&%*$#ing Engraved Pens

[InkyCarl]

"Wow, that's a cool pen on ebay... damn, it's got someone's initials cut into it."

 

Poor helpless pens. I have two which I bought for myself from Things Remembered. I look at them now as if I rescued puppies from a dogfighting ring.

 

No ma'am, I do not want anything engraved into my pen. I try to hide my disgust at her for asking.

[Ernst Bitterman]

I consider them memento mori, things which keep me mindful of the fact that there were people here once who are no more, and one day I will be as they are. Sometimes the engraving helps to pin down the date of a pen, too-- I've run across a few which could have been from anywhere in a ten-year model run which have a more definite date. "This pen is 35 years old", rather than having to stick in an "about", which is comfort to a specific sort of mind.

[penmanila]

i don't mind them, either. they're provenance, the proof a previous life for the pen and its owner. i don't do it as a matter of habit, but i do have one or two fine pens with my name engraved on it, because i think i deserve it, and can't worry about what the pen's next owner will think. if he just happens to be my grandson then i'm sure he won't mind

[wspohn]

Sometimes initials are your friend. I just picked up a sterling pen about $200 cheaper than it would have been without initials. As I wanted it it as a writer, the engraving doesn't bother me, and I suppose I could always have it polished off, although I hate the low area that is impossible to hide when you do that.

[Northwoods]

"Wow, that's a cool pen on ebay... damn, it's got someone's initials cut into it."

 

 

Those initials tell a story. Who owned it previously? Was the pen a gift from someone? If so, for what occasion?

 

It's not just a pen, it's a piece of history. It's a piece of a life.

 

 

[jar]

I look for pens that have been engraved, each one tells a story and goes beyond mere functionality.

[mandarintje]

The only doubts I have about initials are that they belong to someone still alive, and looking for their pen!

as long as they're dead and buried, I don't mind.

[jmw19]

Well, I dislike engraved pens too, since I think it spoils the form, but agree with the bargain-hunters here. My favorite Parker 51 is a simple black aerometric, but it has the nicest stubby medium nib on it, and fits my writing style perfectly. Whoever Allen Pollard was, he left a great writer for me to find.

[Ghost Plane]

They're nice reminders that once not everything was disposable and people used one or two pens for their entire lifetime.

[lalindsay225]

I have never considered having any of my pens engraved, but I do treasure my Parker 51; it's engraved with my grandmother's maiden name. She used it during her service as a nurse in the Women's Army Corps during World War II. I love having this little piece of her history.

[nxn96]

One of my favorite "51" writers is a Midnight Blue barrel/Lustraloy cap Aerometric that has the original owner's initials on the barrel. The gold color from the engraving has long ago worn away, and the letters themselves are so small that I'm probably the only one who notices. While I tend to avoid engraved pens, as wspohn notes, it does depress the bidding and potentially put a good pen in your hand for a lot less money. That's what happened to me.

[ethernautrix]

Me, I like my engraved fountain pens.

 

Why would I care about the next owner? Oh right, I don't.

 

 

[FrankB]

I do not mind engravings. I like the idea that my pens have histories of their own.

[burmeseboyz]

I tell people that I'm Fern Shroyer, post-op.

[Tsujigiri]

I like knowing that a vintage pen has lasted a long time and gone through a few owners, but I think engraving is just crass and childish in general.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Somebody thought the pen was worth engraving so it didn't walk.

 

Or some one thought the person who's name is on it was worth a personalized gift.

Once that was 'In' back when fountain pens were more common, and no one thought of selling them.

 

Yep, cheaper and don't bother me at all. Saves me some money for my next nib. It's still a good nib on a good pen. In fact it's a better pen; because no one wasted money to do that on a 'cheap' pen.

[wspohn]

Yep, cheaper and don't bother me at all. Saves me some money for my next nib. It's still a good nib on a good pen. In fact it's a better pen; because no one wasted money to do that on a 'cheap' pen.

 

I had my pen that I saved around $200 on (a MB) shipped directly to Richard Binder, where it will be customized to my specification for $50 and mailed on to me. Net saving due to personalization = ~$150

 

Not too hard to take.

 

And it is true that engraving was more common in past days - I have a set of Parker 45 Flighter FP and pencil my wife bought for a birthday in 1978 and had engraved with date and initials, and we never thought anything of it (well, except for why she didn't get me a 75 in solid 18K gold)....

[ANM]

When fountain pens were in common use, even the cheap ones were kind of expensive. People only owned one at a time, maybe no more than three or four in a life-time. Engraving your name on the pen was sort of reassuring in that maybe, just maybe, if you lost it, whoever found it would know you or your family and get it back to you.

 

Now I think it's mostly done for vanity or to commemorate an event. In any case, I think it devalues the pen. I don't think anyone, given two otherwise equal pens at the same price would deliberately choose the pen with some strangers name on it.

Edited November 3, 2010 by ANM

[Trebster]

I would so buy a pen engraved with the name Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim-bus-stop-F'tang-F'tang-Olé-Biscuitbarrel !

[CS388]

Personally, I'm not keen on engraved pens.

 

But I must bear in mind that whoever had it engraved, did so for their own pleasure when it was their pen, not caring that I would grumble when I bought it second-hand, probably long after their death.