Your First memory of an FP

[KendallJ]

So instead of talking about someone else's history of FP's, let's talk about yours. What's your first memory of an FP.

 

When I was 6 or so, we lived with my grandparents in the house they'd lived in since the early 20's. What a great place with nooks and cranny's to explore. Anyway, when I was bored I used to be in the habit of rummaging around my granpa's desk, which was packed with cool stuff, most of which he would probably find rather ordinary.

 

In that desk I can remember finding a fountain pen, green plastic with a silver cap. Cheap cartridge pen, maybe a parker or sheaffer. I can remember pulling off the cap and wondering how the heck that worked. Wrote with it some, took it apart. He had several spare cartridges in the desk as well.

 

That would have been around 1974. Never touched another fountain pen until 2000.

[georgem]

Wow, this is really dredging deep memory.

 

I recall as a child that my father wrote with a red (maroon?? or reddish hued) Waterman fountain pen using black ink. I think the ink color was required by his work.

 

I don't recall what pen my mother used at the time, but I do recall that she used either blue or blue-black ink.

 

Fast forward a few years to grade school where as a student we were required to use fountain pens. I recall that they were all Esterbrooks and that we had to use Sheaffer Washable Blue Ink. I believe the one I used was green striped.

 

When I got to High School, I was given a Parker 51 Areo with matching pencil. I'm still using them.

 

After College, I was given a Parker 75 and matching BP. Once again, I still have and use them.

 

About ten years ago, I started accumulating more fountain pens, mostly modern, mostly (relatively) inexpensive, all of which are in use.

 

No, I don't recall what happened to my father's Waterman or to the Esterbrooks that I used in grade school. Wish I did....

[KendallJ]

The 3 vintage pens I have from family are all very sentimental. My mother's High School esterbrook grey SJ, my grandfathers black SJ, and my grandmothers Diamond Medal celluloid from the 30's. Don't remember ever seeing those when I was a kid.

[Guest Denis Richard]

Hard question. The Fountain Pens I remember as far as I can pick at my memory are Reynolds plastic pen, with an octogonal white barrel and cap, and colored section. Those were fun. After that the Reynolds stainless. That all goes back to first grade, so that would be around 1980.

 

I remember, wanting a Waterman, which were a little more expensive than the Reynolds. I got one somewhere during primary school, and sticked to Watermans until highschool graduation, in 1992, when I received a Duofold Int. in blue marble.

 

After that it was quiet for 11 years... just me and my Duofold, until I moved here and a little voice screamed in my head : "Where do they hide their fountain pens here ?????" , leading to web searches... and you can guess the rest

Edited January 12, 2005 by Denis Richard

[Maja]

Wow, this is a tough question....

 

I can't remember how old I was, but my first FP memory was probably my Mom or Dad's Kaweco piston-fillers (made in the late 1950's/very early 1960's). The pens were both black with gold trim, and Dad had an "Elite" model, while Mom had the "Dia" model. I believe they used them at work and/or university, so the pens were carried in separate small black leather pen cases that held up to two pens inside. My Mom kept a tiny photo of my Dad in her case In case you think this has a sad ending...it doesn't! My parents are alive and well (touch wood!) and Mom gave me her Kaweco about two years ago. Dad still uses his for personal correspondance.

 

I am pretty sure those two Kawecos are my first FP memory because I remember being inspired enough by my parents' FP ownership to buy myself a fountain pen! That pen was the red Sheaffers"No Nonsense" FP I talked about in this FPN thread.

[Brian Anderson]

Wow, first memory, well, let's see.... I think it was 1994 and I just got my first job fter college. I had moved to this picturesque little (and I do mean little!) town in upstate NY that had one grocery store, one gas station, one single screen movie theatre and about three antique stores. That first pen was a red bandles Venus Autograph, striped like a balance. Very pretty pen which I still have today. One tine was partly bent, and after a day or two it broke off. The pen went in a bag in my desk drawer for a few years until My wife introduced me to the internet.

 

ebay was shortly thereafter and a red LJ esterbrook with a 1551 nib came my way. smooth as silk it was, and in working order. Shortly thereafter a friend saw me using it and asked I get one for her in green. I did, only to realize esterrook came in different sizes as well as colors. The rest, as they say, is history.

 

Best-

Brian

[Keith with a capital K]

When I was growing up my step-father had a keepsake box full of many interesting things and among those things there were some fountain pens that had belonged to his father.

 

I was only allowed to look at these and am in the process of tracking down the box which was given to my step-brother after my step father's passing.

 

I grew up in a small town where there was one stationary store which just happend to be right next to the 5 cent to a dollar store... these were two of my favourite places when I was just a wee lad and the other was the movie theatre where 25 cents got you into a matinee and another 25 cents would cover all the snacks one could handle.

 

After spending some of my allowance in the dollar store I would always stop at the stationary and go to the back counter where they kept all the beautiful pens in the elegant red / burgundy boxes.

 

I could gaze upon these for hours and do recall I was often there at closing time at which point, the owner would always tell me I could come back another day.

 

When I was 17 I was already pretty involved in a number of artistic endeavours, was writing to my grandmother regularly, and really loved cartooning so went on the hunt for a pen that would fill these needs.

 

Not having a lot of money, I selected a Parker Vector in stainless which cost me something like 20.00 Canadian.

 

I still have that pen and wrote a fairly copious amount of notes with it this evening at work.

 

I have now lost track of how many pens I actually have (number -wise).

[Guest Denis Richard]

Follow up :

 

I was browsing EBay and saw that auction : 6503703793 . This pen is very similar, if not the exact model I used during my highschool years. Not sure they still make that model, but speak of a workhorse !

