Ever Dropped A Valued Fountain Pen?

[LisaN]

Yes. Ron Zorn fixed the nib on my beautiful Persian Blue Sheaffer Valiant TD.

He did a great job, and I recommend him highly.

[ISW_Kaputnik]

For me, my high priced pens are the ones above $100; I've never reached $200 and don't plan to. That's still enough to have acquired a used Montblanc, some high quality Pilots, and some excellent vintage pens (many of those at bargain prices).

 

I've dropped some of my better pens once or twice, but had them land sideways on carpet with the caps on, or something equally harmless. Just enough to remind me that it only takes a moments inattention and the next time it could be nib down on tile. I did once bump a nib on the edge of the cap, recapping the pen when badly distracted, but luckily I was able to fix the slight misalignment myself.

 

If I were to damage a pen past my ability to deal with it at this point, I would probably put it aside for a while, and decide whether to send it for repair later. Some things have come up, and it's time to stop spending money on this hobby for the time being. I have plenty of excellent pens, and it wouldn't get any more broken sitting in a box for a year or two. If it were really one of my favorites, I would send it out eventually. Or perhaps I would learn more about repair, and be able to deal with more complicated problems myself.

[Nick13]

Almost happened to me today, sitting down with my jacket in my lab, and for some reason I out my Visconti on the jacket, and when I pulled the jacket from my lab, then pet was about 5 mm from the tipping point and falling on the hard ground!

 

 

 

So happy!

 

Nicholas I.

[orfew]

My Montblanc 14 rolled off a desk several months ago. Fortunately there were no ill effects.

[Algester]

imagine if this was your Sailor Arita... no matter how it falls or where it falls that is still a PEN BARREL AND CAP OUT OF PORCELAIN

Edited October 3, 2014 by Algester

[WaskiSquirrel]

I've never told this story to anyone before.

 

My first pen was a Parker Vector. When I got a job, I purchased a Cross Century.

 

But then I worked for a year or two in high school and decided I wanted a nice pen. I liked the Parker Vector better of the two pens, so I decided to get a nicer Parker. There was an office supply store in my home town, so I looked at their selection: it was in a catalogue. I found a Parker I really liked. It had silver plating on the body and a gold-plated nib. So, it was nice, but not too nice. I believe it was a Parker 88.

 

It finally came. I was disappointed to find it was basically a Vector with fancier finishing. However, I enjoyed using it and used it for several years. I took it to college with me. I didn't ever take it to classes. It stayed in my dorm room.

 

One day my junior year, I went to fill it and it dropped to the floor and landed on the nib. The tines were spread wide by this collision and the feed was shattered. I was really upset. But, as I researched the cost of getting it repaired I decided it wasn't worth it. (This was in the days before I had regular access to the internet.) I eventually gave up. A year or so later I finally threw away the pen.

 

Looking back, I wish I'd kept it. It was disappointing, but it was also a nice pen. At the time, the cost of repairing it on my limited college budget was too much. I should have kept it until I was making more money.

Edited October 3, 2014 by Waski_the_Squirrel

[I like mango cheesecake]

Yes. My 8 yo daughter picked up my posted 146 by the cap an the pen dropped out of the cap and onto the floor right onto the nib just a mere week after I had I repaired from the mob boutique. Also my 144 rolled off my desk and next to my chair . I pushed my office chair back only to here a cracking sound. The worst sound you'll ever hear coming from precious resin

[AllenG]

Tripped on a flagstone floor and broke the caps on two Edisons. Brian fixed them.

[MrThoth]

I bought a great Monteverde Invincia from the Classified forum here on FPN. It arrived, I opened it, put in some ink, did a little writing, loved it.

 

That same evening I took it downstairs to the kitchen so I could use it to work on one of what I call my "fountain pen stories" while watching a DVD. For some reason I don't recall it was uncapped. I put it on the counter and stepped to the other side of the kitchen to get a snack.

 

Before I could get my snack I heard the pen start to roll.

 

I did a really good version of the "Noooooo!" slow motion lunge you see in so many movies, complete with vocals, but I couldn't reach it in time. The Monteverde hit the linoleum floor nib-first. The impact bent the nib at almost exactly a 90 degree angle upward; ink splattered everywhere (including all over my clothes).

 

Miraculously, I was able to bend the nib back into alignment enough to keep writing with the pen until a replacement nib arrived. I then had my first experience with changing a fountain pen nib.

 

The pen continues to work well and remains one of my favorites to this day.

Edited October 3, 2014 by MrThoth

[Cordovian]

Very recently...

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/274794-i-committed-fp-murder/

 

Charges were dismissed

[Azura]

Yes, when I was in high school, handful of parkers;

No, since I have been in university and after.

[Kuscer]

So far I have only dropped a fineliner at school and it was completely ruined. It was the one I used most so I had to buy a whole new pack to replace my beloved black. Yes, life is cruel...

[georges zaslavsky]

yes once a vintage big red parker and its nib has been repaired

[NedC]

Oh yeah. I cracked the section on a Reform 304 with a lovely 14 K nib when it rolled off my desk.

It was the first gold nibbed pen I bought with my own money about 30 years ago. Just a few years ago I dropped my Lamy 2000, nib first, onto a tile floor the day I got it. Seriously bent the nib but it didn't skew or splay the tines at all or crack them and I was able to roll and press them into shape and the pen writes wonderfully, one of my favourite nibs in fact. Too many other uneventful drops to recall.

[PaulT00]

Stipula Suprema Nuda. Nib down. Onto carpet. Twisted tine (Ti nib)

 

Parker '51' aerometric. Nib down onto carpet tiles at the office. Misaligned.

 

PFM V nib down onto asphalt. 90 degree downward bend with a slight twist and chipped tipping.

 

John Sorowka is a genius. All 3 rescued by Oxonian.

[requiescat]

I dropped my Cleo Skribent onto a hard floor and it split in half with the piston/section still lodged inside the cap. I can't even figure out how to get the section out. There's theoretically a warranty, although I don't think it covers the fact that I dropped it even if I hadn't lost my receipt, and going back to the French Quarter in New Orleans to show it to the wonderful folks at Papier Plume isn't happening anytime soon.

[Blade Runner]

Nope.

[sharonspens]

My niece dropped a flexible gold nibbed Waterman nib-down on a concrete floor. Mike Masuyama made it like new. That wasn't an expensive pen, though.

 

More recently, like several others have described, one of my custom Edison Pearls rolled off and hit a box, and for some reason it snapped off jaggedly at the section. This is a pen in celebration of my Presidency of my professional association, and had been inked constantly for a year. I was just finishing up the last ink in the pen so I could clean it and put it away for awhile. I guess it didn't want to be put away.

 

It is sitting on Brian's work table in the queue for (I hope!) repair. I think it is in line behind this year's group buy.

 

Sharon in Indiana

[Brian K]

Yup - I've owned a 149 for ~30 years and it has been dropped - capped and uncapped, on hard and soft surfaces - more times than I can count and...wait for it...absolutely nothing has happened to it. Strangely enough it has never landed on its nib. Pretty tough pen, I think. maybe the resin in my pen is precious

[sjones581]

I dropped my MYU 701 and bent the nib. Until I send it in to be repaired (if it can be) it's useless. Before I dropped it it was my best fine point writer.