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A To Use Or Not To Use Dilemma


fplover01

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Ironic timing, this thread. Just told my mother I'm planning to amend the will, adding the pens (all of them, not just the $$$ ones).

 

Whether the nephew who's getting them uses them or not, makes no difference. Someday, one of his kids will be able to say "My wild great aunt used these 100 years ago...."

 

Nice idea!!

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Live by the sword, die by the sword..... :lticaptd: I am not married so I do not have that dilemma. However, is it possible that IF you told your wife what your pens ACTUALLY cost ( :yikes:) you would meet your maker much sooner than expected?

 

Well, i suspect the same thing. My wife used to look at the new pen i got in the mail and then ask me how much is it? I usually give a number at 1/3 of the price i paid, and she always ask why do you always spend so much money on something i could get at few cents.

 

After 20 or more pens, now she no longer ask me, just look and walk away in silent. Dead silent :wacko:

 

I wonder what will happen if one day she try to google some of my pens :yikes:

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Well sometimes saying u found a good deal on ebay does the trick. But saying prices that are too low all the time, then at some point there will be problems. Also selling a pen or two occasionally, helps to show to someone who doesnt know a lot about them that the pens have value and are not a depreciating object.

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To tell, or not to tell your wife the real price for the pens, that is the question. Especially pens like Toledo.

 

Slippery slope here. My advice is, always tell the truth if the question of cost comes up. Dissagreement on issues of finance is one of the top two causes of divorce, and if that is so than you can be sure that for those who stay married, it must be a major cause for tension.

 

If how you spend money is a problem for your partner in life, work it out. Figure out what the acceptable 'fun money' budget is .... for both of you and then stick to it. You will have the opprotunity for guilt free spendfing on your quirky little habit. And if the pruchase price for the pen of your dreams is 3X your monthly pen budget, then start saving NOW, so that when that pen presents you can snap it up without having to go in to deficit spending. She will appreciate your discipline and the quality of your collection will steadily go up. And you will both be the grown ups in the relationship.

 

This is easy to say and hard to do (don't ask me how I know this) but the rewards are worth it.

 

Proud owner of a 1980's era Toledo.

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Slippery slope here. My advice is, always tell the truth if the question of cost comes up. Dissagreement on issues of finance is one of the top two causes of divorce, and if that is so than you can be sure that for those who stay married, it must be a major cause for tension.

 

If how you spend money is a problem for your partner in life, work it out. Figure out what the acceptable 'fun money' budget is .... for both of you and then stick to it. You will have the opprotunity for guilt free spendfing on your quirky little habit. And if the pruchase price for the pen of your dreams is 3X your monthly pen budget, then start saving NOW, so that when that pen presents you can snap it up without having to go in to deficit spending. She will appreciate your discipline and the quality of your collection will steadily go up. And you will both be the grown ups in the relationship.

 

This is easy to say and hard to do (don't ask me how I know this) but the rewards are worth it.

 

Proud owner of a 1980's era Toledo.

 

Sage Advice.

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Sage Advice.

 

As the cowboy philospher Will Rogers once said: "Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement."

 

The DrC Corollary: "It's good to learn from your mistakes, it's great to learn from the mistakes of others."

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

To tell, or not to tell your wife the real price for the pens, that is the question. Especially pens like Toledo.

 

My wife used to look at the new pen i got in the mail and then ask me how much is it? I usually give a number at 1/3 of the price i paid, and she always ask why do you always spend so much money on something i could get at few cents.

 

 

My wife is so un-interested in pens that she does not even ask - and probably she doesn't notice the new pen either.

 

It reminds me of when I was a boy and my mother asked me why I needed more than one recording of Tristan und Isolde... "But, mum, it's Nilsson and Windgassen!" would not have convinced her at all, so I made some complicated explanation, but basically it's all about love and art... or something.

Edited by Ursus
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My wife knows the price of all my pens and, in fact, she is my biggest enabler. Every time I lust over an expensive pen but feel guilty about the price, she actually insists that I should buy and enjoy it (the last one is a beautiful GvFC Elemento that is waiting for me when I get home). Lately she also got a few pens for herself, but not nearly as expensive as the ones I have. It's great for my collection, but not so much for the wallet :) .

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My wife knows the price of all my pens and, in fact, she is my biggest enabler. Every time I lust over an expensive pen but feel guilty about the price, she actually insists that I should buy and enjoy it (the last one is a beautiful GvFC Elemento that is waiting for me when I get home). Lately she also got a few pens for herself, but not nearly as expensive as the ones I have. It's great for my collection, but not so much for the wallet :) .

 

Now take that picture and imagine the complete polar opposite situation. I envy you... :wallbash:

PELIKAN - Too many birds in the flock to count. My pen chest has proven to be a most fertile breeding ground.

fpn_1508261203__fpn_logo_300x150.jpg

THE PELIKAN'S PERCH - A growing reference site for all things Pelikan

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Slippery slope here. My advice is, always tell the truth if the question of cost comes up. Dissagreement on issues of finance is one of the top two causes of divorce, and if that is so than you can be sure that for those who stay married, it must be a major cause for tension.

