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Hello Everyone! We had a very nice Exhibition of Pelikan Fountain Pens at our store, and I though it would be very nice to share it with you. We had historical pieces brought directly from the Museum of Hannover in Germany and also a Personal Collection of Pelikan Maki-e, which was lent by a very nice collector! If you would like to see pictures of the Exhibition and the Pelikan Maki-e just click here: Pelikan Exhibition at Iguana Sell Pelikan Maki-e Collection Hope you like it! Have a nice day! Pilar Iguana Sell

Hello! I'm glad to tell you that there is a Spanish shop that is joining to the Black Friday making a 20% discount in all its products. Just wanted to share it so you can make your Christmas shoppings in advance and cheapper. I think it is a good new for all consumers that shops join this idea. Hope you like it! Here is the link: http://estilograficas.com/

Hello! Come join us for a Krone Pen Event at Dromgoole's on November 13th from 3pm -7pm. There will be pizza, wine, and cupcakes. If you can't make it, call Larry and we will be glad to send you photos of all the great pens that we normally don't have in the store. Hope to see you there! Dromgoole's 2515 Rice Boulevard Houston, Texas 77005 713.526.4651 dromgooles@sbcglobal.net

Okay, so I'm trying to figure out if others are as obsessed as I am with their fountain pens. My dad only owns one fountain pen, but he's had it for years...it's a Montblanc of some sort and his "new" son will probably inherit it when my dad passes, but that's another '(bleep)' for another time. Please answer the poll and let's see how obsessive we REALLY are. Actually, I am secretly collecting data for blackmail and the results will be reported back to your shrink!

I've had an account for a while but I've been mostly lurking up to now. I have a decent little fountain pen collection, mostly Pelikans (a couple of Toledos, a couple tortoiseshells, an M1000, etc.) plus some Nakaya, Sailor, Platinum, Namiki, and others. I love writing with fountain pens and have re-learned how to write in cursive since I started using them again (I owned a few in college, but I was active duty Army and deployed several times, so until retirement I needed things that held up well in sandy environments more than fine writing instruments). I'm now retired from the Army and a professor of history at an Army graduate school (not really retired, just off active duty...). I also love dip nib pens and have a really nice collection of those, too. My rediscovery of cursive led me to Spencerian and Copperplate which soon led to the whole other world of oblique nib holders and the crazy variety of new and vintage nibs available. I've been focusing on learning Spencerian script the past few months and I like to focus on one thing at a time, so one I have that down I'll probably move on to either Copperplate, or italic so I can expand the range of uses of my fountain pens (and find a use for broader nibs - other than one italic cut Nakaya and a "zoom" cut Sailor I just have EF nibs on my fountain pens). Anyway, nice to meet you all and I'll see you around the forum. I have a couple of pens to post to the classifieds (two Pilot Namiki Origamis, listed "on sale" for a great price for Veteran's Day over on the A'zon Marketplace), but I'm only "Silver" ranked, so that will have to wait. Best, MTC47

We have all heard the saying 'Cheep and Nasty'. Question; is this true when it come to fountain pens. Well yes, in a lot of cases it's easy to say just that. At this point your waiting for a BUT! well I'm not going to disappoint you. Yes in a lot of case, but the 397A is a exception. It true to say as fountain pens go with the 397 you don't get a lot for your money at only 130mm long and 9mm at the widest point, we are not talk big fat Mont Blanc style here, what you do get is a great little pen. http://fountain-pens.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-11-11-12.35.15-300x225.jpg http://fountain-pens.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-11-11-12.34.48-300x225.jpg The pen its self is a all metal construction in black with a cheque board (lattice) style silver banding, silver clip which is not the strongest in the world but full functional and topped and tailed in chromed metal. Although light weight, 14 grams, it does not feel that way and when posted is remarkable well balanced. The cap is the pull off push on type with a very satisfying click when in place. A really nice point about this pen is when you post the cap it clicks into place... no chance of the cap dropping off. The grip section is in grey with a series of milled bands to help with grip, I didn't notice any extra grip because of them. Remarkable for the price the 397 even comes with a converter rather than the Aerometric filler on most cheaper fountain pens. Nib wise it's, nothing new under the bonnet, a fairly standard fine steel nib. http://fountain-pens.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-11-11-12.45.49-300x225.jpg http://fountain-pens.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-11-11-12.34.58-300x225.jpg Writing wise, even with the thin barrel I did not fine it uncomfortable, a little scratchy but nothing undue or that couldn't be fixed with a quick grind, the wetness was fine not to dry not to wet, line variation... well no there was none. http://fountain-pens.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-11-11-12.34.13-225x300.jpg Over all a nice nice little pen a bit on the light side but very functional with the odd nice touch and for a few pounds or dollars well what can I say. www.fountain-pens.co.uk

