Buying Pens For Special Occasions

[Misfit]

We buy pens for many different reasons. Mostly, I buy a pen because I saw one, and wanted it. But there have been a few instances when they were bought to mark an occasion special to me.

 

For instance, when the Royals were in the World Series in 2014, I bought a Lamy Al-Star ocean blue to mark the occasion. If the Chiefs make the Super Bowl this season, I will get a red Lamy Safari.

 

For the staging of The 2020 Ring Cycle in Chicago, my brother and I are getting a pen an opera. I based the color theme on a set of CDs we both own of the operas. I can look at my aqua Nemosine Singularity and think of Die Walküre.

 

Has anyone else done something like this? I know some people here post about buying a pen around the time they finish dissertations. What about other occasions to mark with a pen? Please share.

[Driften]

When I put my first novel in the Amazon store I bought a Montblanc Skywalker. It kickstarted my collecting FP's again after around ten years of not buying FP's.

[inkstainedruth]

Yes. About 6 years ago I got the highest level award for service in the organization my husband and I belong to. To celebrate I got my first Pelikan, a 1990s era M400 Brown Tortoise in an auction on eBay. It was, at the time, the most expensive pen I'd ever bought by far, and my husband was flipping out over the price. Even when I told him that (a) it was WAY cheaper than a new one would be; and ( Pelikan didn't make that color any more. (Of course then a couple of years later they went and made a liar out of me.... )

I've since gotten a couple of more expensive pens (also both Pelikans, as it happens): the M405 Stresemann, and an M405 in the Striated Blue. Those were sort of "special occasion" pens as well. The last year I worked for my husband's sideline business I ended being comped instead of getting a paycheck, and part of that money went to those two pens. Of course then I got the phone call from PayPal, double-checking that it was a legitimate charge....

For our 30th anniversary, I dragged my husband to the Triangle Pen Show, and he didn't cringe TOO badly in the Saturday night auction, when I was the high bidder on an English-made Navy Gray Parker 51 Aerometric with an OB nib (I also got a Midnight Blue 51 Aero that weekend). And for our anniversary this year, I ended up buying a TWSBI 580-ALR in purple, with a 1.1 mm stub nib (boy is that pen a gusher, though -- writes better upside down... )

Last year for Christmas I got a Pilot Decimo in Light Grey (to replace the one I'd lost); this year for Christmas it was a NOS Parker Vector "Geometric". A few years before that, it wasn't a pen, but the Diamine Flower Collection boxed set.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Karmachanic]

I purchased a MB 234 1/2 for my Xmas present to myself, and a Pelikan Tortoise for my birthday. Woo Hoo! It'll soon be Valentines

[OmegaMountain]

On trips, I will buy a pen or watch. Or both. Last year I bought the Eboya Manten they made for the Mitsukoshi Pen Fair when I went to Japan. A few years ago I bought my Lamy Studio in Lucerne Switzerland. I tried to buy a nice pen the last time I was in Edinburgh, but after a half hour of both saleswomen ignoring me to accommodate another customer that I'm not sure even bought anything, I simply left.

Edited January 14, 2020 by OmegaMountain

[Al-Nasser]

Well... the begining of a new month seems a reasonable occasion for me to buy a new pen or pen related item!!

[Parker51]

Sort of.

I used to try to buy Fountain Pens when I went on vacation or trip and shopped at a new (to me) brick and mortar store that I included as part of that activity, but in recent years I have not been able to locate any stores to make purchases from. As example, a vacation in Conneticut last fall resulted in buying some great seafood and a nice Hitchcock chair as well,as some interesting antiques, but, I was unable to locate any place selling Fountain Pens and while tempted to stop in NYC to go to FPH, dealing with NYC traffic just wasn't worth it, especially given their online presence and despite having a gift card from them.

In regard to special occasions, I am no longer doing this, but others have and have given me Fountain Pens. Most recently was last year when I retired and I received two Fountain Pens. One, a Conklin Liminited Edition Duraflex Freedom Fountain Pen with an Omniflex nib, from my coworkers, which was personalized with my name and one from a former colleague of mine, a Bexley 20th Aniversary Piston Fill pen in red and black, with a Fine 14K Gold nib which he had purchased when we had gone to a Pen Show together a few years ago and had hardly used.

In regard to other special occasions; my wife has remarked that as I either have or can buy anything I want, she doesn't see any reason to buy me any more. This is a shame, but true. In the past she has bought me some very nice Fountain Pens that I value very much that she surprised me with including a Waterman 100 year to mark my Birthday and the impending birth of our daughter, and a Pelikan Niagara Falls to mark our Aniversary and as a remembrance of our honeymoon there. But the days she could go into a store, select a pen for me and buy it as she did 27 years ago are all unfortunately gone as the retailors are gone, and even the online hunt, such as she took to locate the Niagara Falls Pelikan a few years ago are not what they once were as many of them have disappeared and or their stocks have disappeared.

