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Best "steal"


Waltz For Zizi

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I don't mean to brag or anything, I'm just curious.

I live in a country which most of the world would consider poor, and it realy is for most of us, so I don't have a large amount of money to spend on pens, and I like expensive pens, why wouldn't I, that's why I rely on buying on online sites, where people sell different items, including fountain pens. I rarely buy fountain pens from the store, my most expensive one was a Pelikan m600, for 290$, but that's not the point.

The point is that recently got a very nice deal on some pens, new, 8 to be exact :

3 Lamy dialog (shiny white and black, mate black)

2 lamy 2000 (f and BB nibs)

1 Lamy scala (the 50 years aniversary, with gold nib)

1 Pelikan m200

1 waterman hemisphere ombres and lumieres

 

all for the mere price of 330$, which is cheaper than a single lamy dialog 3 sells in my country.

If this is not a steal, I don't know what is.

And one of them, the white dialog 3 is one of my grail pens, now, what would be the odds of that?!

 

I also got a few years ago a new Aurora venezia roller with an mrsp of about 1000$ for 50$, and others, mostly ballpoints which I eventually ended up selling because I don't use ballpoins.

 

So I'm curious what is for you, your best "steal", or am I the only one scavenging for pens.

Edited by Waltz For Zizi
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You made great purchases.

 

My best steals have been the ones my kids gave me. It usually involves them hitting me up for money. :)

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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You made great purchases.

 

My best steals have been the ones my kids gave me. It usually involves them hitting me up for money. :)

 

I am literally spraying water on my laptop. Thanks a lot! :D

- Will
Restored Pens and Sketches on Instagram @redeempens

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ROFL

Fountain pens are my preferred COLOR DELIVERY SYSTEM (in part because crayons melt in Las Vegas).

Create a Ghostly Avatar and I'll send you a letter. Check out some Ink comparisons: The Great PPS Comparison 

Don't know where to start?  Look at the Inky Topics O'day.  Then, see inks sorted by color: Blue Purple Brown Red Green Dark Green Orange Black Pinks Yellows Blue-Blacks Grey/Gray UVInks Turquoise/Teal MURKY

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hi Waltz,

 

WOW! All those pens... NEW... for $330! That is a "steal." Are you sure they didn't fall off the truck*? :rolleyes:

 

Enjoy. :)

 

So far, I haven't gotten any great deals on a fp. I consider it a steal of a deal when I pay list price, but actually get what I paid for... a pen with no blemishes with a smooth, wet nib. Fortunately, I have got a few of those. :)

 

Be well and enjoy life. Congratulations. :)

 

 

- Anthony

 

*: American slang expression for buying/receiving stolen merchandise. (Just teasing... out of envy... no accusations made or implied). :D

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*: American slang expression for buying/receiving stolen merchandise. (Just teasing... out of envy... no accusations made or implied). :D

 

So what should be the appropriate term? A good deal?

 

It happens once in a while these kind of things, but you have to be on your toes, to snatch it, so to speak. People who have no idea about fountain pens, get them from a dead relative, or something like that and sell them in bunch. This person I bought them from had a lot more, but I'm not buying to make money out of them, I bought only what I would use.

Also, I once missed the chance to buy some very nice parkers, mostly duofolds for about 35$ each. That was a bummer. Someone got them before me.

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*: American slang expression for buying/receiving stolen merchandise. (Just teasing... out of envy... no accusations made or implied). :D

 

So what should be the appropriate term? A good deal?

 

Hi Waltz,

 

No, you were fine with a "steal" of a deal... I was explaining my line about the pens "falling off the truck"; in other words, they didn't REALLY fall off the truck... they were lifted off the truck. ;)

 

Sorry for the confusion... it seems wherever it is I go; confusion follows. :lol:

 

 

- Anthony

 

 

Edited by ParkerDuofold
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That catch in the OP is pretty ridiculous.

 

My best are probably...

 

- a teal English 51, long arrow, factory stub for 66 USD

- a midnight blue '48 51 aero fp/mp set with the wide band lustraloy cap I got in a lot, so it effectively cost me ~36 USD for the pair

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It doesn't sound like a deal, but I won an Omas Extra ringtop with a very nice nib for the starting price of $150, while another seller has listed a BROKEN one for $1200!