I have to admit that I like pencil cases almost as much as I like pens. So while I've seen many threads on pens, and some on pen cases, I haven't seen one on both! Here's a leather pen case that my brother-in-law gave to me many years ago, which I only started using recently, The leather is very soft and there are some mink oil and water stains. The flower pouch is something that I sewed to put my fountain pens so that they don't get scratched: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v601/lubitel/DSC_0116_zpsd96a9e58.jpg From top to bottom: Kudos leather pencil case (Made in Canada) Pilot Frixion eraser Muji pen cum pencil Pilot Frixion 04 (using a blue needlepoint 0.5mm refill now) Muji clickable highlighter (there's a similar Zebra-brand one) Pilot Kakuno fountain pen, F nib with Platinum pigment blue ink Glick (Oliver Exam) fountain pen (from FPNer Mesu) with unknown washable blue ink Sony 8GB thumbdrive with girl on scooter dangly thingamajig (makes it hard to miss the plugged-in thumbdrive) 2-slot flower pouch Do share photos of your pens in pencil cases! Just whip out your mobile phone and take a shot! Please name the pens and other stuff that you are using as well!

We just received a new shipment of pens that we have discounted at 50% off retail. Here is a list of some of the new items. We have each of these items in multiple colors: Stipula Etruria Magnifica ballpoint pen Stipula Etruria Magnifica fountain pen http://www.penchalet.com/images/products/10421.jpg ______________________________________________________________ Stipula Model T ballpoint pen http://www.penchalet.com/images/products/10773.jpg ______________________________________________________________ Stipula Gladiator fountain pen Stipula Gladiator rollerball pen http://www.penchalet.com/images/products/10418.jpg ______________________________________________________________ Delta Fusion Gift Set - fountain pen with rollerball tip included http://www.penchalet.com/images/products/10921.jpg ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Limited Edition Items: Delta Amerigo Vespucci fountain pen http://www.penchalet.com/images/products/10076.jpg ______________________________________________________________ Delta Indigenous Peoples Indios fountain pen http://www.penchalet.com/images/products/10133.jpg ______________________________________________________________ Delta Indigenous Peoples Hawaii fountain pen http://www.penchalet.com/images/products/10143.jpg ______________________________________________________________ Delta Indigenous Peoples Maori fountain pen http://www.penchalet.com/images/products/10129.jpg ______________________________________________________________ Delta Indigenous Peoples Tuareg fountain pen http://www.penchalet.com/images/products/10131.jpg ______________________________________________________________ Delta Indigenous Peoples Maya fountain pen http://www.penchalet.com/images/products/10141.jpg ______________________________________________________________ Delta Indigenous Peoples Mapuche fountain pen http://www.penchalet.com/images/products/10139.jpg We have even more items discounted on our specials page

Good day everyone ! My name is Aaron, and I am very excited to become part of your community. I am relatively new to fountain pens; appx. 3 months or so at this point. I have amassed a medium sized collection of pens from family and heirlooms of family members pre dating the ballpoint or rollerball. I currently have 15 pens, and have been studying proper form and Italic writing as well as my own quasi calligraphy or, as my wife calls it my own style of "fancy" writing ! I hope not only to become an active member here, and to learn, but eventually to contribute, and become an asset as well ! Cheers and happy writing ! Thank you for having me. - Aaron