She did however last year surprise me with an Edison nouveau winter 2019 special edition in cranberry as a way to mark my birthday and the Central Ohio Pen Club field trip to Edison pens in the fall of 2018.

Edited January 14, 2020 by Parker51

[Misfit]

Great stories of many special pens and times. Keep them coming!

[SoulSamurai]

I bought a Pilot Capless Bamboo for my birthday last year. It didn't fit my hand very well though and I ended up giving it to my sister.

[SpecTP]

we all find all sorts of 'excuses' to purchase fountain pens.. ;-p

[corgicoupe]

I bought a sterling silver Targa at the Atlanta Pen Show for our 25th anniversary.

[Misfit]

Well sure, my usual excuse is I have put up with a lot, so I deserve a new pen. But did you purposely choose a pen for a certain occasion or event?

[Uncial]

On trips. It holds a nice memory. I'm sure there's a name for it in pyschology circles.

[tamiya]

On trips. It holds a nice memory. I'm sure there's a name for it in pyschology circles.

Probably something along lines of "memento", for sure buying a nice pen to cement one's travel memories beats pointless "souvenir" trinkets anyway. Plus we always bring back the ballpoints from hotels ever been to hotels where different room tiers get different pens?!?

 

Wristwatches too. But getting wary of fact I only have 2 wrists, I don't really need more watches... plus those wrists are both girly small, current trend of giant humongous timepieces don't sit right.

[N1003U]

For very special events that require my signature (such as buying a house or car or (ages ago) getting married), I have been known to buy special pens for the occasion.

 

I also have a couple of clients who I know enjoy fountain pens, and I endeavor to bring along a nice pen or two for signing contracts, after which I will offer the pen(s) as a memento of the occasion.

 

I also once bought a pen specifically for the purpose of giving a presentation on how a fountain pen works (I was taking a foreign language course, and one of the requirements was to prepare a presentation on the topic of my choice). It was a Lamy Safari that could be relatively easily disassembled and passed around the room, then re-assembled, inked, and demonstrated.

 

Otherwise, I try very hard to gift fountain pens to anyone who I know already has an interest in them, or to try to kindle the interest in people who seem tentatively interested. I find FPs are still fairly unique as gifts go these days--I have never had the problem of someone giving the same gift, the receiver tends to appreciate the thought, and of course fountain pen addicts are always excited about a new pen, regardless of the make, model, or price.

Edited January 17, 2020 by N1003U

[Runnin_Ute]

As I read this thread, I wondered how many pens were "special occasion" acquisitions. As it turns out, quite a few. Either birthday, anniversary or Christmas I counted no less than eight! Five Pelikans (140, 3 M200'S and a M400), a Platinum 3776 Century Borgogne, a True Writer Silver Anniversary and a TWSBI 580. Oh, there was a Guider Capsule I bought through a group buy that arrived a couple of weeks before I got my current job. But that was a long term project that was coincidental in timing of arrival.

[Misfit]

I was going to buy a Lamy Safari in red for the Kansas City Chiefs going to the Super Bowl. But it had to come from a seller who lets us buy the pen with italic nibs at no extra charge. The pen itself was out of stock at one seller. The other seller was out of 1.1mm nibs.

 

So I looked at Kaweco, and opted for the red Ice Sport with 1.1mm italic nib. It will be the pen to commemorate the Chiefs in Super Bowl 54.

 

And it will pair well with my green Ice Sport at Christmas time. :-)

[corniche]

When I put my first novel in the Amazon store I bought a Montblanc Skywalker. It kickstarted my collecting FP's again after around ten years of not buying FP's.

I remember when I finished my first book; it took me 3 years, but well worth the struggle. I celebrated with a Pelikan M200, classic black.

 

Then I decided I'd read another.

 

 

Sean

[corniche]

I bought a sterling silver Targa at the Atlanta Pen Show for our 25th anniversary.

Hi CorgiCoupe,

 

Great pen! 👍

 

Congratulations. 🥳

 

 

Sean 🙂

Edited January 20, 2020 by corniche

[pajaro]

I did this once that I can remember, a trip to see relatives in Boston with my mother, in 1990. I bought a Montblanc 144 fountain pen in fine and in the wine red color. The pen is still a favorite and reminds me of how special the trip was. Most of the people I saw then have passed on. I feel like the last of a group of relatives who had a lot of good times together over many years. The pen is quite special.

 

I think if you buy a lot of pens to mark occasions, the specialness might be lost. Having few or even just one special pen makes it more special. Marking every occasion under the sun would lose the special quality and make it like a museum collection, and eventually a chore.