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How do you limit your collecting (if you do)


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How do you limit your fountain pen buying (if you do)  

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  1. 1. How do you limit your fountain pen buying, if you do?

    • Budget per year (etc.)
      6
    • Limit to specific category/ies of pen
      8
    • Limit to specific model of pen
      3
    • Limit to specific maker of pens
      4
    • Limit total number of pens
      11
    • Limit number of pens per year (etc.)
      4
    • One (or multiple?) pens per publication/promotion/birthday/other achievement or milestone (give us details, please)
      4
    • Other (please let us know bellow)
      17


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1 hour ago, MoriartyR said:

Or, honestly, because I’m a man and we tend to have these preoccupations for a few years and then get interested in something else.

Indeed.  For me, it was computers (it got to the point where I was buying specific parts and building my own computer), then photography, then headphones (Amps/DAC's...the works), and now... fountain pens.  I have not yet lost interest and likely will not (famous last words) once I'm using them.

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been through the HIFI and Photography phase too... :lol:

 

I think we all have a budget limit, despite we don't like the fact... the important point is to be objectively reasonable... (I don't set a rigid limit, but I keep it under control of my possibilities)

 

my limit is often my own specific interest, which is not easily defined into categories. I'm a user, and partially a collector (otherwise I would not be able to explain why I have in some cases multiples of the same pen, just for the pleasure), with time interest has changed, some pens no longer attract me, some still do. That is often the guideline, limited by a not-irresponsible spending.

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2 hours ago, sansenri said:

with time interest has changed, some pens no longer attract me, some still do

which can be a problem with fpn - sometimes ignorance in bliss.  flicking through some of the older threads on fpn is particularly hazardous 

 

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2 hours ago, maclink said:

Indeed.  For me, it was computers (it got to the point where I was buying specific parts and building my own computer), then photography, then headphones (Amps/DAC's...the works), and now... fountain pens.  I have not yet lost interest and likely will not (famous last words) once I'm using them.

Have you considered the possibility that you are obsessive-compulsive disordered?

 

Just kidding -- we all are.

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45 minutes ago, ParramattaPaul said:

Have you considered the possibility that you are obsessive-compulsive disordered?

I know I am.  I'm not kidding either.  😬

 

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1 hour ago, maclink said:

I know I am.  I'm not kidding either.  😬

 

😄👍

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If I'm hunting in the wild, anything goes as long as it's reasonable quality and not too expensive. That's how I grew to love the Pelikano! Ditto for fixer-uppers.

 

My rules are some really strict negatives (NO Italian bling except Aurora), nothing above EUR 300 (can break this rule for Pelikans), NO metal bodies except Parker flighters, 75s and Waterman CFs.

 

Then I have a set of brands and models within those brands. And artisan makers who I try to support. 

 

My pen box has now become my Pelikan box.

My second pan box has now become my Platinum 3776 box.

🙂

 

Too many pens, too little time!

http://fountainpenlove.blogspot.fr/

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Me too, love the fixer-uppers!  When I started learning about fountain pens, I wasn't in a position to spend much money on pens.  Invaluable advice on this site taught me how to repair the vintage Sheaffers, Parkers, Eversharps, and Esterbrooks which I love.   I generally search ebay and estate sales for groups of pens, ideally with a pen that I want for my collection.  Then I repair what I can, sell some, and my pen budget and my parts box grows as my collection grows.

 

I've really tried to interest myself in new pens, Japanese pens, European pens, but I just think vintage American pens are so beautiful!  At least in the eye of this beholder.

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I only buy blue pens and pens of varying nib sizes (but I consider things like a Pelikan F is not necessarily a Sailor F). I still make mistakes where I like the idea of a pen more than what I end up receiving (eg. Nib sizes I thought I’d like), but you live and learn. 
 

Now if anyone had any advice on how to let go of pens, that would be wonderful. Even if I objectively know something isn’t working for me I am just awful at parting with stuff. 

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Hello - I do not have a budget, yet.  Working mostly on gut reflex for want.  Still too young at this to know better, yet.  I am learning.  

Still leaning to the lower than $300 level but love looking at the vintage.  Working on deciding which vintage one will be my first purchase.  Research and learning in progress.  

Thank-you to all for the advice and suggestions.  

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8 minutes ago, Joyanne964 said:

Hello - I do not have a budget, yet.  Working mostly on gut reflex for want.  Still too young at this to know better, yet.  I am learning.  

Still leaning to the lower than $300 level but love looking at the vintage.  Working on deciding which vintage one will be my first purchase.  Research and learning in progress.  

Thank-you to all for the advice and suggestions.  

You can get good writing vintage pens for way under $300 US, even factoring in the cost of repairs.  I think the most I ever paid (although it was a few years ago) was $175 for a 1950s era Pelikan 400).  And I've found a lot for a fraction of that price at estate sales, and in antiques shops, as well as on the Bay of Evil.  You just need to know what you're looking at, and know that you may have to pay a pro for repairs, and (especially for eBay) ask a lot of questions about the condition, for better photos, etc.  

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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I did not limit myself for a while, and I had sufficient disposable income to indulge my desires, which were mostly to be able to have and hold and use many of the different kinds of fountain pens I was reading about, vintage and modern. At some point it hit me that I have too many pens to ever use them in a meaningful way, and so what was the point after all? 