Hello there !! Tell us what's on your wishlist! Here's a pen that I'm dying to buy, but cannot find anywhere in Bombay, where I live !! It's the Faber-Castell E-motion pure black FP http://fpgeeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Faber-Castell-E-Motion-Pure-Black-Fountain-pen-798x199.jpg Image: courtesy FP Geeks

For many months, when I have converted pens into eye droppers I never found the necessity of using rubber O rings. I personally find that they loosen the seal between the section and barrel. Any thoughts?

I've been a fountain pen user for well over a year now and have a decent collection (in my opinion anyway, I've seen some that are *quite* a bit larger than mine on here!) that has got to such a size where it may no longer be wise to keep them all inked up. I was wondering what your thoughts on the subject are. I currently have about 10 "nice" fountain pens (i.e. pens that cost £30 and upwards) along with some more pens that just stay in my EDC pouch, bag or whatever (i.e. Lamy Safari, a couple of Al Stars, Kaweco Classic Sport, etc.). It's getting to that point where I can't really use them all enough to really keep the ink flowing nicely all the time, although most of them do a good job of not drying up there are a few that don't, and after trying them all one after another earlier I feel I might not even appreciate them nearly as much by keeping them all inked up in this way as well. I'm beginning to feel it may be better to keep only a few inked up at a time both for practical purposes and so as to really get the most out of my pens. One thing I will say however is that I'm using several different inks these days and having a pen for each has it's uses but I only really need two or three different colours at a time to fulfill its purpose - I'm currently a student at university and use a different ink for each lecture in my notebook to make them easier to differentiate when flicking through my notebook later on (in other words change ink colour between lectures, each lecture/module doesn't have its own specific colour!) Any thoughts/advice appreciated

This story shows the dangers of Drink Writing. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2678430/Doctors-discover-womans-stomach-aches-caused-four-inch-fountain-pen-swallowed-six-months-previously.html

Hello all! As a student I love fountain pens. The problem is that being a student is the lack of funds for fountain pens because of this I would like to suggest we create a student buyers guide or a young collectors guide. I feel like having a topic of this would be an incredible help to first time buyers or people who do not have that much money but would love to expand their collection. I realize that there are lots of videos and lists out there about this topic but I think having them in one central location would be a great help. If you are willing to help me create this list of fountain pens what i would like for you to post is, -A picture of the pen -The price of it that is easily found -A short review or quick little pros and cons about the pen I know its a lot to ask but i think this list could help many people like me expand their collection and fall more deeply in love with fountain pens. - Joe - *EDIT* This is where i will be posting a master list. It may take a while to get ready but it should stay here. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zJpznmZ1dt32CkN4O2GMDoaF9DwMRrWKorsGi1d-zNQ/edit?usp=sharing

Greetings to all, from the Land of Enchantment, New Mexico, USA. Today was a beautiful day in New Mexico, where it is common to see the clouds dip below the horizon due to the curvature of the earth. I'm very happy to be a part of a group of people who won't think me to be a bit "off" to own 10+ fountain pens 15+ calligraphy pens, 20+ bottles of ink and a huge stack of beautiful writing paper and more nibs than I care to count! I've been in love with paper, pen and ink since my days in Junior High School (way before color television, if you must know!). It all started with an unknown brand of fountain pen that my mother gave to me and a bit of experimentation with my trusty Gilbert Chemistry Set. Of course, it didn't take me long to clog up that pen, but by then I was smitten. I am retired now and these days, I write mostly with a fountain pen or dip pen depending on my mood and which ink color that feel like using. I am new to calligraphy and I do try and practice my calligraphy when I get a chance. I am also a new member of Escribiente, the calligraphy society in Albuquerque, NM. Mostly I enjoy pointed pen work and broad pen calligraphy. I really love Spencerian and English Roundhand. My pointed pen mentor is Bill Kemp, who is a past president of IAMPETH. Woodworking is another great love of mine and I had been making and giving away dip pens to my friends. Many of my IAMPETH friends and calligraphy guild friends started asking for my pens and encouraged me to start selling my pens. With Bill Kemp's encouragement, I reluctantly did so and started an Etsy Shop called RodgersPenBox. My pens were recently reviewed by Lindsey Bugbee of 'The Postman's Knock' here: http://thepostmansknock.com/artisan-made-calligraphy-pen-holders/ and by Gentian Osman here: http://www.gentianosman.com/2014/04/beautiful-handmade-wood-holder-from.html I'm very excited to learn more about fountain pens, dip pens, ink and paper from all of you on this network and look forwards to joining in on forum discussions. Rodger

