Your Ancestors' Pens

[stephanos]

As an addendum to my original post: my wife inherited her mother's Montblanc 221, in its original case. I've cleaned it up and It still writes beautifully.

 

It's really interesting to see the range of pens that have been passed down; a mix between well-known (legacy/established) brands like Parker and Sheaffer, and exotic blasts-from-the-past (to me, anyway) with whimsical names like Eggans Hambler or Joker. It makes me wonder which contemporary brands will survive a generation from now.

[Kenlowe]

I will leave a Parker 51 and a 149, I have a new 149 that I havent used.

[rwilsonedn]

I've been fortunate enough to receive several family pens, some with stories. One is a Sheaffer Balance that was presented to a family friend when he retired from the US Customs Office. One is a little Duofold ringtop that my mother was given as a high school graduation present, and that she used in college, I think without ever realizing that my grandparents had broken the piggy bank to buy her such a nice pen. One is a pristine Eversharp Skyline with my stepdad's name on it--which is peculiar, because as far as I know he only wrote in pencil. And one is a small pearl dip-pen holder with an absolute nail of a gold nib--a mystery pen in that I don't know whose it was, and I don't know that many examples of completely rigid gold dip nibs. The world's fanciest posting pen, maybe?

ron

[DrDebG]

Last week I visited my mother and brother. My brother handed me a box and told me that the contents were mine since I have always liked fountain pens. They were my father's fountain pens. They aren't really old, and they were his work pens, but they were his. He has been gone now for years, but I still miss him.

 

1) Pelikan P488 Silvexa

2) Pelikan M30 with gold nib

3) Waterman Master with 18k nib

4) Waterman Laureat

5) Waterman C/F - probably the oldest of the group.

 

Each one is in very good condition and immaculate. I've filled each one and marvel at how well they write. I have always wanted a Pelikan, and now I have 2.

 

Of all of my pens, the one that would be the best remembrance of me is my Franklin Christoph Panther 40 with 14K Matsuyama medium italic nib. This pen is a complete one of a kind and is the closest thing to a "grail pen" that I have.

[kulindi]

I have inherited a beautiful Conway Stewart 286 that belonged to my Grandmother. As a very young child growing up in the UK in the early 1950's I can remember her using it. It was her pride and joy and she guarded it well. I consider it a real privilege to own and it now rests proudly in my collection. A Conway Stewart 286 in the beautiful "Autumn Leaves" colour.

[welch]

My Dad had a Parker Vacumatic, marbled, that my mother saved and saved to give him when he went to joint his ship in the Pacific, 1943. "I wrote a lot of letters with that pen".

 

I smashed it when I was two or three years old. Still ashamed, but I bought him a duplicate from Vac-u-mania. Dad had tears when he saw it.

 

I've set aside Parker 51 sets for each of my grandsons. One a black aero, another a 51 Vac. Most recent is a Forest Green with original case that looks like it just came home from the pen counter at a good department store.

Edited June 22, 2016 by welch

[Flippy]

My grandfather claims he has an old Parker pen. I showed him this website (http://parkerpens.net/apis.html ) and asked him which pen he had. He couldn't really find a match, but he said it looked like a pen that turned out to be the Parker 21,,,,

[sd10521]

I inherited three Esterbrooks from my mom. Well I took them because she didn't use them anymore and I had quite a lot of fun with them in high school in the early seventies. I found them again a few years ago and cleaned them up and eventually had them resacked. It's amazing how great these things write for the price they were selling for back then. Even by today's pricing they are a great writing instrument.

They write as well or even nicer than any of my more expensive pens.

Alas I have nobody to pass them on to who would even slightly appreciate them or any of my other pens, so I made a list of what my girlfriend should expect to sell most of them for when I drop dead.

[AAAndrew]

No inherited fountain pens. I did inherit a few vintage dip nibs, but only one or two of them are still around (they are more disposable) but they did get me started down the dip pen collecting route. Now I have a sizable collection and only a couple of nieces who evince even the slightest interest in them. Hopefully I'll be able to use them for quite a while. I suspect, if I'm able to grow old as I wish, at some point I will thin my collection a great deal so that when I die there won't be that much to dispose of. I would rather find worthy inheritors while I'm still alive for much of it, even if they're strangers, than leave them to my son or whoever disposes of my stuff. I've been through too many of those exercises to see them as anything but "do what is easiest" rather than what's best. By that point, time is the enemy and expediency the primary impulse.

 

I'd like my son to have my Sheaffer vacuum fill pens, my first Targa and my everyday carry TWSBI Mini as sentimental pens. Other than that I would hope he would want something from my growing Esterbrook collection as I like them so much.