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I don't know that any of my purchases would qualify as a real "steal," but I have been gifted some nice Fountain pens I was once gifted a nice, functional, blue Esterbrook transitional J, I think, fountain pen. I've been gifted a Parker "51" that needs work, and a Montblanc that also needs work.

 

Now years ago I did buy Sheaffer cartridge pens for, at most, $5 each, and some Parker 45s for around that price or a little more. They probably wouldn't be classified as "steals" by anyone, but they were a lot less than people are asking for them today.

 

On a sacred quest for the perfect blue ink mixture!

ink stained wretch filling inkwell

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counting only ebay and online auctions, and not the real "sumgai" finds i've picked up in garage sales and such, some of my best steals would be:

 

1. a parker 51 plum (yes, the real plum) in mint condition for $25 buy-it-now;

2. a pelikan M800 in red stripes for $160;

3. a MB 149 with a BB italic nib for $140;

4. a MB oscar wilde for $450;

5. a 1928 sheaffer lifetime oversize in black and pearl (very little discoloration) for $50; and

6. a morrison's gold filigree oversize in excellent condition for $41.

 

just this past month, i was able to land

 

7. a pelikan M700 toledo and a mint M800 in green stripes for $500;

8. a MB 234 1/2 set in excellent condition for $175; and

9. a 1928 sheaffer lifetime oversize in black in excellent condition for $50.

 

the key to a "steal," i think, is to be aware of the going prices for the pens you want (or to be able to check them quickly online) and also to decide quickly before someone else scoops up the bargain.

Edited by penmanila

Check out my blog and my pens

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From a $50 take-a-chance junker lot with only one bad picture on EBay:

 

1) Genuine Duo Vac / Vacu Fold

2) Conklin Nozak

3) Parker 51 Aero

 

All near mint...

 

https://blog.triumphvintagepens.com/2014/07/12/restoration-service-of-a-genuine-1942-blue-striated-parker-duovac-vacufold/

 

Glenn

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Quite a while back, I was the only bidder on a pen lot auction on Ebay that only had one blurry picture. Ended at $.99 with $3.95 shipping. The lot was mostly junk except for a Cartier platinum trim composite Diabolo.

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I found a Cross Townsend II in a Duty Free kiosk in Cairo Airport years ago that the employees had forgotten about. The inventory system discounted it over the years until it was priced at 9 USD.

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Best steal?

 

 

My wife Laura from her ex-husband.

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Best response yet!!!!!

Best steal?


My wife Laura from her ex-husband.

...............................................................

We Are Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams

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I'm sort of the queen of cheap.

My best "steals"? One was the Parker 41 I found in a box of mostly ballpoints at an estate sale a couple of years ago -- I could have bought the entire box for $5 US (but why would I?) and dug through it to see if there was anything worth getting. I paid 50¢ for the pen. It's worth around fifty bucks. The other, a recent purchase, was a Cross Verve, found in a thrift store which specializes in arts and crafts materials. I paid a buck. Didn't even know what it was, except that it was a Cross fountain pen. Someone in my pen club looked it up, and told me that there was a titanium finish one on eBay for $400.... And I've seen one almost identical to mine, except for the nib width (not sure if that one had a gold nib or not -- mine doesn't) for $185 :o.

Penmanilla has me beat for Plum 51 pricing: roughly third of what I paid for mine on eBay -- and I thought I got a pretty decent deal, especially since the previous Plum Demi I'd bid on went for over $100 (I dropped out in the $70s.... That even beats Farmersmum, who snagged a Plummer listed as black the same weekend I got mine (I didn't pay attention to the listing because it was listed as being a black pen; and of course I had completely forgotten I'd also bid on a black 51 Vac, which I also won -- no one else bid on it, probably because there was a chip on the underside of the hood, and it had the cap for a 51 Special, but it also had free shipping.

Even my top line purchases (the two M405s) I didn't pay MSRP for because I got them from Rolf Thiel at Missing Pens, and didn't therefore have to pay the markup US dealers have to charge to get the pens through Chartpak....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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