I only own one actual fountain pen (a Pilot Metropolitan), and the Pilot Parallel pen. I don't care for vintage, I guess cause I grew up with alot of those things. But I'm beginning to start liking Retro 51 ball point pens. Not cause I want to just write with them, I want to own them. They aren't fountain pens, but there;'s only one store here that sells fountain pens. Thank goodness it's not too close. Everytime I visit the shopping area, that's one of my stops. I didn't understand the mechanism of fountain pens until I found out they aren't complicated at all. I use every day throw away pens for my medical coding job, no way would I use a nice pen with wonderful ink. But the pen store is one of my favorite stores. I travel for my job, and constantly look for pen shops. Frankly, I have no idea where to start, and often I don't want to over spend during job travel. Online is another story....But I have no idea where to start and how to refine this.....many pens, how do you start? Like the Springtime Lamy, It's gorgeous, affordable, and I'm getting it when i get my tax refund...would I then get 10 more Lamy's, or do people mix their collection? But every time I see a pen display I get an ecstatic feeling. There's a store that has the Retro 51 pens, here, and I know the exact one I'm getting. And I saw the other pens as well. Heck, on Goulet pens there's a case that holds 48. But fountain pens are gorgeous. When and if I do see them, I get the same feeling I do with the Retro 51 pens. I own a Pilot Ageless Future, and honor it. It's gorgeous. It feels so perfect in my hand. And it's a nice ballpoint. And ofcourse, I want the solid black Ageless Future. But I also want a Pilot Cocoon for the fine point nib. I don't care about vintage pens, or $1,000 pens. But I like looking at them. I don't know how to refine my interest in pens, or even where to start. Does one get every type of certain brands? Geez, with Pilots it would be 1,000's of pens. With Retro51, hundreds. I guess I'm asking, I don't know where to start, but i love pens.

I hadn't lost a pen before! I am super-careful with them, protect them and so on. And then, one day going to the movies, I got flustered (is that the right spelling?) while paying and left/lost the pen. Of course, if someone finds it and develops a love for it, it won't be so bad. But I was desolate when it happened. I considered trying to replace it with one exactly like it, but haven't decided yet. I could just try to forget it . . . Has this happened to you? What have you done about it, if anything?

Hi FPNers, I'm a longtime lurker on the site and have thoroughly enjoyed soaking up all the great pen knowledge on the site, so I thought I'd put out a call for some suggestions. One of my "grail" pens for the year is a modern celluloid pen (I own a few Parker Vacs already). I had my eye on the Platinum 3776 tortoise celluloid pen. But I thought I'd ask more experienced owners out there for suggestions for a modern celluloid pen, in a similar price range as the Platinum ( approx. $350 or so). Quality nib is a must of course, but I'm open to any size, shape or color. Thanks for the help! (P.S. My other "grail" pen goals for the year are Nakaya Neo-Standard and a Pelikan 605).

