What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[emetoyer]

I have a couple of Jinhao 80, remarkable smooth writer and reminiscent to the modernist German penmaker’s products. Great on substandard paper, smooth as silk on Crane note cards

On 1/25/2026 at 12:02 PM, Russprechtl said:

After finding out how well they work on the worst copy paper imaginable (Amazon Basics), I picked up several Jinhao 80s in EF. They are some of the finest I've ever used and work beautifully on that paper, which seems akin to writing on a paper towel!

 

[Penguincollector]

On 1/19/2026 at 12:37 PM, lascosas said:

1960s Platinum leather, I think sheepskin, three, each with a slightly different look:

  These are beautiful! I love the patterns.

[Russprechtl]

7 hours ago, emetoyer said:

I have a couple of Jinhao 80, remarkable smooth writer and reminiscent to the modernist German penmaker’s products. Great on substandard paper, smooth as silk on Crane note cards

 

I've never tried those note cards. I'll have to check them out. Thanks for the tip!

[psimpson130]

I just bought a Monteverde Tool Yellow fountain Pen. It is a pen, with a level and a couple of screwdriver heads as well as being tablet friendly.

 

I have a couple of ball point versions.

[Misfit]

5 hours ago, psimpson130 said:

I just bought a Monteverde Tool Yellow fountain Pen. It is a pen, with a level and a couple of screwdriver heads as well as being tablet friendly.

 

I have a couple of ball point versions.

Congratulations on a great purchase. I have the fountain pen version in the rainbow color.  I gave my brother the yellow version for Christmas. 
 

I tested the level vs. a proper level, and they matched up well. The cartridge will likely be in the barrel of the pen when you get it. There are instructions on the included paper that will be helpful to getting the cartridge in the pen. 

[PithyProlix]

On 1/20/2026 at 3:37 AM, lascosas said:

1960s Platinum leather, I think sheepskin, three, each with a slightly different look:

 

This is the Amazonas model (PAM-8000) with Surinam toad (Pipa pipa) skin, from the 1970s. This looks like the light brown version. There were four other colors: dark brown, green, red, and pink. 

 

I have only one - it's dark brown - though I'd like to get the other colors. I think you will really like the nibs.

 

Great catch!

[Penguincollector]

1 hour ago, PithyProlix said:

 

This is the Amazonas model (PAM-8000) with Surinam toad (Pipa pipa) skin, from the 1970s. This looks like the light brown version. There were four other colors: dark brown, green, red, and pink. 

 

I have only one - it's dark brown - though I'd like to get the other colors. I think you will really like the nibs.

 

Great catch!

  I thought that’s what these were, but I wasn’t sure if other models might’ve had the skin pattern embossed or not. 

[psimpson130]

On 1/28/2026 at 4:09 AM, Misfit said:

Congratulations on a great purchase. I have the fountain pen version in the rainbow color.  I gave my brother the yellow version for Christmas. 
 

I tested the level vs. a proper level, and they matched up well. The cartridge will likely be in the barrel of the pen when you get it. There are instructions on the included paper that will be helpful to getting the cartridge in the pen. 

I have a couple of their ball points and have given them as gifts.

[AmandaW]

I ordered a Pilot Kakuno Madoromi Ivory with a fine nib so I could get free shipping of two Lamy Z28 converters.

 

Yeah, I'm taking lessons from @boilermaker1975...  It didn't take that much thinking cos I'm fond of the humble Kakuno and these fancy ones are even nicer.

 

 

[Misfit]

@AmandaW I ordered a Kakuno too, the girl version from the family series. I have the Mama and Papa ones. 

[boilermaker1975]

10 hours ago, AmandaW said:

I ordered a Pilot Kakuno Madoromi Ivory with a fine nib so I could get free shipping of two Lamy Z28 converters.

 

Yeah, I'm taking lessons from @boilermaker1975...  It didn't take that much thinking cos I'm fond of the humble Kakuno and these fancy ones are even nicer.

 

 

 

@AmandaW The Diamine 80 ml bottles were $8.28 and the Waterman bottles $9.20 from Cult Pens. About half the cost of anywhere else.