 

Now I limit myself psychologically. Every time I think I want to buy a pen, I put it aside and think about what my reaction would be when it arrives -- how much will I be thrilled, does it fill an empty niche among the pens I already have, is it an iconic vintage pen or is it a new pen with something truly different of interesting about it, and so on. If it passes all these tests, I give myself permission to buy it (that doesn't always mean I actually do buy it). I'm kind of surprised how few pens pass this test. All the flashy c/c Jowo nib holders pretty much fail at the start. 

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One of my limiting factors is my other hobby, bonsai. I will not let fountain pens take money or time from it so pens will stay in check. I have also used the same approach to limiting my pens as I do my bonsai. I keep a set number (18 for pens) and if I chose to add a pen to my collection, it has to be better than my "worst" or lowest ranked pen. With this approach, my "collection" is always improving. Additionally, it forces me to look at that lowest ranked pen and decide whether or not I can live without it. Right now that pen is an Omas Galileo Galilei (EF) that writes amazingly (thanks Gena at Custom Nib Studio!!) and is beautiful. Though there are a lot of pens out there that I would think are great, I thoroughly enjoy all the pens that I currently have and would struggle to let them go. I would soooo miss the writing experience.

 

Honestly, one of the hardest things with fountain pens that I don't experience in bonsai is that it feels very uncomfortable repeatedly meeting with your pen community when you don't have anything new. Fountain pens don't change so can I go to club meetings with the same people for years without having bought anything new to show. I feel pulled into show and tell. On the other hand, bonsai is a living art and the tree develops over time so I can meet the same people with the same X trees for years and have something to engage them in.

 

Break the Habit (that is what I tell myself)

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Sadly, for me the most effective way to limit new purchases is to stay away from FPN and avoid other online content and reviews. Then I use the pens I have and have no desire for a new one.

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21 hours ago, Joyanne964 said:

Hello - I do not have a budget, yet.  Working mostly on gut reflex for want.  Still too young at this to know better, yet.  I am learning.  

Still leaning to the lower than $300 level but love looking at the vintage.  Working on deciding which vintage one will be my first purchase.  Research and learning in progress.  

Thank-you to all for the advice and suggestions.  

I don't know if you're a practical person but if you are, you might consider learning some basic pen repair techniques for lever and button filling pens to start with.  Start off with cheapies, learn the hard way, and go from there.

 

If not, buy from some of the people who show their repairs on FPN! (This is not a self-promotion, I only do repair work on my own pens.)

Too many pens, too little time!

http://fountainpenlove.blogspot.fr/

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On 4/28/2021 at 1:16 AM, ParramattaPaul said:

I buy what I want, but I am very selective and therefore set limiting.

+ 1

 

I also don’t go beyond 500$ for a pen ... mostly.

"If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live."

– Lin Yu-T'ang

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I tend to limit myself by reminding myself that I would miss out more on the pens I already have and love if I brought in a new competitor.  I buy pens intending to write with them regularly, so it doesn't take long before that desire overwhelms the lust for a new pen.

 

That being said, I never turn down a free pen, though those tend to be keepsakes, and I only have two of those.  Don't feel like I have to use them as much, either.

"Nothing is new under the sun!  Even the thing of which we say, “See, this is new!” has already existed in the ages that preceded us." Ecclesiastes
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I look at a new pen purchase this way. What does it do that my existing pens do not? I like stubs and italics for my desk pens, with a YOL broad nib the exception. I haven't bought a flex nib in ages as I find them to slow down my writing process.

 

I'm a pen user first, not a collector. Having five identical pens except for the color is not for me. 

 

I keep around 8-10 pens inked at my desk with 4 pens scattered around the house and car.

 

The only pens I would consider for future purchase are Indian ebonites that are spectacular in design and execution, and more Yard-O-Led pens. 

 

I'm also happy to get rid of pens as gifts to someone who expresses interest. As Covid has become less of a issue as my friends and I have all been vaccinated, people at my home can sit at my desk and try all my pens and might leave with one and a bottle of ink.

 

One more item, and the most important one, I would never buy a pen on credit. Buying a luxury item on credit is a good way to become miserable. Have the money to spend before you buy.

 

It's all subjective.

'We live in times where smart people must be silenced so stupid people won't be offended."

 

Clip from Ricky Gervais' new Netflix Special

 

 

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I am somewhat perturbed by the idea of accumulation and am seldom tempted to buy something for which I have no specific use in mind.  I will typically buy a new pen only if:

  • It fills a perceived gap in my writing experience or improves upon a pen I already own.  For example, a few years ago, I owned a stub but realized that I would prefer a cursive italic, so I bought a cursive italic and gave away the stub.
  • I am quite sure that if I bought it, it would be one of my five favorite pens.
  • I can balance the acquisition by giving away a pen that I already have.

Even if a pen would fill a perceived gap in my writing experience, I am prepared to wait for the pen to satisfy additional preferences.  For example, after deciding I wanted a Platinum 3776, I waited for several years until Platinum produced one with a purple body; I eventually bought the Platinum 3776 Nice Lavande.  Similarly, having decided I wanted a Sailor pen with a medium nib, I waited for one to be available in a purple finish not yet represented in my collection; I eventually bought a 1911S Wicked Witch of the West. 

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