We want to let you know about some of the new Visconti pens for this year. Some of them highly anticipated like the new Van Gogh pens or the New Homo Sapiens. http://pensiguana.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/van-gogh-pollard-willows-eu-8.png?w=637&h=407 http://pensiguana.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/van-gogh-pollard-willows-eu-7.png The new first Van Gogh pen will be released in May/June and it has been inspired by the 'Landscape with Pollard Willows' picture, painted by Vincent Van Gogh in 1884. http://pensiguana.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/visconti-homo-sapiens-cristal-1.png?w=640&h=480 Another variation for one of the most famous and sold models by the Italian brand, the new Homo Sapiens Crystal. http://pensiguana.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/merry-go-round-eu-1.png?w=600&h=570 And finally the "Merry go Round" Rembrandt pen. Vivid and light colours for a caring pen All these new pens will be available very soon at www.iguanasell.com If you want to know more about these pens, visit our blog about pens

The Eastern Pen Show will be held at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, Granta Place, Mill Lane, Cambridge on Sunday 9th. March. This is the second show in UK Pen Show's 2014 programme of events all lovingly put together for you guys so who's coming? As our website hasn't been updated yet (because, basically I'm a complete dummy ) here's a complete list of our 2014 programme, you will also find the listed in the FPN events calendar: Southwest Pen Show 02. Feb. 2014 Eastern Pen Show 09. March 2014, Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Granta Place Mill Lane, Cambridge CB2 1RT, United Kingdom, 0122 325 9988 Northern Pen Show 13. April 2014 Queen Hotel, City Rd, Chester CH1 3AH, 0845 373 0964 Midland Pen Show 22. June 2014 The Guildhall, Bore St, Lichfield, Staffordshire WS13 6LS Northeast Pen Show 14. September 2014 Copthorne Hotel, The Close, Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 3RT, 0191 222 0333 London Writing Equipment Show 05. October 2014 Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury, Coram Street, London WC1N 1HT Yorkshire Pen Show 23 November 2014 Copthorne Hotel, Bramall Lane, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S2 4SU, 0114 252 5480 Ian www.ukpenshows.co.ukwww.cathedralpens.co.ukwww.wesonline.org.uk

I just opened an on-line store for vintage (pre-1960's) European fountain pens that have been repaired/restored. After posting the site on several forums sites (including this one) I received several messages regarding writing samples (which I previously had not included on the site, I have since uploaded a sample for each pen). I was curious as to why people find this important. I did an experiment with my wife and her parents where my wife and I each wrote a sentence with different pens and asked her parents to pair the samples to the pen. They were unable to do so, being as the writing samples were very different. I was just wondering if people found these useful or if they helped people determine what pen they going to buy? Thanks for any feedback and looking forward to your thoughts!

