )

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

edited for formatting

Edited March 8, 2015 by inkstainedruth

[Buzz_130]

Like many, I started with fountain pens with a humble, charcoal black Safari. The new pen, loaded with Noodler's Bad Blue Heron, made an instant impression on me... until I lost it. That's when I found FPN. I kept purchasing some quality, modern fountain pens from reputable dealers, but my attention wandered to the Golden Age of fountain pens. I needed to try a Parker "51", see what the interest in Esterbrooks really was, and explore the mechanism of the Snorkel.

 

Today, I'll still buy a modern Japanese pen to complete part of collection or capture a significant meaning. Otherwise, I find the prices of modern pens to be edging higher without an increase in how I value my writing tools.

 

But my real reason for staying with the pens from the Golden Age is how they write. If I'm going to sit down and work on a draft for a professional journal or just write in my own journal, my preference is a classic fountain pen. The weight, balance, girth, and nib make these pens a pleasure to use for hours on end. I enjoy the different filling systems (even when they are a pain to clean) and admire the craftsmanship that went into each pen. Throw in the touch with history with these pens, and I don't find too many reasons to keep looking at modern fountain pens.

 

Yesterday, I bought my youngest an Esterbrook J at the Baltimore Pen Show. When we filled it up and wrote with the 2668 nib, she loves it. That's impressive because she owns two lower-end Platinums. Maybe another convert!

 

Buzz

[Bo Bo Olson]

My P-75 is not Vintage, I bought it new in the early '70's.

 

A hand full of inherited pens that sat in my drawer for 15 years and 15 before that in my wife's aunt's drawer did it. As an American I'd only heard of the Gray Esterbrook.

This picture does not do justice to the thin 'copper' lines in the pattern of an @1950 piston Italian Columbus....sadly needing still recorking....Zombied it a couple of times.One of my top 5 pretty pens.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/SAM_0489.jpg

 

 

 

Early '50's Osmia-Favber-Castell mdl 540 'flexi'/maxi-emi-flex Supra nib....that I was so 'noobie', I just thought it was a wet writer lots liked.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/faber_osmia_62_f_marbled_3.jpg

 

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/1b88524b-11ac-4e56-b929-781d80a84e99_zps3341aeb1.jpg

 

 

With such a start...no wonder I went vintage....besides being affordable....back at the start the cost of a 'new' Safari was 'over budget'.

 

1938 Boehler Gold 54 after splitting with his brother, the Osmia company. Got a lot later but nice vintage full tortoise.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/F7n6tDyIMsZj1282498401S_zps8688140c.jpg

 

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/ZL6RrVDHwYC11282498416S_zps804b82b3.jpg

 

 

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/B05qqKwB2kKGrHqMOKiEERGChR8EBMcV7mpcw_12_zps30b5d73e.jpg

 

There were others who made a tortoise pen besides Pelikan.

 

Two 'no name' Clipper piston pens...'50's when the Super Constellation was a major plane....semi-flex 14 k nibs with tiny three tailed plane on it. Not a Wearever, just came in a Wearever box.I buy the pen, I get the better picture than I can make.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/cliro3.jpg

 

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/cb6.jpg

 

Other real nice Vintage...the next two Austrian Rusewe, the tiny cracked ice, Sirius, standard sized green stripped Spezial. Mid '50's semi-flex, 14 K.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/a335ca5d-dca2-48d2-a57a-c4a40879c9ef_zps84cdcdd6.jpg

 

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/B2C6B5BGkKGrHqVhcE70KvyV4BMg8uOmRsw_3.jpg

Edited March 8, 2015 by Bo Bo Olson

[Manalto]

They're all stunners, BoBo, but maybe it's the gardener in me that is drawn to the Spezial.

[sombrueil]

Hey, I'd *rather* still be using Appleworks but Apple no longer supports it (I felt old when the 20s-something guy in the Apple Store Genius Bar said he'd never used it). iPages and iNumbers *combined* don't give me the same functionality -- I miss having the "drawing" and "painting" functions, and even though I never used it, it was nice knowing that there was a database function in there as well. Plus, I feel as if iPages was "dumbed down" (my background is in traditional layout and pasteup).