[PithyProlix]

 

I neglected to write that the Dunhill has an M nib - this might be one of the only unaltered Mediums that I actually like and I think will be a top-shelf writer. I didn't see many of the fluted version of this model online. But you could probably polish the cap & barrel all day, every day and it would still look like it was full of fingerprints. Oh well.

[Ceramicist]

6 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

 

I neglected to write that the Dunhill has an M nib - this might be one of the only unaltered Mediums that I actually like and I think will be a top-shelf writer. I didn't see many of the fluted version of this model online. But you could probably polish the cap & barrel all day, every day and it would still look like it was full of fingerprints. Oh well.

Both beautiful pens. I love the green!

[PithyProlix]

Pineider Egosphere in a, well, pine green ... Hard to find much on this model and I'd appreciate any information. I believe this might is the original version from the 1990s, maybe made by Omas??? Believe it or not, that's a screw-on cap.

 

This was about as impulsive as it gets for me, which is pretty darn cowboy:

• It was a tip from a pen friend,
• I didn't know squat about the brand much other than they are Italian and are probably pretty good,
• while I think the price might have been good, it wasn't my typical spontaneous-purchase-qualifying bargain,
• probably not an easy resale if I find I don't like it, and
• it sure is real purty, ain't it?

A couple photos from the seller:

 

[inkstainedruth]

@PithyProlix -- OOOOOH!  I've never seen a 75 in that color before... (I now have a couple of the sterling Ciselé ones, with different nibs on them).  

As for the Pineider?  That pen is HUGE!  Is it heavy?  A lot of large pens are -- but the Sheaffer Balance Oversize that had been my husband's grandfather's pen is a lot lighter weight than I would have expected it to have been for the size.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Penguincollector]

  Wow @PithyProlix, these are all super cool! The Pineider is a beautiful color, and certainly unique. I like it, it has a certain something. I haven’t met a Pineider nib that I haven’t liked yet. The malachite 75 is out of this world. I love that you’re collecting the lacquer ones, they are so beautiful. I love all of the different 75 finishes, but those are next level. The Dunhill is beautiful in its restraint, I like the shape and the stripes. The inks you wrote in are very pretty as well.

[Doug C]

2 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

Pineider Egosphere in a, well, pine green ... Hard to find much on this model and I'd appreciate any information. I believe this might is the original version from the 1990s, maybe made by Omas??? Believe it or not, that's a screw-on cap.

 

This was about as impulsive as it gets for me, which is pretty darn cowboy:

• It was a tip from a pen friend,
• I didn't know squat about the brand much other than they are Italian and are probably pretty good,
• while I think the price might have been good, it wasn't my typical spontaneous-purchase-qualifying bargain,
• probably not an easy resale if I find I don't like it, and
• it sure is real purty, ain't it?

A couple photos from the seller:

 

I think i saw this for sale and was really tempted by it a number of times.

Really unique and beautiful!

[Scribs]

I wasn't able to resist the 40% off this weekend for Namisu's Nova in Titamium on their website. I also opted for the petrol blue titanium clip.

[PithyProlix]

8 hours ago, Doug C said:

I think i saw this for sale and was really tempted by it a number of times.

Really unique and beautiful!

 

This particular pen was never listed publicly - just a friend of a friend's pen. The set of folks here that are interested in vintage fountain pens and also not focused on Montblanc seems fairly small. 

 

Though I didn't remember the seller yesterday when I contacted him, going through my records just now, it turns out that I bought this nice Elite with a Script nib from him a few months ago. 

 

[Doug C]

2 minutes ago, PithyProlix said:

 

This particular pen was never listed publicly - just a friend of a friend's pen. The set of folks here that are interested in vintage fountain pens and also not focused on Montblanc seems fairly small. 

 

Though I didn't remember the seller yesterday when I contacted him, going through my records just now, it turns out that I bought this nice Elite with a Script nib from him a few months ago. 

 

There must be 2 of them out there. The one I saw was on FPG.