Budget Vintage Pens?

[Highbinder]

A topic that comes up every so often so please excuse me..

 

My one and only pen was stolen a few months ago and I finally have a little bit of disposable income to put into another purchase.

 

But other than an an Esterbrook what other options are available to me considering I'd like to keep it under 50eu? No preference on filling mech, nib characteristics, tho' I do prefer a fatter pen.

 

What does everyone else like? Always been happy with suggestions made here at FPN

[Bo Bo Olson]

German Ebay.

Geha 790 can be got from with great luck € 20. Use to be 30 a max but is now a normal price of 30-40.

Normally a semi-flex nib...I have a semi-flex KM , though one I got has a maxi-semi-flex/'flexi' EF.

Is the size of a M400 Pelikan.

PM me for a German ebay cheat sheet.

 

If you are new to pens, you can get by with a semi-flex but I'd stay away from 'flexi' pens.

 

You 'need' in regular flex a B, M, and F...and a EF for poor paper...so you can play with inks and paper.

 

Swan, Blackbird are pens with nibs with some flex, so as some one with little experience, try an old vintage Conway Stewart, or English Parkers for regular nibs.

Could get lucky with the Parkers I got two English Parkers with semi-flex nibs...... and one with a Parker nail.

Edited February 27, 2012 by Bo Bo Olson

[rlukcs]

Many vintage fountan pens can be bought below 50EUR, if you are willing to restore them yourself. Try finding an unrestored Snorkel, or a later Waterman lever filler. Add a couple of bucks for sac & gaskets.

Or, you can go for some Wearevers. Or get a good Chinese Parker 51 copy, some of them are great pens, and work with bottled ink, just like a vintage pen.

[dickydotcom]

No broader bodied pen comes to mind in your budget.

Maybe some of the Chinese pens could fit your bill and may be worth a try.

Alternatively you could go for a hand made pen. A quick search "hand made fountain pen" on ebay turned up a couple of quite nice looking pens with large bodies.

They tend to have fairly cheap nibs but I have owned a few and found them to be OK. I have no affiliation with any of those offered.

Dick D

[professionaldilettante]

Esterbrooks are pretty easy to come by. I was actually given 2 on pass it forward years ago, but they can be had for 30-40$.

[rwilsonedn]

rlukcs asks the right question, I think. Are you willing to replace a sac yourself? Nearly any pen older than the 1950s will need restoration. You can find Esterbrooks, Wearevers, (both good pens) and some third-tier pens (especially from the USA) restored in your price range. But otherwise, there are many wonderful old English and European pens out there in your price range, but you will need to put in a new sac and perhaps do some other work on the pen before you can write with it.

Unfortunately, fat vintage pens weren't that common, and so they tend to be labeled "oversized" and sold at a premium, even unrestored. But you can find some good ones none the less. One possibility is that there were many quite large combo pens--fountain pen on one end and mechanical pencil on the other--made in the USA during the 1930s. Some were small, but many were large-diameter and long. These tend to come from third-tier brands, but can be quite decent and are usually easy to restore. And some are made with quite good-looking celluloid.

Good hunting!

ron

[Highbinder]

Well well as luck would have it I just snagged a P51 on the bay for cheapish,

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-BLACK-PARKER-51-FOUNTAIN-PEN-GREEN-STONE-CAP-/170787896740?pt=UK_Home_Garden_PensPencils_WritingEquipment_SM&hash=item27c3c07da4&autorefresh=true&autorefresh=true

 

Good deal? Definately not somegai (like the forest green pelikan 140 I got on ebay.de a few years back..) but good no?

[welch]

Well well as luck would have it I just snagged a P51 on the bay for cheapish,

 

http://www.ebay.co.u...utorefresh=true

 

Good deal? Definately not somegai (like the forest green pelikan 140 I got on ebay.de a few years back..) but good no?

 

A good deal.

 

The nib looks to have a nice chunk of irridium, and 51 aerometrics usually don't require much fuss. Worst I've had is a collector filled with dried ink. If pumping it with water, or then with water + 10% ammonia, doesn't clear up the flow, then the most serious "surgery" usually involves getting someone skiled to remove the hood. It's fragile and held with shellac, so don't just unscrew it. Then soak and rinse the collector.

 

Given the irridium, the worst you might have is some roughness...maybe uneven tines. After all, the pen is about 60 years old...which is about 800 "pen years" old. As Master Yoda said, "When 800 years old you are, look as good you will not."

[asaha]

I guess Parker 51 is possible for this amount of money giving enough patience hunting in Ebay. But 51 is not very fat

[Highbinder]

Thanks guys. Yep not a fat pen but I can make do, I prefer a fatty but not essential I guess! At worst it'll tide me over (and put an end to the pencil section of my journal) till I can afford the VP I've been lusting over and make a good pass-it-on present to my father (as he was a bit jealous when I gifted my mum a montblanc 14)

[hari317]

I think a NOS Sheaffer No Nonsense might fit the bill?