 

I also found the online catalog of Reynolds pens : http://www.reynolds.fr/fra/catalogu/fa_stypl.htm

Those are cheap cheap cheap school pens (few USD), but work remarkably well. A lot of memories

 

Also, Stypen, manufacturer of many school pen brands. They became big when I entered highschool, and marketed pens carrying very popular brands among teenagers : http://www.stypen.fr/eng/catalogtrad.html

 

 

Hey... may be I should start distributing those cheap school pens in North America

Edited January 12, 2005 by Denis Richard

[wimg]

My first recollection of a proper fountain pen is a yellow Pelikano with metal brushed cap, cartridge filler, and a blue ink window.

 

I remember using this thing through the last years at primary school, at age 11, going on 12.

 

Before that time, and also during de last year at primary school, we practiced cursive roundhand, a Dutch version from age 6 onwards, right up to the fifth grade, at age 10/11, all with dip pens, and ink pots built into the desk.

 

A few month ago, I bought a dip pen very similar to the one we used at the time, including some of the same scratchy dip nibs we used at school .

 

In the last grade it was fountain pen only, for me at least, the Pelikano I mentioned.

 

In high school I went through quite a few (cheap) fountain pens, but I loved my piston fillers best. and the first "expensive" fountain pen I ever bought was a Parker 25, it must have been 1973, maybe '74. That one I still own, and I won't part with it, sentimental value: I wrote my first love letters with it, to the lady who still calls herself my partner .

 

Ah well, those were the days

 

Kind regards, Wim

[Leslie J.]

This is maddening to me because I can't remember the brand name of the cheap cartridge fountain pens I used to buy in the mid 70's for school and journalling. I do remember that I'd always buy "Peacock Blue" ink for them. Parker, Sheaffer? Something that would have been around $5. I don't remember anyone else ever using a fountain pen in school. Guess I've always been a bit eccentric.

 

Later in life, when I frequented antique shows, I would always see the nice expensive pens, $300-$600. I only knew I was drawn to them, but didn't dare even pick one up to look at it at those prices. That was about 15 years ago.

[Keith with a capital K]

Leslie -

 

If you were using Peacock blue then you were buying Sheaffer pens.

 

Cheers!

 

Keith

[Sparky]

My first memory of a fountain pen was going to the store with my mother to pick out a school pen. I chose a red schaeffer school pen (clear plastic).... I do remember the nuns having different pens than mine because you couldn't see the metal (I didn't know you called it a nib, etc)... I assume looking back they had hooded nibs... maybe a parker 51 of some sort....

[mfwebb]

My dad bought me my first fountain pen when I was 11 back in 1960.

 

I can't remember what make it was -- a Conway Stewart perhaps, but that's maybe just wishful thinking. It had a screw cap and was a lever filler. It was basically white with light blue marbling and the cap, section and barrell were all the same colour if I remember correctly.

 

I didn't have it very long before I "lost" it. I always suspected it was stolen by a jealous fellow pupil. Dad replaced it with something unmemorable, but my next memorable pen was a Parker stainless steel model bought as a present by my dad when I started work in 1965.

 

I've never seen any pictures of any pen that comes close to the white/light blue marbling that I remember. If anyone is able to identify the make from my brief description (and point me in the right direction for a photo), I would be delighted to hear from them.

[WillAdams]

Lessee....

 

Age 10 or 11 poking through a desk in my Aunt Mattie and Uncle Ed's place, finding a green fountain pen of some sort and having to put it back.

 

Age 12--14 buying Sheaffer school pens as gifts and buying and using a No Nonsense pen for the balance of my high school years.

 

Age 19 buying a Platignum calligraphy set

 

Age 23 buying my sister a gold Cross fountain pen as a graduation gift

 

William

[HDoug]

My mom's burgundy Sheaffer snorkel. Not only did the pen have that cool mechanism, but the bottles of ink had a little side-pocket reservoir so you could easily fill your pen even if the ink in the bottle were low. You just tipped the bottle to fill the side-pocket before you opened the bottle. "You can tell it's a Sheaffer because of this white dot," mom said. I was going to get one when I got old enough.

 

What a great user interface!

 

Doug

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

I saw a burgundy Platinum in Mom's pen cup.

 

Dillon

[lordjeebus]

When I was growing up (age 7 or so) my parents would leave a pencil box full of pens next to the phone along with some paper to write down notes. Over time the pens dried up but no one threw them away or added fresh ones.

 

For some reason, one of the pens was a fountain pen that hand't been inked in years.

 

I remember on more then one occaision searching for a pen that would write while taking a phone message (there were about 5 or 6 ballpoints, all dead) and in desperation trying the fountain pen, knowing full well it wouldn't work. It never did.

[thn]

There is an old Vietnamese tradition that on a baby's first birthday, he/she chooses an object from a platter. That object is supposed to indicate what profession he/she would most likely choose later in life.

 

So, my first FP, at one year of age, was my grandpa's Parker 45. He was, of course, delighted to have so effortlessly made a convert. Fast forward 17 years, and sure enough, I have become an addict. These old customs are never wrong.

[WillAdams]

thn, Korea has the same tradition --- probably China as well, belike that's where its origin lies.

 

William

[arvadajames]

My first memory of a FP was not so fond. When I was in college I saw and bought a cheap fountain pen at the local office supply store. I thought it looked really cool. Got the pen home, put in the cartridge, touched the nib to a piece of paper and ink went everywhere. Tried a few times to use it, always witht the same result. Threw the pen away and for the next 30 years thought FPs where pieces of junk. That opinion changed about 6 months ago when I tried FPs again. Now, I love them and will hardly use anything else.

Edited September 16, 2006 by arvadajames