Should There Be An Etiquette When It Comes To Buying Nos Pens?

May 21, 2015

It it were a T1, absolutely DO NOT USE IT. You would take a big hit in its collector value.

Plus once a T1 snaps, you can't get it repaired. Collector value or not.

May 21, 2015

It it were a T1, absolutely DO NOT USE IT. You would take a big hit in its collector value.

Totally agree. I also won't use a T1.

If it is a real T1

May 21, 2015

I would never buy a pen I did not intend to use.

+1. And that goes for vintage inks as well.

I bought a NOS 8 oz. bottle of vintage Quink Violet a couple of years ago on Ebay. Finally got around to trying it at Christmas time, once I got some smaller glass bottles to decant it into, and I've been using it in in my Plum 51.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

May 21, 2015

Guys, it's not a T1 even though I think I would've tried it out. It is informative however that the value would take that much of a hit.

I've gone ahead and edited my previous post, so the cited example is less eye-popping.

May 21, 2015

I bought an NOS Frontier. It was rubbish - dry, no ink flow - even with Parker's own ink. I wish I'd left it in the box. What a waste.

May 21, 2015

I bought an NOS Frontier. It was rubbish - dry, no ink flow - even with Parker's own ink. I wish I'd left it in the box. What a waste.

Did you flush it with maybe a little diluted dish soap beforehand? NOS can collect dust, or have old debris in it that dried up over the years of just sitting there.

Also would a frontier's value changed any from inking it? (an if it had worked well would the value have increased?)

May 21, 2015

Well of course there are no New-OLD-Stock pens being produced.

but I really think it depends on the pen and your status as a collector. Some pens don't gain any significant value being NOS versus used.

Exactly my point. I'm not arguing on the basis of value.

There are collectors who want NOS pens regardless of their value. Until recently British Platignum, Nova and Osmaroid pens were unloved, unwanted and valueless. Now people are starting to collect them because the price of more desireable pens has increased so much.

If you don't want a NOS pen sell it on to someone who does, don't reduce the overall stock. I don't see any difference in pleasure to be gained between inking a user pen against a NOS pen

May 21, 2015

Did you flush it with maybe a little diluted dish soap beforehand? NOS can collect dust, or have old debris in it that dried up over the years of just sitting there.

Also would a frontier's value changed any from inking it? (an if it had worked well would the value have increased?)

Yes, flushed - soaked and even tried it with Parker's convertor. Still dry.

So, once inked I found that the pen was duff - so I suppose the value dropped from the £5 I paid for it to £0.

You are not going to know the pen's value until you have tried to write with it. A pen that won't write has no value - unless it has some shiny bling on it.

May 21, 2015

I have also accumulated quite a few vintage safety razors. People (including me) shave with them, but they also collect them. One would occasionally run across the attitude in that "community" that if you got an NOS, NIB model you should not shave with it, but get yourself a used one and "save the NOS item for the collectors". I never really accepted that point of view. If a collector wanted to keep a razor (or a pen) permanently unused, good luck to him, but I bought my razors to shave with, and my pens to write with. I felt no obligation to keep any of them pristine for collectors of my own generation, let alone posterity. Of course, I do try to take good care of them while using them.

I expect the "save it for the collectors" attitude appears with people who collect other usable items as well. Certainly the collectors feel that way. Their best chance is to be willing to pay high prices for an unused item so that people who acquire them more cheaply will have an incentive not to use them.

Edited May 21, 2015 by ISW_Kaputnik

May 21, 2015

I have also accumulated quite a few vintage safety razors. People (including me) shave with them, but they also collect them. One would occasionally run across the attitude in that "community" that if you got an NOS, NIB model you should not shave with it, but get yourself a used one and "save the NOS item for the collectors". I never really accepted that point of view. If a collector wanted to keep a razor (or a pen) permanently unused, good luck to him, but I bought my razors to shave with, and my pens to write with. I felt no obligation to keep any of them pristine for collectors of my own generation, let alone posterity. Of course, I do try to take good care of them while using them.

I expect the "save it for the collectors" attitude appears with people who collect other usable items as well. Certainly the collectors feel that way. Their best chance is to be willing to pay high prices for an unused item so that people who acquire them more cheaply will have an incentive not to use them.

I agree with your point of view. However, it is a money world. If the pen is worth big money, i will sell it to a "display collector" to finance new pens. That's why if it is a T1, i prefer to make cash out of it rather than just use it.

Well, maybe because i'm not that rich and still need to find ways to pay for more pens.

May 23, 2015

NOS pens with labels intact.
It purely depends on the pen. Is it a common pen or a vintage/collectible pen.
For the common pens, go ahead and use them.
For the collectible pens, do NOT use them, sell it to a collector, who would appreciate an unused NOS pen.
For a collector, the value will drop as soon as you ink the pen.
Note that collectible can also include some somewhat common pens.
Personally, if I land one of these pens, I would sell it to a collector, and look for a used pen that I would then use.

Ditto. For me it depends on whether the pens can be found in that condition and how easily, as well as box condition, presence of paperwork, tarnishing (I bought a sterling Eversharp pen set from 1953-1954 NIB and use both the pen and the pencil- the silver was tarnished from sitting around and they can be found quite readily), and rarity of the particular model. For example, I wouldn't touch a NIB Vacumatic Parker 51 in a hard to find color with a factory stub, but a NIB black Aerometric 51 with a fine nib would get some use.

At the end of the day, though, do whatever makes you happy- it's your pen. Enjoy it however you please