My Collection. And What "makes" The Collection

[MichalK]

Hi,

 

Can't find a forum dedicated to this, so I'll put it here.

My collection. Or is it a collection? Should a collection comply to some rules, should it be any theme for it?

I'll start with Pelicans but then it's going to be chaotic

 

from left: M800 (new), M400 (2006), M250 (1989/1990, gret OB nib), 2 x 400NN (both semi flex, OB i M), 2x140 (niece semi flex too), hmm some pencil 350, IBIS (very flexy obliquie nib, great) and 100.

 

[MichalK]

And another part, purely vintage this time.

 

Onoto the de la Rue London Junior, Wyvern 60C, Mabie Todd Swan (which one?), Wahl Eversharp gold seal (nice flex), Waterman 32 in perfect shape, and Mabie Todd Blackbird, with some discolouration, but otherwise great pen.

 

 

 

[Driften]

You will find here that collections can be traditional focused things or eclectic groups of pens. You have a really nice collection in my eyes. Many people here are pen users, but I expect you will come across some that want a collection of perfect un-inked pens. You will be accepted both ways.

 

I love your pens. Pelikan makes great pens and you have a really good selection of modern and vintage. I have mostly modern Pelikan's.

 

Keep doing what you enjoy!

[sandy101]

So, what's your favourite? Is there much difference between the different Pelikans? I don't own any of the Pelikan pistons - so it woild be nice to know.

[sidthecat]

Nice collection. My acquisitions are eclectic and cheap and don’t fit in a nice little box. It’s a lot like a lady’s jewelry box, come to that: collected impulsively and somewhat at random, governed by the vague desire for “ringtops with interesting nibs”.

[SchaumburgSwan]

And another part, purely vintage this time.

 

Onoto the de la Rue London Junior, Wyvern 60C, Mabie Todd Swan (which one?), Wahl Eversharp gold seal (nice flex), Waterman 32 in perfect shape, and Mabie Todd Blackbird, with some discolouration, but otherwise great pen.

 

_MG_3183.jpg

 

Hi,

 

I have a very similar looking Swan. No model number on it, too.

It could be a 6241 (green marble) or 6245 (grey marble).

 

Here you can see mine and the discussion:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/340821-a-golden-green-black-marple-62xx-what-color-code/

 

Greetings

Jens

[MichalK]

You will find here that collections can be traditional focused things or eclectic groups of pens. You have a really nice collection in my eyes. Many people here are pen users, but I expect you will come across some that want a collection of perfect un-inked pens. You will be accepted both ways.

 

I love your pens. Pelikan makes great pens and you have a really good selection of modern and vintage. I have mostly modern Pelikan's.

 

Keep doing what you enjoy!

 

Thanks. I'm definitely a USER. Just pure collecting uninked pens does not appeal to me. Most of my pens I even take with me to work in some roatation.

[MichalK]

So, what's your favourite? Is there much difference between the different Pelikans? I don't own any of the Pelikan pistons - so it woild be nice to know.

 

Favourite Pelikan - not easy.

M800 for its size. Best compability with my hand.

IBIS for it's nib - flexible and writes beautifuly

400NN brown - for looks.

Future one - M1005 Strseman I think.

[MichalK]

 

Hi,

 

I have a very similar looking Swan. No model number on it, too.

It could be a 6241 (green marble) or 6245 (grey marble).

 

Here you can see mine and the discussion:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/340821-a-golden-green-black-marple-62xx-what-color-code/

 

Greetings

Jens

 

THANK YOU !!

 

AND BTW: more picture to come It is going to get even more eclectic

[miwishi63]

It depends on how you define a "collection." I have a collection of fountain pens, but with the exception of three or four of them, most are not what would be defined as collectible. Like the OP, I am a user rather than a collector and am working to winnow my hoard down to what I intended to regularly use.

[SchaumburgSwan]

 

THANK YOU !!

 

AND BTW: more picture to come It is going to get even more eclectic

 

Fine. I like the Ibis very much, would you like to show a writing sample?

So many great nibs to discover made in the golden age of FPs! :-)

 

Best

Jens

[senzen]

Very nice set of pens; mine is not nearly as august, but I'm also a user, not a collector, and rank my pens according to how they make specific inks look; so a lowly Lamy Vista is highly regarded because it happens to get along with a finicky ink (Équinoxe 6) when finer pens couldn't.

[A Smug Dill]

Thanks. I'm definitely a USER. Just pure collecting uninked pens does not appeal to me.

Bravo (in all sincerity)! I can understand collecting – pardon me, 'accumulating' – pens because they tickle one's personal fancy; I do that. I can also understand seeing rare/'collectible' as mere commodities that one ultimate trades in, and hoping they will appreciate in value and deliver a profit, as a business activity. What I personally do not 'understand' is the, "I love fountain pens, and I'm knowledgeable in the subject," but buy pens on some sort of... fantasy(?) that it's neither about personal consumption nor trading in 'collectibles' (when one isn't really collecting to please oneself).

 

Most of my pens I even take with me to work in some roatation.

Well, most of my 150+ pens are inked, even though I wouldn't say they're in some 'rotation'. As much as I'm loathe to admit it, my fiancée uses pen in my fleet (even though I bought her her 'collection' of two dozen or so pens handpicked to her tastes) more often than I do. That said, there are a small number of pens that I dare not ink and use after I received it: the 50th anniversary pale maple Pilot Capless Vanishing Point is an example, I'm too afraid to stain the barrel, and we already have eleven other Capless pens between us.

 

It depends on how you define a "collection."

