What's Your Quintessential Fountain Pen?

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

Define Quintessential...

 

Representing the most perfect or typical example of a quality or class.

 

So by this definition it is not necessarily a good thing to be listed.

 

It would be basically like a word accosiation test.

 

"Say the first thing that pops in your head when I say......."

 

Ball point................Bic

Fountain Pen.............Pelikan M205

 

The typical, but not necessary the best, ball point is a Bic.

 

The typical, or Quintessential, Fountain Pen is a Pelikan, etc, etc, etc.

 

 

So I think the Quintessential Fountain Pen is Pilot Varsity. A very Typical fountain pen found almost everywhere. But I would never buy any or use them.

 

I prefer to use Onoto because it is "The Pen", it says so right on the barrel!

[max dog]

There was a book i had (given to a young friend starting out in a design education) called, "Quintessence". each page was a product that was picked to exemplify the term's dictionary meaning. If i remember, there were 2 pens in the book, one was the standard Bic, the other a Montblanc 149. One of my pens is the 149' so i pick that one.

That book would be an interesting read.

A BIC and a 149 makes sense at opposite ends of the spectrum.

[pajaro]

My Parker 51 that I bought new 45 years ago.

 

Other pens I have or have had that might have been chosen if there were never a Parker 51:

 

Montblanc 144

Montblanc 146

Waterman Phileas

Lamy Safari and 2000

Sheaffer Touchdown Imperial Dolphin

[pmsalty]

Parker 51 for me.

 

Ditto - the no fuss, always ready, large capacity jewel of a pen!

[chad.trent]

Esterbrook J with whichever nib I feel like putting on it that day.

[benjitzu]

I'm jumping on the Pelikan M800 boat - though my next choice would be the Lamy 2000.

 

It's quite fascinating to read all the different perspectives on the question, especially to learn about so many pens and models I had no idea existed.

[prf5]

There was a book i had (given to a young friend starting out in a design education) called, "Quintessence". each page was a product that was picked to exemplify the term's dictionary meaning. If i remember, there were 2 pens in the book, one was the standard Bic, the other a Montblanc 149. One of my pens is the 149' so i pick that one.

 

I don't know the book, but from your description the entries may have been selected by people who weren't particularly familiar with the products. One can identify a quintessential fountain pen, computer, automobile, or baseball player. If you know pens, computers, cars, and baseball, your response is likely, "in what respect?" Are we talking attractiveness, cost, performance, status, economy, hitting or pitching? People who are barely acquainted with fountain pens are better prepared to give an overall answer than devotees, who may be inclined to think about the fit between an item and a characteristic or function such as starter, high end, style, everyday carrier, technological advance, or value at a price point.

[Moynihan]

"Quintessence": "the essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form, ...the most typical example or representative..." merriam-webster.
The book was by and for design fans/geeks. So they were using the primary dictionary use of the word. So for the writers, "Quintessence" was used to describe products that became iconic, and stuck in folks heads i guess.

 

For example, a couple non-pen things i remember that were in it included a couple of Henry Dreyfuss's* objects (the original Yellow Cab exterior and interior, the round Honeywell thermostat, Western Electric Model 302 phone ) The famous, standard Hershey's bar, the Ace Comb, the Dixon Yellow Ticonderoga, the Eberhard Blackwing 602, etc.

 

*Dreyfuss ended up doing so many designs that came to be the later image-of-the-thing in folk's brains. Interestingly enough, he designed the exterior of the Evertsharp Skyliner (not included in the book i mentioned) whose cap recalled his design of the body of the Hudson train engine for the 20th Century Limited, which he also did the passenger and lounge car interiors for .

Edited August 8, 2015 by Moynihan

[prf5]

"Quintessence": "the essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form, ...the most typical example or representative..." merriam-webster.

The book was by and for design fans/geeks. So they were using the primary dictionary use of the word. So for the writers, "Quintessence" was used to describe products that became iconic, and stuck in folks heads i guess....For example, a couple non-pen things i remember that were in it included a couple of Henry Dreyfuss's* objects (the original Yellow Cab exterior and interior, the round Honeywell thermostat, Western Electric Model 302 phone ) The famous, standard Hershey's bar, the Ace Comb, the Dixon Yellow Ticonderoga, the Eberhard Blackwing 602, etc.

 

I know Dreyfuss as the godfather of ergonomics, so thanks for that. My thoughts of "yellow cab" aren't associated with Dreyfuss, but with Checker, and devotees of taxi cab design would probably scratch their heads if you asked them to identify the quinessential taxi. The word that stands out to me in your post isn't quintessence, but "folk." The more familiar and knowledgeable you are about something, the less you are interested in folk wisdom or in capturing a singular essence; instead, you are drawn to variegations.

 

When I think about the quinessential pen, I think about a range of situations, uses, types, and experiences. Contrast that with someone less familiar with fountain pens who might envision a global category. For example, several threads on this site were up and running after the CEO of Microsoft predicted that fountain pens would not be around in 10 years. What can clearly be seen from the video is that his off-the-cuff remark was spurred by looking at the reporter's gel pen. To Nadella, the essential characteristic of a fountain pen is ink on paper, and the quinessential fountain pen is, or might as well be, a Pilot G2.

[Moynihan]

For fans of both FP's and Dreyfuss:

One of the few limited editions i have is a tribute to Dreyfuss

[ex-bugonaut]

Interesting video shared by the OP. The narrator recounts some of the milestones that have had FPs associated with them. One that comes to mind is the surrender ceremony that ended World War II 70 years ago next month. As one biographer tells it, "...at the end of the eighteen-minute ritual MacArthur sat, pulled five fountain pens from his pocket, and affixed his own signature with them."

Edited August 10, 2015 by ex-bugonaut