What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[TgeekB]

3 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

 

Well, I got scammed. Facebook seller blocked me, which is a sure sign. I have gotten pretty good at IDing scammers but this one was quite sophisticated. 

 

Lesson learned. It's part of the cost of online buying and, all in all, I have gained much more than I have lost. Montblanc is quite a honeypot here in Thailand so, in retrospect, I should have known to be much more careful. The vast majority of sellers here are very honest but I think I will avoid buying desirable Montblancs from sellers I don't already know. 

That’s a bummer. $77 did sound a bit unreal to me. I’m not on Facebook but I assume there’s no repercussions. 

[PithyProlix]

4 hours ago, TgeekB said:

That’s a bummer. $77 did sound a bit unreal to me. I’m not on Facebook but I assume there’s no repercussions. 

 

It is low, of course, but I have gotten a number of better deals. When those deals come up you generally have to act quickly or someone else will beat you to them, which was a big reason why I was not careful as I should have been. That said, desirable Montblancs tend to be priced similar to, say, the US - there seems to be a great demand for them here. That should have been a big enough red flag to override my impulsivity with this ... 

 

Facebook has a mechanism to report bad sales but it's a black hole - they will do nothing. In effect it's best to let it go, move on, and take what I learn from this to be more careful in the future.

[Gloucesterman]

9 minutes ago, PithyProlix said:

Facebook has a mechanism to report bad sales but it's a black hole - they will do nothing.

Unless it can be used against YOU, I suggest YOU report it/file a complaint or whatever. At leas YOU have TAKEN ACTION!

One of our greatest presidents said, "The only thing that lets evil/bad people (etc.) triumph is for good people to do nothing!

Who knows, perhaps your effort WILL MAKE A Difference.

Just mho.

[PithyProlix]

11 minutes ago, Gloucesterman said:

Unless it can be used against YOU, I suggest YOU report it/file a complaint or whatever. At leas YOU have TAKEN ACTION!

One of our greatest presidents said, "The only thing that lets evil/bad people (etc.) triumph is for good people to do nothing!

Who knows, perhaps your effort WILL MAKE A Difference.

Just mho.

 

Yeah, I didn't mention that we have an informational website for reporting bad sales and I will make a report there. blacklistseller.com It can be helpful for avoiding scammers and it did recently help me recover my money when I was sold a pen with a tine that is broken at the very tip - the break could not be seen in the photos - and the seller refused to refund me. (Not a scammer in this case - just a stubborn person with no knowledge of fountain pens.)

[Gloucesterman]

36 minutes ago, PithyProlix said:

 

Yeah, I didn't mention that we have an informational website for reporting bad sales and I will make a report there. blacklistseller.com It can be helpful for avoiding scammers and it did recently help me recover my money when I was sold a pen with a tine that is broken at the very tip - the break could not be seen in the photos - and the seller refused to refund me. (Not a scammer in this case - just a stubborn person with no knowledge of fountain pens.)

Thank you for following up so quickly.

[inkstainedruth]

1 hour ago, Gloucesterman said:

Unless it can be used against YOU, I suggest YOU report it/file a complaint or whatever. At leas YOU have TAKEN ACTION!

One of our greatest presidents said, "The only thing that lets evil/bad people (etc.) triumph is for good people to do nothing!

Who knows, perhaps your effort WILL MAKE A Difference.

Just mho.

In my experience, FB doesn't give a rat's (bleep) about bad posts or bad posters.  

Several years ago, I reported a guy hitting on women (including me) on a business's page and got told, "Oh, well, the guy didn't actually say anything *offensive*...."   But the guy had ALSO swiped the avatar image of some guy in Florida, and had changed one letter of that person's last name.  And my response to FB?  "Oh, so *identity theft* is PERFECTLY OKAY with you people?" 

And now?  There is NO way to contact anyone at FB to make complaints to.  The only thing you can do is block the trolls, or "hide" the stupid ads that get shoved into your feed (for some reason, FB has decided I should see ads from vanity press publishers -- and I've taken to telling FB that that they're "repetitive"....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[PithyProlix]

16 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

Well, I got scammed. Facebook seller blocked me, which is a sure sign. I have gotten pretty good at IDing scammers but this one was quite sophisticated. 

 

Hold your hat because I just received a package from the seller! It's not the 149 advertised - not that girthy. While I am a newbie in the land of Montblanc 146 & 149, for now I am suspecting it is a very well-made fake of a 2000-2001 146-ish "Pix". Reading information about IDing 146s everything seems to be correct but there is no serial number and the capped length is 149mm. I will take some photos and inquire in the Montblanc forum when I get some time.

[gweimer1]

3 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

 

Hold your hat because I just received a package from the seller! It's not the 149 advertised - not that girthy. While I am a newbie in the land of Montblanc 146 & 149, for now I am suspecting it is a very well-made fake of a 2000-2001 146-ish "Pix". Reading information about IDing 146s everything seems to be correct but there is no serial number and the capped length is 149mm. I will take some photos and inquire in the Montblanc forum when I get some time.

 

I had a Montblanc Queen Elizabeth I at one point, and shortly after I got it, I spotted a fake on eBay.  I picked it up for $50 just to see how it matched up.   There are some really good fakes out there.  The nib/section may be the biggest giveaway.  Check it closely to see if it's a genuine nib or not.

[carola]

22 hours ago, gweimer1 said:

 

I would argue that looking for fountain pens at a flea market is intent to buy.

 

No no no no! You don´t go to a flea market with the intention to buy something. You go to a flea market to take a little stroll, to see the colourful offerings and all the people, to casually see what "treasures" there are and laugh a bit at people who will buy all of this while you yourself of course have NO intention at all to take ANYTHING home, all that crazy stuff there...

