What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[Penguincollector]

   I need to start a thread about cartoon themed pens, I need to see what else y’all have hidden deep in your collections. One more thing to add to the to do list.

[boilermaker1975]

On 12/29/2025 at 4:06 PM, boilermaker1975 said:

 

The good news is that I received the TWSBI Obsidian today. The bad news is that I inked it and it does not write, nothing comes out.

 

I have never had this happen before. I assume there is something wrong with the nib?

 

Working now

[inkstainedruth]

3 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

   I need to start a thread about cartoon themed pens, I need to see what else y’all have hidden deep in your collections. One more thing to add to the to do list.

Looking forward to that thread!  Of course, not sure I could get pix up right away, given the current weather around here (it drizzled on me on and off all afternoon when I was poking around some antique shops down in the next county south) and I think they're predicting snow for tomorrow or Monday....  And I prefer taking photos of stuff like the pens outside on my porch in sunlight because the photos on my phone come out better. 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[camelsuspicious]

A couple of weeks ago after a late night of browsing, I decided that the cheapest way to build up my collection of vintage Onoto pens would be to find some to restore - how hard could it be? 

 

After all, I have no experience and limited patience.  Within a few hours, I found some folks willing to sell me their broken pens for relatively cheap, and I ordered some parts from custompenparts.co.uk.  My parts arrived last night and I dove right into it.  Somehow I managed to work the skin off my fingers threading a rod through un-lubricated, stripped blind caps.  With some rework and stubbornness, I now have two fully functional plunger fillers - a 6233 in BCHR and a 5600 that are both in really nice condition.  The 6233 has a very expressive semi-flex nib, while the 5600 is smooth and a little bouncy, but not flexy.  Will either job pass as professional restoration, heck no - but do I feel accomplished and proud - yes! - For an investment of about $300 I have two gorgeous pens to add to my collection - and another that for some reason needs a new blind cap   
 

[Gloucesterman]

Congratulations for both your courage AND your accomplishments!

What's next?

[InkyProf]

Congrats, @camelsuspicious!

[boilermaker1975]

@camelsuspicious Great Onotos!

[camelsuspicious]

5 minutes ago, Gloucesterman said:

Congratulations for both your courage AND your accomplishments!

What's next?

Probably practice and redo the same restorations until I get it perfect - also I have another 3000 series that’s waiting on parts and then there’s the CA Pen Show in February where I’ll potentially find some new candidates for practice.  

[JonSzanto]

One of the last purchases of 2025 was this limited Leonardo Momento Zero X @thesnowystudio, this particular variant named "Serenity". The material was created by Papa J Studio and is a complex combination of gentle shades as well as inclusions of both shimmer and areas that almost look like small amounts of gold leaf (though I doubt that). Klarissa, the creative in the project, also had a personal seal in the form of a character for "Serenity", and this was engraved in the cap, along with the LE number. It is a very difficult pen to photograph (esp. for someone who just has a phone cam). I include in this thread because I saw her Instagram notice just before they sold out, and it was quite impulsive. It also put my count of Leonardos at 12, and I think that is a good stop. Or resting point. 

[Doug C]

40 minutes ago, JonSzanto said:

One of the last purchases of 2025 was this limited Leonardo Momento Zero X @thesnowystudio, this particular variant named "Serenity". The material was created by Papa J Studio and is a complex combination of gentle shades as well as inclusions of both shimmer and areas that almost look like small amounts of gold leaf (though I doubt that). Klarissa, the creative in the project, also had a personal seal in the form of a character for "Serenity", and this was engraved in the cap, along with the LE number. It is a very difficult pen to photograph (esp. for someone who just has a phone cam). I include in this thread because I saw her Instagram notice just before they sold out, and it was quite impulsive. It also put my count of Leonardos at 12, and I think that is a good stop. Or resting point. 

Beautiful.  Hard to beat Leonardo. 

[ParramattaPaul]

Ihaven't yet, but I am contemplating buying a medium nib from Onoto for my Magnas.  Both currently have broad nibs.

[Scribs]

48 minutes ago, JonSzanto said:

One of the last purchases of 2025 was this limited Leonardo Momento Zero X @thesnowystudio, this particular variant named "Serenity". The material was created by Papa J Studio and is a complex combination of gentle shades as well as inclusions of both shimmer and areas that almost look like small amounts of gold leaf (though I doubt that). Klarissa, the creative in the project, also had a personal seal in the form of a character for "Serenity", and this was engraved in the cap, along with the LE number. It is a very difficult pen to photograph (esp. for someone who just has a phone cam). I include in this thread because I saw her Instagram notice just before they sold out, and it was quite impulsive. It also put my count of Leonardos at 12, and I think that is a good stop. Or resting point. 

 

Gorgeous photo, and lovely colours in that pen! Enjoy 🙂

[Ceramicist]

2 hours ago, JonSzanto said:

One of the last purchases of 2025 was this limited Leonardo Momento Zero X @thesnowystudio, this particular variant named "Serenity". The material was created by Papa J Studio and is a complex combination of gentle shades as well as inclusions of both shimmer and areas that almost look like small amounts of gold leaf (though I doubt that). Klarissa, the creative in the project, also had a personal seal in the form of a character for "Serenity", and this was engraved in the cap, along with the LE number. It is a very difficult pen to photograph (esp. for someone who just has a phone cam). I include in this thread because I saw her Instagram notice just before they sold out, and it was quite impulsive. It also put my count of Leonardos at 12, and I think that is a good stop. Or resting point. 

Beautiful pen, and the print is the perfect background.

[Misfit]

@JonSzanto Such a lovely pen to end the 2025 purchases. What ink will you put in Serenity first?

[JonSzanto]

26 minutes ago, Misfit said:

@JonSzanto Such a lovely pen to end the 2025 purchases. What ink will you put in Serenity first?

 

First off, thanks to all for the nice comments. I'm often hesitant to post because of the high bar for photos that influencers, etc, have set!

@Misfit This is a total laugh riot for me: it's a shimmer ink! I picked up ten inks in Japan in November at the Tokyo Pen Show, and one ink caught my eye unexpectedly, Tono & Lims "Mushroom Creme". It wasn't until I got home and did my own swatch that I realized it was a shimmer ink, but I'll be damned if it doesn't NOT clog and NOT have issues (so far)! I keep testing the pen ever couple of days and it always performs, so I don't know if it is their particular take on ink construction, or if this MZ (which does not have an ebonite feed) is just made so well. Certainly a rarity for me!

[Penguincollector]

@JonSzanto what a gorgeous pen! I’m glad you found something for the Mushroom Creme ink. 

[JonSzanto]

Since I was having trouble taking pics of the Serenity, I also did this one with a darker prop background. Now that I think of it, I should have probably done a shot with the pen open. Next time.

 

[Misfit]

@JonSzanto the darker background does help. I have mushroom creme in my head as a sauce for food. But I don’t have any mushrooms right now. 

[camelsuspicious]

4 hours ago, ParramattaPaul said:

Ihaven't yet, but I am contemplating buying a medium nib from Onoto for my Magnas.  Both currently have broad nibs.

Which of the Magna’s do you have?   I’m becoming aware of the difficulty of finding a vintage plunger but curious to see if you’ve got one of the modern plungers ?

[ParramattaPaul]

33 minutes ago, camelsuspicious said:

Which of the Magna’s do you have?   I’m becoming aware of the difficulty of finding a vintage plunger but curious to see if you’ve got one of the modern plungers ?

I have two Magnas.  Both are cartridge converter pens.  Boh are black chased with silver fittings.  One is a LE Ebony.