What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[Armo]

I know nothing about this pug ugly pen other than I found it fascinating. It has absolutely no quality to it but was appropriately cheap so I succumbed.

[mallymal1]

On 5/2/2022 at 12:10 AM, OldTravelingShoe said:

Hmmm... I spent hours yesterday and today on eBay, looking to buy a Conway Stewart Dinkie. I finally got a 536, after being outbid so many times on other pens that I lost count. I probably overpaid. But the seller was helpful and the pen looked very nice.

 

I'll let you know how it actually feels and writes when it arrives from the UK; after Brexit, some purchases seem to disappear for over a month inside the Dutch customs. 

 

In the meantime, I have to figure out how to use a pen much of which is made out of caseine. How do you even ink such a pen?! Or clean it after use?! Or place it in direct light to take pics of?! I'd rather not destroy a pen that survived for twice my lifetime... I'll start reading from tomorrow, but of course suggestions and comments are most welcome. 

 

Quite excited to see this one. Hope it doesn't get held up too long in the customs whirlpool.  👍

[OldTravelingShoe]

8 hours ago, mallymal1 said:

 

Quite excited to see this one. Hope it doesn't get held up too long in the customs whirlpool.  👍

The seller said they got a few packages through very quickly to the Netherlands, so perhaps this will be the case here as well. Will post pictures 😄

[mallymal1]

23 minutes ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

The seller said they got a few packages through very quickly to the Netherlands, so perhaps this will be the case here as well. Will post pictures 😄

 

Excellent.  👍

[dragondazd]

10 hours ago, Armo said:

I know nothing about this pug ugly pen other than I found it fascinating. It has absolutely no quality to it but was appropriately cheap so I succumbed.

This pen has some nice aesthetic features. Perhaps it's the combination that is a little jarring.

[inkstainedruth]

I think you may have put your finger on it, dragondazd.  The gold color clip is definitely odd when the lever and cap band aren't, for instance (and may not be original to the pen)  However, the barrel and cap material is attractive (reminiscent of the Parker Vac Shadow Wave models); and if the pen writes well that's all to the good.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[JonSzanto]

1 hour ago, inkstainedruth said:

The gold color clip is definitely odd when the lever and cap band aren't, for instance (and may not be original to the pen)

 

I am fairly certain those are original. Being a lower tier pen, the plating used would have been very thin, and it is likely that what is showing is not different kind of hardware, but simply lever and band exhibiting brassing, where the plating has worn off and exposes the underlying metal. In this case, a non-brass, silver-colored metal alloy of some sort. A very common occurrence.

 

But that celluloid is unique and I would let it eat crackers in my bed any time.

[inkstainedruth]

4 minutes ago, JonSzanto said:

But that celluloid is unique and I would let it eat crackers in my bed any time.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Armo]

JonSzanto your appraisal is spot on. I changed the nib (had to) to a Hero so it writes well. I forgot to mention the pattern moves somewhat as you move the pen. (I am glutting on hooded nibs at the moment.)

[Paul-in-SF]

On 5/3/2022 at 1:02 AM, Armo said:

I know nothing about this pug ugly pen other than I found it fascinating. It has absolutely no quality to it but was appropriately cheap so I succumbed.

 

I join those who like many things about this pen, perhaps the material most of all. I think it would have looked better as a slip/clutch cap arrangement rather than a threaded cap, then the shape of the body could have been more pleasing. Even so, that's just the sort of oddball unusual material pen that I like picking up when I see them. 

[carola]

I keep thinking the hooded nib is a tad too much striped material. Maybe a visible nib would suit it better. 🤔

And yet... I am looking at it. Again and again.

[inkstainedruth]

On 4/30/2022 at 6:19 PM, inkstainedruth said:

Well, I won't actually get it for a couple of weeks, but put in an offer on a pen I'd been watching on eBay for a while: a Luxor-made Parker Vector in a design called "Time Check" (which has a map of the globe with lines showing time zones).  I'd been wanting one for a while, and had logged onto eBay to look at something else, then spent some time clear out old expired listings for things that had sold.  I had made and offer on another Vector, but didn't like the counter offer, and passed on it.  Then realized that I had been watching a number of listings for the "Time Check" pen, so I looked more carefully at stuff like where the various sellers were located and (more importantly) what their feedback ratings were like.  Then made an offer on the listing where the seller was here in the US AND also had 100% positive feedback.  My first offer was rejected, and I thought the counteroffer pretty bogus; the seller dropped the price a whole whopping 4 CENTS (!)  -- but then I came up a couple of bucks and that offer was accepted.  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Well, the deal is OFF.  Seller refunded my money (with no heads up to me) -- allegedly because my address was "wrong" somehow!); I suspect that the seller got a better offer and LIED about it (given that the seller -- while selling from an address in Queens, NY -- is apparently ACTUALLY overseas...).  I got a refund, but have yet to hear ANYTHING from the seller; and spent roughly 2 hours in a chat window with some guy from eBay's Customer Service who largely made blather noises at me -- although he said that their "trust and safety" department is looking into the matter, I'm not holding my breath that anything will actually happen. 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[AmandaW]

Sone of my impulsive  purchases have failed too.

 

Over the past few days I have had three pens cancelled by two sellers - one ebay order, the other AliExpress. All Hero 565 of various colours and variants. All after waiting patiently for over a month.

 

The ebay seller has been courteous and communicated very well. His Shanghai location puts the problem beyond his control. I'm disappointed  but will happily reorder when possible.

 

The other one: no way!. There should have been two pens in the package. The 565 was missing. I was able to prove it because the shipping label said '1 Fountain Pen' even though the tracking showed two, so I'm getting a partial  refund, which with the shipping means i paid rather more for the 616s I did get and left feeling ripped off.

[dragondazd]

@AmandaW @inkstainedruth

Sucks!

[Misfit]

One of my impulse purchases arrived today. It is the Visconti Rembrandt in Eclipse. 

 

[SpecTP]

picked up a narwhal.. pretty nice ebonite

 

[AmandaW]

3 hours ago, Misfit said:

One of my impulse purchases arrived today. It is the Visconti Rembrandt in Eclipse. 

 

That's a very pretty pen... it looks grey on my screen... 🖤

[Misfit]

I think it’s dark purple with swirls that looks gray. The flash was off on that photo.  Turns out the nib is a Medium. The website indicated F. I looked at the nib, and it has an M on it. 

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

I just ordered a Skyline in kind of questionable condition, I hope that I don't even up regretting it. From the pics the nib looks fine but the cap looks a bit off, I'm hoping the top of the cap was just not screwed in all the way (seller doesn't seem familiar with pens so they probably didn't tinker with it) and not shrunken. Fingers crossed!

[Paul-in-SF]

56 minutes ago, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

seller doesn't seem familiar with pens so they probably didn't tinker with it

 

I always find this very off-putting when it comes to spending money. We often end up hoping for the best, but end up with quite a bit less than the best, and there's not much we can do about it because the seller made no promises. So I hope this works out for you, and that you didn't spend much money on this pen.