For me, the closest mathematical concepts would be that of a set (i.e. without duplicates) or a bag (which allows for duplicates of identical objects for the purposes of identification, e.g. by make, model and nib width). The only duplicates I bought are Wing Sung 3008 and (unwittingly, by the seller's 'mistake') Delike Shepherd Boy pens, but then I've disassembled and reassembled them after some mixing and matching, so that each unit now is 'unique' in my 'collection'.

 

Sad to say, I have not loved a particular pen so much that I wanted to also own an exact duplicate of it 'just in case' one gets lost, stolen or just worn out.

 

I have a collection of fountain pens, but with the exception of three or four of them, most are not what would be defined as collectible.

Me neither. Half of what I own are very cheap (although some are now out of production, and perhaps by virtue of that became 'collectible', such as the Hero 395 pens I gave away recently), and the other half are more expensive but still easy enough to buy on eBay and such if one has the money. To me, a true collectible is something that either form part of a complete set of what has been produced so far (e.g. a collection of James Bond movies is not 'it' without On Her Majesty's Service, regardless of what I think of that movie itself), or something so rare that chances are if I have one of N units of it then someone else won't (unless a current owner of a unit sells up or gives it away).

 

My collection. Or is it a collection? Should a collection comply to some rules, should it be any theme for it?

If it's a 'collection' of all the pens that please you and are available to you to purchase, then I think it's a proper collection, even if it's a growing but incomplete one.

 

Earlier today I decided that I didn't have any gold (or proper, not that 'proper' and 'gold' are synonymous when it comes to nibs) Sailor EF nibs, so I went and ordered a pen with one. They're easily available from stores and online retailers, nobody need ever buy it from me (nor am I intending on selling mine), but if I'm a fan of the Japanese 'Big Three' manufacturers and 'Japanese EF' nibs, then I feel there's a need to have at least one 'proper' EF nib each by Platinum, Sailor and Pilot respectively. (Scratchy steel EF nibs on US$8 desk pen models from those brands don't count.) However, I expect nobody else to count a garden-variety Sailor Promenade pen in black as part of a fountain pen 'collection' that is worth mentioning.

Edited February 11, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[MichalK]

Bravo (in all sincerity)! I can understand collecting – pardon me, 'accumulating' – pens because they tickle one's personal fancy;

 

[...]

 

What I personally do not 'understand' is the, "I love fountain pens, and I'm knowledgeable in the subject," but buy pens on some sort of... fantasy(?) that it's neither about personal consumption or trading in 'collectibles' (when one isn't really collecting to please oneself).

 

[...]

Well, most of my 150+ pens are inked, even though I wouldn't say they're in some 'rotation'.

 

 

 

Wow, thanks for so elaborate answer.

 

That was my main question - collecting vs accumulating.

 

"Fantasy" - hmm, a lot of my pens was aquired due to some sort of fantasy

 

150 inked pens??? OMG, i would get lost

[MichalK]

Well, time for another part of my "collection"

 

Pilot Custom Heritage 92 (f), 3x Conklin - Duragraf Red Nights (but with RED Bock nib), Sylograf Polar White, Duragraf Omnixlex (I fiddled with nib and feed for a long time and finally modified the feed for much higher flow and now it works fine)).

Ranga Model 3c with Bock stub 1.5mm,

Noodlers Ahab (smelly and disappointing)

and one more Pelikan P40 Pura.

 

[praxim]

In answer to the title, collections are defined by the collector. Nice bunch of Pelikans you have there.

I enjoy them although having not so many, with two in rotation at the moment among four inked pens.

 

In a pedantic moment, it is De La Rue London, Onoto THE Pen, except that a Junior is not always marked Onoto or, if it is, not called THE Pen, perhaps because it is not plunger fill.

[MichalK]

 

 

In a pedantic moment, it is De La Rue London, Onoto THE Pen, except that a Junior is not always marked Onoto or, if it is, not called THE Pen, perhaps because it is not plunger fill.

 

Imprint on this pen:

"The De La Rue Junior Pen"

De La Rue London

 

no "onoto" whatsoever. So is it Junior?

[MichalK]

Back to main topic - "a collection".

 

If you analyze this concept, and it's usage, it usually means a set of items, or a process of creating/completing such a set that can be described with some common criteria. The process leads you to fill all the gaps in such set.

Very long time I used to collect post stamps. Actually, it was my father's hobby, but I had a collection of my own. Both of our collections and sub-collections had some criteria.

I collected stamps from any country in the world depicting animals (impossible to successfully accomplish in once lifetime . He was collecting ALL poilish stamps printed since 1970. Additionally, he collected limited prints of earlier polish stamps and as a side project very early stamps from British colonies )most expensive part of his hobby and most boring - almost all of those stamps depicted Queen Victoria or King Edward VII).

 

To tell the truth I had no such criteria as far as fountain pens were concerned. Only recently i started a "collection" that can be defined, and I will show part of it in this topic soon, and present the whole collection in a seperate topic once 2 more additions to it will finally be delivered. I decided to choose a topic/criteria that allowed me to build such first colletion without spending huge money. I hope you will find it interesting But more about this later.

[praxim]

From curiosity, does it have 601 on the pen, or any number at all?

 

Some weird stuff went on with labelling the Junior and Dainty pens, especially in the 1950s when it appears that De La Rue made what were effectively factory frankenpens.

[MichalK]

 

Fine. I like the Ibis very much, would you like to show a writing sample?

So many great nibs to discover made in the golden age of FPs! :-)

 

Best

Jens

 

 

I'm not a calligrapher, so excuse my writing But I'm learning and trying to improve. Samples you asked for, scan, Rhodia dotted, GvFC India Red ink, Pelikan IBIS.