Your Top 5 Pens?

[christof]

Nice try. One is iconic, the rest obscure, unless you are deep into MB.

 

Deep enough to know it's not "obscure" .....as you call it, BoBo.

 

Christof

Edited April 9, 2013 by christof

[bluejay]

1. Mb 146

2. Parker 51

3. Sheaffer pfm III

4. Sheaffer legacy

5. VP faceted blue

 

The 146 is on top due to fit and best Ef I've tried.

[yolrgrand]

I haven't really owned enough pens to have a "Top 5". Mainly, that's because I love Pelikan pens so much. They fit my aesthetic, and I love the way they write. There's not many other pens out there that even interest me, though I would like to try a Graf von Faber-Castell PotY 2004 (the amber one) and a Mont Blanc Virginia Woolf. So, my list is pretty short:

 

1. Pretty much anything Pelikan!

2. Platinum Preppy, because you can do anything to them without worry.

3. Bowl point steel dip pens (Hunt 513EF, Esterbrook 788, Eagle 830, etc.), because permanent inks.

 

For a pen to interest me, it generally needs to have:

 

a. a design I like

b. a piston feed

c. easily interchangeable nibs

 

Sadly, too many pen companies are more interested in making Barbie doll trinkets for rich boys, rather than just making good pens. Pelikan captured my interest with the MC120 calligraphy pen, back when I was the purchasing manager for an artists supply company. Sadly, my MC120 has developed a leak past the piston, so I rarely use it anymore. Someday, I need to get around to buying an M200 barrel to replace it, so I can use my stash of MC120 nibs!

 

I suppose if pressed, I would say I really do like my full set of Cross Metropolis black/chrome (Made in USA, even!). I have the fountain, the roller, the ballpoint, the pencil, *and* the PDA stylus. But if I *had* to add a fourth and fifth to that list, it would be the Bic Cristal and Fisher Bullet. Which is odd, because that leaves off my Graf von Faber-Castell rhodium guilloche roller, which I fit with a Schmidt 2010M ballpoint refill. That's my receipt pen.

 

GVFC ought to be right up your alley as their designed specifically for "girls"-slender and pretty

[yolrgrand]

Nice try. One is iconic, the rest obscure, unless you are deep into MB.

 

Deep enough to know it's not "obscure" .....as you call it, BoBo.

 

Christof

I do not characterize Christof's pens as obscure unless you're a complete neophyte

[seffrican]

I'd list 5 iconic pens that everyone should experience at some stage, but I'm not numbering them because I don't think I can put them into any useful order.

 

Montblanc 146

Parker 51

Visconti Homo Sapiens

Lamy 2000

Lamy Safari

Kaweco Sport

 

Oh wait, that's 6. Since I can't think of any that could be removed from that list, I guess the thread title must be in error.

[brahmam]

Wow! Superb collection. Bravo!

 

 

All time favourites (in order):

 

1. Platinum President w/ 18k F nib

 

http://www.pentorium.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_9590.jpg

 

2. Platinum 3776 Century Bourgogne w/ 14k EF nib

 

http://www.pentorium.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_9598.jpg

 

3. Lamy 27 w/ Gold Cap and 14k M stub nib

 

http://www.pentorium.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_9595.jpg

 

4. (Recent addition) TWSBI VAC 700 Clear w/ Steel EF nib

 

http://www.pentorium.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_9624.jpg

 

5. Sailor 1911 Large w/ Rhodium trim and 21k MF nib

 

http://www.pentorium.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_9589.jpg

 

and my 6th favourite would be the Lamy Safari

[georges zaslavsky]

1) MB 149 from the 60's-70's

2) Parker Duofold

3) Omas 360 Old Style

4) Sheaffer PFM

5) Montegrappa Extra

[aschup]

- Pelikan 100

- Parker 51

- Parker flattop Duofold OS

- Visconti HS

- Montblanc 149

 

If I were grading just on performance, it would probably be a different list. If I were grading just on design, it would probably be a different list. These five all combine performance and design in a way that makes them the best, IMO.

Edited May 8, 2013 by aschup

[aschup]

Top ten was hard enough, but Top 5 !?!

 

...well, I'll give it a try.