 

If how you spend money is a problem for your partner in life, work it out. Figure out what the acceptable 'fun money' budget is .... for both of you and then stick to it. You will have the opprotunity for guilt free spendfing on your quirky little habit. And if the pruchase price for the pen of your dreams is 3X your monthly pen budget, then start saving NOW, so that when that pen presents you can snap it up without having to go in to deficit spending. She will appreciate your discipline and the quality of your collection will steadily go up. And you will both be the grown ups in the relationship.

 

This is easy to say and hard to do (don't ask me how I know this) but the rewards are worth it.

 

Proud owner of a 1980's era Toledo.

 

Actually i found your advice is very useful for me lately. I stop buying low-mid range pens and start my journey to Nakaya and Hakase pens, which i couldn't afford without saving. I told my wife that i will only buy a pen per year now and will save part of my salary for it. She more than agrees with my decision.

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Now take that picture and imagine the complete polar opposite situation. I envy you... :wallbash:

She probably is just trying to make your interest in FP last longer, otherwise by now you probably would already have every bird ever produced and no pens left to chase... :D

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The W. Germany nibs of the 400/800 are very, very nice regular flex nibs with a bit of more spring to them than the Germany pens of @ '90 to 97. The '98- modern are semi-nail to nail nibs, :angry: .

 

You have the an 800 that is on my list. I have no intention to ever buy a modern 800. I really don't want a '90-97 one either I want the best the W.Germany one; if so, then so. In German that has a bit more emphasis. Wann Schoen, Dann Schoen!

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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Just another voice, use it, enjoy it. Pelikan made tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of them. All the advice to use it, and all the above reasons to do so are spot on.

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Actually i found your advice is very useful for me lately. I stop buying low-mid range pens and start my journey to Nakaya and Hakase pens, which i couldn't afford without saving. I told my wife that i will only buy a pen per year now and will save part of my salary for it. She more than agrees with my decision.

I have been thinking of doing the same - I just love Hakase, and I adore Maki-e - but I do not think that I coult limit myself that much - unless I got very, very busy (I'm working on that, however).

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My wife knows generally what I spent for the pens and is OK with it, but she isn't interested in the pens. I kept records of the pens for a while and suggested sell prices, with advice to sell on ebay where the auction will usually result in a reasonable price. But I didn't keep up with this with cheaper pens like Esterbrooks and Sonnets. MBs, Pelikans, Parker 51s, best sold on ebay for those without expert knowledge.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is an interesting thread. FPH has just bought an encyclopedic Pelikan collection and was selling the unused pens at a good price last week. I got a curious early M600 with all kinds of special qualities - but couldn't help thinking of the person who preserved that pen for 25 years so I could mindlessly use it in my journal. I'm also thinking of having Mike Masuyama grind the ample F nib down to EF which I prefer - but that would utterly destroy its collectors value. Maybe I'll just use it with BB.

 

My philosophy is, use it don't lose it. I recently sold off a nice collection of OMAS and got very little for the pens. If that wasn't sobering enough, I also had to see my mother's collection of antiques acquired over a lifetime sold at auction for very little money. There just wasn't a market for most things.

 

People have this erroneous belief they get from Antiques Roadshow that they're sitting on hidden treasures. In my opinion, that mostly isn't the case and just supports hoarding (I come from a family of hoarders). The world is awash in material stuff and there is, in fact, no scarcity of things - especially from the 20th Century.

 

Finally, as heirlooms go, I do have my father's treasured IWC watch. But apart from the fact that I really don't want to wear his watch as my own Seiko keeps time well enough, I took it to a dealer and asked about cleaning it and the price was exorbitant. Finally, the watch turns out to have a plastic crystal which I guess was common in the 70s but now is only found on cheaper watches. The truth is, quality has improved and my dad's cherished heirloom really just has nostalgic value.

 

For all of you thinking about your wills, give your love to people and not to things, and don't confuse your own pleasure with somebody else's treasure!

"If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live."

– Lin Yu-T'ang

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Thats a thoughtful post... Projecting our likes and dislikes to our loved ones is not very productive. And what is important to us might be junk for someone else.

 

I have a similar experience with an Omega watch my grandfather had... It had been neglected for years and the price of bringing it back in shape is exorbitant. And I never see myself wearing it, really looks small and old fashioned on my hand.

 

The pen has been with me almost two months now. It has become the pen for my diary and my notebook. Keep it in a leather case and write with it. I recently took it on a tour of sicily and wrote with it every day. I still feel I have to preserve it in a good condition (but I have this feeling for all my pens and all my belongings). it is not the pen I would take to write notes furiously on the go, it is mostly a desk pen. But this has been an instant love story, between me and the pen.

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But this has been an instant love story, between me and the pen.

Spoken like a true geek. The whole idea of geekdom is that we know something that others don't. Otherwise, what's the point? ;)

"If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live."

– Lin Yu-T'ang

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Some very wise words written here -- making for a most interesting thread. Thank you, everyone.

 

One or two people remarked how our precious things may simply be "junk" to others -- and I think that that is very true, so we should simply use and enjoy our pens, without wasting too much energy or time on wondering whether or not "to ink" or just to admire!

 

<Well this hobby isnt supposed to be rational...> wrote fplover01 and I agree with <that> thought!

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