Your Life In Three Pens

[Chouffleur]

As a snapshot of where you are currently in your pen hobby, list these three pens from your collection:

 

The pen that you owned at the youngest age [Esterbrook LJ Gray Icicle - 2312 Italic Medium Nib]

 

Your current favorite [Montblanc 227 - B Nib]

 

Your most recent purchase [Pelikan P30 Schwarz - OB Nib]

[hh1990]

Youngest age: Lamy 2000, fine nib.

 

Current favorite: Pilot Custom 823, broad nib.

 

Most recent purchase: Airmail 69T with a flex nib and an FPR Darjeeling with a medium nib.

[AG_ORD]

Aloha Chouffleur,

 

Interesting topic; here are my responses:

 

• Youngest age pen: Namiki VP with M 14k nib, British Racing Green color, (the faceted plastic one).
• Current favorite: Pelikan M800, burnt orange color, fitted with 14k, vintage Warranted flex nib, (fine to BB line variation).
• Most recent purchase: vintage Mont Blanc 256 with M wing nib. Love the wing nib as it gives a flexible, variable width line.

 

AG_ORD

[Uncial]

Youngest age : I remember two; a dove grey Parker 51 my grandfather gave me (I still have it) and a big light blue thing, lever filled flat top, old style clip. It leaked a lot. My teacher disapproved.

 

Current favourite: always a tough one but I think it's the Montblanc Fitzgerald.

 

Recent buy : a Montblanc Boheme Platinum Blue; still haven't got it though....slow post.

[ParkerDuofold]

Hi all,

 

FIRST PEN, (Late 2015): Ocean Blue Lamy Al-Star; medium nib.

 

CURRENT THRILLER: L2K; Medium nib.

 

MOST RECENT PURCHASE: (Another) Platinum 3776 Century, (Chartres Blue); Broad nib, (still waiting for delivery).

 

 

- Anthony

[Runnin_Ute]

Discounting the pen I had for maybe two days as a kid (some sort of Sheaffer).

 

Youngest age: Lamy Al Star - I believe it was an M, still have the pen, but different nib. (1.1)

 

Current favorite: Pelikan 140 F- sweetheart of a nib. /Close second: Platinum 3776 Century Bourgogne B

 

Most recent: Pelikan 140 F

Edited November 21, 2017 by Runnin_Ute

[Namo]

Pelikano

 

Danitrio Densho

 

Pelikan m250 démo

 

 

Adding sentimental value: Pelikan 120 from my late mom and Waterman Préface from a dear late friend.

[inkstainedruth]

Youngest age was some sort of pen/pencil combo that had been my grandfather's (long since lost, sadly) when I was a kid. Youngest of when I started actually using fountain pens again was a blue Parker Reflex, M nib (that and the one that succeeded it were given away in a "Pick a Prize" raffle a few years ago; those were both replaced by a Parker Vector when the rubberized grip on the second Reflex went the way of the first one).

Current favorite? It's a toss up between the Plum 51 Demi Aerometric, M nib and the Red Shadow Wave Vac Junior (lockdown filler).

Most recent purchase: red Parker 61, M-ish nib (possibly an F/M -- I haven't compared it to the nibs on other two 61s I own); got it a day after picking up an Azure Blue Pearl Vac Debutante speed line filler, F-ish nib.

 

Does it say something that they're pretty much all Parkers (possibly even the early combo, because when I bought the Reflex the Parker brand name somehow resonated with me)?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[catbert]

• Youngest age: probably a Sheaffer Imperial II Deluxe - rigid steel F

• Current favourite: see below (recency effect still in full force )

• Most recent purchase: Waterman Gentleman 44 - the 1970s model designed by Alain Carré - springy 18K F

 

Both currently inked, though the Sheaffer is a replacement for the long-lost original.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kestrel]

Youngest - Elysee, medium nib. Long since retired because I wore out the clutch ring.

 

Favorite - Dead tie between Pelikan M800 with 0.9 Binder Italifine and a 1929 oversize Sheaffer's Pearl and Black Lifetime Balance. Both are almost always inked. I smile when I pick either one up to write.

 

Most Recent - 1916 Mabie Todd & Co. 5 S.F. with the rare solid lever. Restored yesterday and will be inked for the first time in ?? years next weekend.