And if you're going to suggest something like Adobe Illustrator, well, that's too darned expensive, especially when the major expenditure this spring is going to be a new roof.... (Besides, I'd rather spend any disposable income on ink and working pens.... )

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

edited for formatting

 

Well, we are drifting far out to sea here, and I am underqualified for this conversation anyway. My first job was proofreading and paste up at a local newspaper -- paste up involved hot wax, exacto knives, and such. I still like doing stuff like that. Computer programs are the perfect opposite.

[alexander_k]

The vintage category includes a huge number of models from many decades when a fountain pen was made for writing. Even rather inexpensive pens from back then can be tremendous writers. I came to the vintage market looking for a Parker 51 and discovered that there were many other models I wanted to try. It's a great joy when I come across a neglected, even mishandled little gem that needs some care and attention to show what writing is about. My only regret is that most vintage pens tend to be too small for my hands, even capped.

[Runnin_Ute]

First off, all my pens get used on a regular basis. Whether it is a modern pen like a TWSBI 580, a Pelikan M205 or M150 or my Lamy Al Star (although it gets far less use than it used to). Or a semi vintage or vintage pen. The former include my Parker 45's (Flighter, desk pen/set and a burgundy Made in Spain model) and my Merz & Krell Pelikan 120. The latter - Esterbrook J & a skunk LJ and a Parker 51 Special set with MP from 1953...

 

The Estie J was the first vintage pen I bought. I wanted something different than just another cheap modern pen. Wandered into the Esterbrook forum and then started poking around. Found a restored J with a 9550 for $40 shipped in the classifieds. Picked up a couple of other nibs. Later came the P51 Special and a unusual Bell Systems LJ with 2464 that was a PIF from Cardboard Tube that he had restored.

[SockAddict]

Vintage appealed to me for a few reasons. Black pens, while classy, don't appeal to me too much, and flat colors with no variation aren't much improvement (for me). But, price tags for anything fancier start at a number that had newbie-me gasping and choking a bit. I'm more acclimatized now, but not a lot. When I did reach for a couple of those pens, I made the purchases on vacations because there's no good pens store near me. I had to make quick decisions, and both times, I ended up with pens that are too large and heavy for me. When I started doing research after that second purchase, I discovered that new pens were either the plain-looking ones or the heavy ones. Somewhere along this time, I ran across a blog entry where the writer was reviewing her new-to-her Parker Azure Blue Vacumatic. After I wiped my drool off the keyboard, I did more research, and found out that vintage pens tend to be a) lighter than modern pens, come with finer nibs than modern pens, c) be more attractive than modern pens, and d) cost less than modern pens.

 

Additionally, I was already a huge fan of vintage sewing machines, because modern machines cost more and don't work as well, and I'm realizing that's a common theme in a lot of markets.

 

I love the history and knowing someone else used and valued this pen, and that's why it's still here for me to use and value today.

[sidthecat]

I'm a history nerd; an anomaly in the world of animation where most directors don't give a rat's patoot for historicity. My current gig is the first one where I've been allowed to have fun with art history (and corrupt my boss with a Waterman Commando).

I live in a Fifties house, which is decorated with vintage stuff, so I suppose it makes sense to be enamored of clunky, obsolete methods of putting words on paper - itself an endangered material.

 

I have a small cache of Vacumatics that I collected in the Eighties. I took them out the other day and tested the nibs. None of them was interesting, so I guess I've evolved.

[Lou Erickson]

I have a few vintage pens. I think it is the cost to quality ratio on them that appeals to me, along with the history.

 

Many of them I don't feel are very historical - they made an enormous number of P51's, or Sheaffer Touchdown fillers, for example - but they write well and are affordable. Having more cash available than time to spend lately, I've been letting Peyton Street Pens or other local restorers do all the hard (some say "fun") part of making them work, and just happily using them. The Azure Vacumatic Major I ordered from Peyton Street cost the same or less than a new Vanishing Point. It writes as nicely and is so very beautiful. A local restorer keeps finding P51 Flighters (and ac12 keeps not buying them) and selling them for half what eBay has.

 

The prices of many new pens keep me away.

 

I do have a few pens that I feel have real history, too.