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7251/7873126778_b1e8fe9213_c.jpg

Pelikan 101N, Tortoise and RHR, 1938

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8062/8252115802_3f4270af4b_c.jpg

Pelikan 101, Lizard pattern, short cap top, 1935

 

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8232/8556493767_99b6224535_c.jpg

Parker "51", solid Gold Empire cap, 1945

 

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6165/6161523247_045af3e28e_b.jpg

Montblanc Meisterstück 124S, BCHR wavy-line pattern, 1935

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6789201839_9f30b712d0_z.jpg

Montblanc Meisterstück L139G, Long inkwindow, 1939

 

But let's wait what's next! As markiv said: "The only thing constant is Change!"

 

Holy hell.

[Tom Traubert]

I was going to make this thread but, in a rare twist for the internet, decided to see if anyone else had first. Seems that several have but this looks to be the most recent.

 

1: Pelikan Souverän M600, green and black, medium nib

http://www.gouletpens.com/v/vspfiles/photos/P980029-2T.jpg

It's my most expensive pen by some distance. This is by no means a deciding factor but I'd be disappointed if it wasn't brilliant. I try to avoid empty description but there is just something else about it. It glides, it's super-inky and it looks incredible.

 

2: Jinhao X750, matte black

http://www.gouletpens.com/v/vspfiles/photos/JIN-X750-FrostBlack-2T.jpg

£3.99 (inc. delivery, from fishlure2010 - he only sells Jinhao fountain pens at great prices - delivery to the UK took a little over a week, which is incredible, no affiliation etc). That's 2% of number one's price. But it's the next smoothest and I love the massive nib. So far, it's managed to bring levels of shading to inks I previously thought bland. Takes international standard cartridges and came with a decent converter. I hear Jinhaos are hit and miss; I definitely scored a hit with this one.

 

3: TWSBI Diamond Mini, clear, with 1.1mm stub

http://www.gouletpens.com/v/vspfiles/photos/TW-M7443270-2T.jpg

A fantastic pen. Quite a slim italic - I have 1.5 and 1.1 nibs for both this and my Diamond 580. From what I can tell, the 1.1 580 is almost identical to the 1.5 Mini. As such, I keep the 1.1s in both of them. The 1.5 in the 580 is saved for the odd birthday card but little more. I use the Mini for marking and the 580 for signatures/when I need to write something BIG! The Mini is my favourite though - it's fun.

 

4: Cross Apogee, sable lacquer, medium nib

http://www.penherostore.com/catalog/ApogeeSableFP.jpg

My first pen after a gap of ten years or so. Took some time to get it right, but a great pen now. Would've started with something simpler, had I known, but it's definitely been worth a little tinkering. Needs flushing/soaking more often than my other pens, but is easy to clean and the screw-in converter is a good piece of design. Now I've had it a while, this is easily my most versatile pen - it'll happily accept any ink and flushes easily.

 

=5: Lamy Safari, 2013 neon yellow, 1.1 italic nib

http://www.gouletpens.com/v/vspfiles/photos/LMY-L13YWM-2T.jpg

I'm cheating now. I can't call it between this and the next one. There's nothing to say that hasn't already been said - you get an amazing pen for not a lot of coin. The interchangeable nibs are a great feature. Would be higher if it wasn't for the proprietary cartridges, but the Z24 converter is one of the best I've used. Another pen that will use absolutely any ink. I tend to use Diamine Kelly Green in it because it can be a pain in the arse in other pens and the 1.1 nib really brings out the shading.

 

=5: Pilot MR, bronze lizard, medium nib

http://www.gouletpens.com/v/vspfiles/photos/PN91136-2T.jpg

(Yes, I know that's a Metropolitan, but if it wasn't obvious from the Goulet logo and the fact that I'm telling you, you wouldn't know.) As a pen, I reckon it's better than the Lamy - the things that stop it getting higher up are the fact that the international standard converters I have don't fit (their apertures are too narrow) and that it's less easy to swap nibs on than the Lamy, even if you can find another Pilot nib worth putting on without breaking another decent pen. I love the weight, the design, the reliability, the smoothness of the nib - everything about it, apart from the bits I've said.

 

Honourable mentions to:

TWBSI Diamond 580 (as stated above - just didn't want two very similar pens in the list), Kaweco Skyline Sport in mint, Italix Parson's Essential. Good, but not quite good enough for this list!

 

(Images taken from gouletpens.com and penstorehero.com - they own the copyright etc.)

Edited August 10, 2014 by Tom Traubert