[benbot517]

First: Pilot Varsity, medium nib. From the first touch of nib to paper I was hooked and needed more.

 

Current favorite: Montblanc 149, OBBB nib. Incredibly comfortable to use for long writing sessions or note taking, with a fantastically smooth and expressive nib, combined with the ink capacity to keep it going through it all.

 

Most recent: Platinum 3776, Soft Fine. Wanted to go with a different nib than normal on a beautiful Platinum limited edition, and that fit the bill. I'm actually waiting for it now, bought from Dan Smith, and am very excited.

Edited November 21, 2017 by benbot517

[chromantic]

Like many people, my first was likely a cheap Sheaffer in junior high. The pen currently in my collection I've had the longest is a dark blue P45. I know I used it in LA in the 80s and I'm pretty sure I had it when I moved there in '77.

 

My overall favorite pen is the Pelikan M150, of which I have several inked.

 

Most recent purchase is, in fact, another black/burgundy M150.

[sharonspens]

First: probably a Lamy Safari, which I no longer own (first still owned - a cloisonné FP picked up in China)

 

Current favorite: Pilot Custom 92, stub nib

 

Most recent purchase: Mazzouli Moka pen at the DC pen show

Most recent received (these were gifts post-August): olive wood kit pen and a Murano Italian glass dip pen

 

Sharon in Indiana

[Kelly G]

Youngest. Sheaffer cartridge pen circa 1965 (The youngest still in my accumulation would be a MB 144 gifted me by my wife; if only she'd have known what she started!)

Current favorite. Newton Prospector in green and black Ebonite with a fine nib.

Newest. Franklin Christopher Model 66 in Garnet with a SIG nib

Edited November 21, 2017 by Kelly G

[praxim]

Chouffleur, I notice you said "...list these three pens from your collection" so I ignore my first fountain pen(s) and limit to the first purchased that I still own.

 

Waterman Expert II

 

Too hard, but in current rotation I pull out the Aurora Mare more often than others.

 

Two arrived today from different sellers: Santini Galaxy and Santini Shanghai, each from their Colours collection.

[pajaro]

First, Parker 51 midnight blue aerometric, fine point

 

Current favorite, same Parker 51

 

Most recent purchase, Pelikan M300 ruby red, fine point changed to extra fine.

 

A previous recent purchase brought a stainless Sheaffer Prelude, chrome trim, with some italic nibs, including a music nib. There's writing you have to do and be able to read, and then there is stuff you can have some fun with

[Tweel]

First owned: a transparent Sheaffer cartridge pen, circa 1974 and long, long gone. Earliest still owned: a Cross Radiance, circa 2003 and still a daily carry. (Between: many technical pens.)

 

Current favorite: A brown tortoise Pelikan M101N, refitted with a wartime CN nib and ebonite feed.

 

Most recent: A Waterman Watermina with gold Night & Day overlay... which actually can vie for Current Favorite, and not just because it's new. This is a great pen and a definite keeper!

[keo]

First pen: Platinum Preppy - 03 nib. Started me down this rabbit hole. Who knew a $3 pen would wind up being so expensive?

Current favorite: Lamy 2000 - EF nib. Ask me the things I like in a pen and this is the opposite on almost every count. No idea how it wound up my favorite, but it is.

Most recent: Lamy Safari (Petrol) - F nib. The end of my "acquisition phase".

[Jerome Tarshis]

Earliest owned: Parker 51 Demi, burgundy, GF cap, medium nib, given me for my birthday soon after it was put on the market.

 

Current favorite: A pen of the same specifications as the above, though not the same object. I lost that birthday pen in 1985 and replaced it a few years ago. If I'd replaced it when I lost it, I'd own far fewer pens than I do today. Possibly only one pen.

 

Most recent purchase: a Pelikan 120, Merz & Krell, black, medium nib.

[NinthSphere]

My first was a flat ended Sheaffer school pen in elementary school.

 

My favorite is a toss-up between the Scriptorium w/broad steel Masuyama italic & the Bexley Gaston's Special Reserve w/14k stub.

 

My most recent purchase was probably one of those Jinhao 992s back around when they first hit ebay.