 

I have my Grandmother's pen. I know when she bought it, and where. I know she carried it most of her adult life, and that it had a replacement nib. I have (or have seen, and will have) letters she wrote with it over the years. That has meaning to me, as any real heirloom should. I know this pen is not worth money; it's a Sheaffer Balance in the smallest size, a ring top. It's the black and white or black and green celluloid and it is horribly yellowed. The nib is not the original type - it's a different Sheaffer nib. It's scratched, gouged, and heavily worn. It's embossed with "Nell". No one will want this pen but me... but it's my Grandmother's pen.

 

I have Waterman made during the Great War. I don't know any history of this specific pen - bought it from PSP, on sale - but to know that it sat patiently in a drawer through all that time makes it special, and I appreciate that. Sure, Teri and/or her minions have taken it all apart and replaced the rubber and shellac, and been though it really well, but it is still a 99 year old pen. In the next year or two, perhaps it will get a soul of its own.

[AnnieB123]

I have a 1920's(?) waterman 52 red ripple with 'Waddy' scratched (not engraved, gouged) into it.. and I love that pen Wouldn't dream of polishing out the name on it. It's a masculine pen, so I imagine 'my' Waddy... cigarette holder in hand, raccoon fur collar and all, genteelly cheering on Harvard whilst scribbling out notes from his law school lectures.

 

Whimsy. That's why I love vintage fountain pens.

[Lovely_Pen]

Well I definitely think I've caught the vintage pen fever...

 

This beauty arrived today and I've stayed up tonight later than I probably should have, just testing it out--I'm loving it so far!

 

[Manalto]

It is indeed a beauty. The color is botanical and soothing. May I borrow it? Just for a year or so?

Edited March 10, 2015 by Manalto

[peterg]

I spent most of my senior school career using cheap Platignum pens with an italic nib and I loved the result. Then, in work, I went away to ball points, but the seed remained. I bought a few Sonnets and a scratchy Newhaven Duofold, my first vintage pen.

 

Then, much later a woman at work had a Mont Blanc and I thought so should I! Having bought one, it was big with an unyielding nib. Don't get me wrong, it is showy and works efficiently, but for me lacked heart. And the cost. I then, out of curiosity, looked at the buyer's heroin site and saw the prices .... and the variety.

 

Anyway, many hundreds of pens later I have just resaced a 1930's Conway 479, similar to Lovely_Pen's above without the barley corn effect and cap band.

 

Firstly it's looks. The pen doesn't need to work to justify its existance as a piece of art.

 

Secondly, typical of English pens, the nib is slightly medium and requires absolutely no pressure. Writing is more like painting. A total joy. Hope the pens in the post are as good......

[Intellidepth]

Vintage flex nibs. Started on here after I was hunting for an ideal modern cheapish fountain pen suitable for my young left-handed son. Thought it would inspire him a bit to improve his handwriting if I learned Spencerian. Which needs a flex nib. The rest is history. Who forgot to lock the asylum door??? I am 'solely' pleased they forgot. My bank, on the other hand, is sorely displeased.

[Intellidepth]

Well I definitely think I've caught the vintage pen fever...

This beauty arrived today and I've stayed up tonight later than I probably should have, just testing it out--I'm loving it so far!

Uh, oh. Confession time. I must have left that door unlocked behind me because my first vintage has the same shades of green through it. Yours looks lovely!

[rwilsonedn]

I started out in school with wretched bubble-pack school pens, and then one quite nice Sheaffer school pen. Stopped that in high-school. Many years later, began using modern fountain pens at work, including a modern Duofold which I still love, and a MB 146, from which I learned about MBs.

Later I was given a couple of old pens that had been in the drawers of family furniture, probably since before I was born: a Skyline and a very early Sheaffer Balance. I had then serviced, tried them out, and I was hooked.

From then on, it's been a process of getting curious about a pen, or a nib, or a filling system, and finding a cheap way to explore it. Many adventures. But I think the bottom line for me is that everything about good vintage pens, from the appearance to the writing experience, was tuned for people from a very different time, with a very different aesthetic. I enjoy trying to imagine experiencing writing with the pen they way the first owner would have experienced it. That is a rich endeavor for me.

ron