Hello there! My name is Hal and I am 21 years old living in a small town in South Carolina. Ever since I can remember, I have loved office supplies. Being able to attach two pieces of paper together with a paper clip, or jotting down a note on a Post-It. I love drawers and compartments, pockets and shelves. I love having everything arranged from smallest to largest or alphabetically. Office supply stores and art supply stores are my safe haven. When I was younger, before I even knew what a fountain pen was, ballpoint pens were my life. I LOVED those little cheap BIC pens that retail 5 or 6 bucks for 60 pens. Or the pens you'd get at a hotel, I would always ask the front desk for more. And those little pads of paper they would give you as well. I would always write notes to the hotel staff in chicken scratch and be so incredibly proud of myself. I knew nothing about pens, haha. I can tell you back when I was younger, if I'd have held something like a Parker Jotter, I really would have thought I had the nicest pen in the world in my hands. The first time I received a Parker Jotter was one of my happiest days. Back when the Jotter was such a great pen, since then it just seems to be cheap. As I got older, I discovered the gel rollerball world. I went through dozens of Uniball's. And even up until recently, gel rollerballs were just my favorite pen. I still have dozens of Pilot Hi-Tec-C's and Pilot Juice's...still have TONS of Pilot Precise V5 RT (my favorite rollerball). Now, I always had problem with ink bleeding through. PAPER was my next big thing. I thought Moleskine's were the greatest creation. Really, just like holding a Parker Jotter, I thought holding a Moleskine was just the nicest notebook in the world. The more and more I got into pens and paper the more YouTube videos I started to discover. I stumbled upon The Goulet Pen Company. I had to try a fountain pen. I went to my local Office Max and stared at the 50, 60, 100 dollar fountain pens, drooling. It was only as I was about to walk out the door when I saw a display for the Pilot Varsity. They had pens out in several colors for customers to test drive the pen. I picked up a black one and started scribbling on the paper provided. I fell in love. I immediately picked up a 3-pack of the pens. I fell in love. For less than 10 dollars, I had 3 brand new fountain pens. Me and my ugly handwriting were having a blast with these pens. Then I discovered paper. Wow, what another world. I never knew paper could get better than that Moleskine. Boy, was I dead wrong. But I didn't know any better. I didn't know what Clairefontaine was, I had never heard of Maruman or Kokuyo. I didn't know that Rhodia existed. All I knew was my Moleskine. My school started selling Clairefontaine 1951's in the bookstore. I picked one up and my fountain pen loved it. I immediately ditched my Moleskine and snatched up several of these little books. Well. I wanted a fountain pen. A real one. Brian Goulet made a video of his top 3 favorite fountain pens. I was drooling while he talked about his Pilot Custom 74 and his Lamy 2000. But then he mentioned a pen that I, again, had no idea existed. The Pilot Metropolitan. I immediately ordered one off of Amazon with some Noodler's Blue ink. It came a couple days later and immediately inked that baby up. (After spilling the Noodler's everywhere. They fill it SUPER full, haha) Wow, the Metro writes like a dream. It really was the best feeling pen I'd held. And the ink just flows wonderfully. It's such a great pen. Since then, (then only being a few months ago), I've bought myself a Sheaffer 100, Sheaffer VFM, various Preppy's and Varsity's, a Lamy Safari, and a Jinhao X750. I'm in a brand new world. I have Rhodia pads, Clairefontaine notebooks, Habana journals scattered everywhere. I could go on, but that is probably enough for now. Thank you so much for reading. -Hal

Well I must say I've been bit by the FP bug. I own a Waterman Opera with a M nib that I purchased some 15 years ago, used it a little while and put it away in favor of ball[points and roller balls Well about six months ago I pulled the pen out from storage, cleaned it, put a cartridge in it and BOOM......... magic. So I started looking for information on pens on the web, stumbled on this forum and since then: Sent the Opera to Letta at Pendemonium for a CI grind - Yummy. Bought a TWSBI Diamond 580, VAC700 and a Noodler's AHAB Flex. I've found out about Richard Binder, Pendleton, Tyler Dahl, Noodler's, Goulet, Franklin Christoph, etc. So my enthusiasm for fountain pens keeps growing. Now if you don't mind I'd appreciate some advice. I have a few more pens that I'd like to purchase, but to do that I'm trying to sell a few items and would like guidance as to the best place to go to do so: Waterman Legrand Roller ball Waterman Starwalker Ballpoint Pen I'm also considering sellins my Diamond580 to buy a second VAC700 only because I find the grip on the 700 way more comfortable than the 580 (I know... picky). This pen has a TWSBI B nib ground to CI by Tyler Dahl. Would EBay be my best option? Thanks you all.

Hello, I am going to buy a new fountain pen, and I would like to hear your suggestions. My budget is 100-130 dollars. Right now the two pens I have in mind are the Pelikan m200, or the Parker Sonnet. Please feel free to give me any suggestions or ideas on which pens I should buy. Thanks!

We've all been there, last month you got a new pen and you are very happy with it. This month you are looking endlessly at pictures and reviews of a different pen. At the back of your mind you know that you have more pens than you know what to do with, no more than a quater of which are filled at any time. The object of my current desires is a Visconti Homo Sapiens - Bronze with a fine nib. I have done the FPN review search, Flickr and google images, I even know where I would buy it from... is it inevitable? Have you been successful in averting, or significantly delaying, the next in a long line of purchases? If so, what have you done to push it back?