... and then BANG! There it is. Your personal treasure. And you just can´t leave it there. Impossible! (While someone is looking over your shoulder, thinking "Who the hell is going to buy those fountain pens?! Crazy!")

 

So... very impulsive!

[gweimer1]

27 minutes ago, carola said:

 

No no no no! You don´t go to a flea market with the intention to buy something. You go to a flea market to take a little stroll, to see the colourful offerings and all the people, to casually see what "treasures" there are and laugh a bit at people who will buy all of this while you yourself of course have NO intention at all to take ANYTHING home, all that crazy stuff there...

... and then BANG! There it is. Your personal treasure. And you just can´t leave it there. Impossible! (While someone is looking over your shoulder, thinking "Who the hell is going to buy those fountain pens?! Crazy!")

 

So... very impulsive!

 

Denial.  😜

[carola]

18 minutes ago, gweimer1 said:

 

Denial.  😜

 

Tsss... Nonsense.

[Inky_Ben]

Denial is not just a river in Egypt.  Sorry.  Dad joke.  Couldn't resist.

[Doug C]

1 hour ago, carola said:

 

Tsss... Nonsense.

You speak the truth!!!😝

[Paul-in-SF]

I bought a Webster pen a couple of days ago, for only the reason that I wanted to see what kind of filler it is, and it's cheap enough I can take a few chances on taking it apart. I think it's probably a vacuum filler, and may be difficult to repair. 

[Boston Brian]

Makes buying a Mont Blanc from almost anyone scary, but I guess when something is too good to be true price wise, it ought to be a red flag!

As dumb as I am I have never swopped a cow for magic beans! LOL

[inkstainedruth]

I found a pen at a flea market precisely once, as I recall (maybe twice).  

There's a weekly one just west of Washington PA (spring through fall, IIRC) in the parking lot of a minor league baseball team, and I went there one Saturday a few years ago on a lark. Didn't see anything (pens or anything else) I wanted, and at that point I was starting to get hungry (the thing opens around 8 AM and is close to an hour south of me.  So I was slogging back to where my car was parked, and happened to be walking past a table where the guy was having a conversation with some other customer (I don't even remember what now -- might have been about provenance of stuff) and I kinda got sucked into it.  And then got talking to the guy at the table himself, and he said, "Oh, I think I might have a pen in the truck...."  And pulled a fairly large corrugated cardboard box out of the cab (the truck was parked behind his table) and started rummaging through the box and pulled out what turned out to be a Wherever (have no idea of the model).  And I was going, "Okay, it's Wearever, it's a 3rd tier brand but I know that some people like them.  Got some name engraved on the barrel...." and started to hand the pen back to the guy.  Only he said, "Keep it!  I can't sell it...."   (I'm not sure why the guy thought that....)

It's one of the few pens I've ever gotten that I've been able to track down any info about the name on a pen.  I did a Google search and found some website that had images of old newspapers on it.  And there was one area newspaper reproduction from IIRC the early 1940s, which showed a classified ad for some jewelry store in Canonsburg, PA, and the place was named for the owner of the store -- which was the name on the pen!  (More recently, the storefront had been turned into an antiques shop (under a different name), but that business seems to have either gone to online only or closed outright; I kept meaning to take the pen down there to show around to the place, but never got a chance.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[Gloucesterman]

On 4/21/2025 at 2:57 PM, gweimer1 said:

I would argue that looking for fountain pens at a flea market is intent to buy.

I would contend that looking at anything which is for sale is just looking.

The impulse is the actual activity to "price" and possibly purchase.

If you go someplace and "look" at stuff which might be of interest to you (even if you are not interested in buying something) and then you are offered a spectacular "deal" most people would buy (if they are able to do so.

 

The impulse is in the purchasing, not the looking. I would wager that "we" pen people are always "looking", ALWAYS!

[fullfederhalter]

9 hours ago, Gloucesterman said:

I would contend that looking at anything which is for sale is just looking.

The impulse is the actual activity to "price" and possibly purchase.

If you go someplace and "look" at stuff which might be of interest to you (even if you are not interested in buying something) and then you are offered a spectacular "deal" most people would buy (if they are able to do so.

 

The impulse is in the purchasing, not the looking. I would wager that "we" pen people are always "looking", ALWAYS!

I agree completely.  I do go to flea markets regularly and always have hopes of finding a pen I want at a bargain price.  But I never know what (if anything) I will find and at what price.  In recent years more vendors have become increasingly savvy about pens and bargains are much more difficult to find.  So, I may see perhaps four or five different pens yet walk away empty handed because the pens are not desirable to me because of price, condition, or model.  So, when I do find a pen which I like and believe it is fairly priced, it is very much an impulse buy.   

[RedPie]

On 4/22/2025 at 1:49 PM, carola said:

 

No no no no! You don´t go to a flea market with the intention to buy something. You go to a flea market to take a little stroll, to see the colourful offerings and all the people, to casually see what "treasures" there are and laugh a bit at people who will buy all of this while you yourself of course have NO intention at all to take ANYTHING home, all that crazy stuff there...

... and then BANG! There it is. Your personal treasure. And you just can´t leave it there. Impossible! (While someone is looking over your shoulder, thinking "Who the hell is going to buy those fountain pens?! Crazy!")

 

So... very impulsive!

That is exactly how it is! Perfect explanation! 

[Arthur Pewty]

Conklin Nozac, 14K M nib and cocobolo finish. LE for Fountain Pen Hospital. The cap band says "Nozac", but unlike the original "no sack" piston fillers from the 1930s this uses an ordinary converter or cartridge.