How do you limit your collecting (if you do)

[SilverStoneMetallic]

3 conditions must be satisfied before I pull the trigger on a pen

• Gives a different writing experience than other pens that I already own.
• I can afford it without putting myself into great financial ruin.
• I want it (bad enough to spend monies on it).

I try to be very selective with what I buy, and am at 5 or 6 pens since I came back to using fountain pens in 2018. While I would love to purchase every grey striated Montblanc 146 and 136 that I came across, I would not be able to fund my other obsession, 3rd generation Mazda RX-7's (some of the world's fastest moneypits!) I will say that the Nakaya Karasu kite and crow has me seriously considering acquiring one, but I should really talk myself out of it, because I'll need money for car parts soon.

[mouse2cat]

I'm pretty new to fountain pens so I am just figuring out what works for me. Ideally I would have a small collection. (What that mean in the group is open for debate) I got into fountain pens from teaching art students how to use dip pens and the urban sketching community. So for me these are drawing tools and that helps justify the expense. 

 

I need my pens to be kind of knockabout so I can throw a bunch of them into a backpack and lay them out on the sidewalk as I draw. So I might be the kind of girl to put a gold nib into her safari.

 

I think I'll be a collections size limit person. I would like them to fit in my storage box. (smaller pens can fit more in the box?) I plan on selling less used pens for pens that work better for me. ie. my kaweko liliput is too many twists to open and then post it drives me crazy. But I wouldn't have figured that out without using it for a few weeks. Since this is the search for a handful of amazing writing tools, culling the collection focuses attention onto the ones I like best so the collection as a whole brings me more joy. 

[TSherbs]

I voted "other": I am so naturally parsimonious that I have to pry my wallet open to buy myself anything. I have always been this way. I'll make myself wait weeks before I even buy a replacement Preppie for one that I break. 

[Temenos]

Easier said than done, but it really is the only answer for me: shifting priorities.

[ENewton]

On 4/30/2021 at 11:02 AM, doclocs13 said:

 

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.

 

 

I, too, am the person in the pen group who seldom has anything new to show, but instead of feeling pulled into show and tell, I focus on being an appreciative audience.

 

How lovely to be a successful cultivator of bonsai.  Indoor, outdoor, or both? 

[The Mustard]

I have a naturally addictive personality and I love collecting items, I have found this to be a very dangerous combination when it comes to fountain pens and even ink! I wouldn’t spend beyond my means on a fountain pen but I do need to keep an eye on myself...
 

MB limited edition pens have been my ‘undoing’ although I have dipped in to Pelikan and Namiki.  To try and control myself I have now written a definitive list of pens that I would still like to buy. I must control myself to that list and not deviate, at least for a good while, although I am ‘allowed’ to buy new issues if I like the pen itself.  The problem of course is that forums such as FPN lead you on unexpected journeys of discovery- rather similar to discovering bands when we were younger and then enjoying the odyssey of unearthing their back catalogue of albums..

 

My focus then can be to enjoy those that I have bought (I use them all, I wouldn’t buy a pen I wasn’t prepared to ink - my belief is that pens are there to be used and if that slightly diminishes their value then I think that’s a price worth paying) and maybe dispose of a handful that I find myself reluctant to reach for.

 

Maybe we need to initiate a group therapy session, or maybe that’s what this is...? 😬😂

 

I feel a bit better...

 

[Savit]

I do not buy pens for the sake of collection; I am a user, and will usually will buy a new pen when it has something unique to offer in terms of writing experience. A different nib, a different size I have not tried, etc. My main limiting factor is financial constraints. There are 2 aspects to financial constraints. One, how much disposable money will I spend per month or per year. Although I do not calculate and set limits on the exact amount I will spend, I make sure the money I spend comes from disposable income after meeting necessities and savings. The second aspect is how much am I willing to spend on a single pen. Suppose I lose my wallet, how much money-loss will I consider a significant set-back? This is typically the amount that I will restrict to a single pen. Anything more than that will seem to me like a luxury-purchase and will make me uncomfortable.

 

The pens I have got so far with my financial limitations fulfill my needs for writing.

[lionelc]

3 hours ago, The Mustard said:

To try and control myself I have now written a definitive list of pens that I would still like to buy.

tried this - but my list keeps growing.

[Aysedasi]

I don't set any limit as such, but then I've never been a massive pen buyer.  I have quite a lot of pens but they've been acquired over a period of many years now.  I don't buy as many now as I did before I retired as I do need to think a bit more about how much I can afford to spend.  Over the last 6 months I think I've bought 4 pens, a Ranga, an Aurora, an Epigram and a Parker.  Right now, I have no pens that I'm actively looking for.  

[The Mustard]

26 minutes ago, lionelc said:

tried this - but my list keeps growing.

You are personally responsible for my most recent purchase Lionel!  You know it too!! 😂😘

[lionelc]

apologies mustard - i'm a bit of an enabler ...

[TSherbs]

4 hours ago, bestillmysoul said:

... The second aspect is how much am I willing to spend on a single pen. Suppose I lose my wallet, how much money-loss will I consider a significant set-back? This is typically the amount that I will restrict to a single pen. Anything more than that will seem to me like a luxury-purchase and will make me uncomfortable.

 

I like this.

[Aysedasi]

4 hours ago, bestillmysoul said:

Suppose I lose my wallet, how much money-loss will I consider a significant set-back? This is typically the amount that I will restrict to a single pen. Anything more than that will seem to me like a luxury-purchase and will make me uncomfortable.

 

 

 

Mine tends to be - how much trouble will I be in if my wife finds out how much I just spent on 'another'  pen....... 

[The Mustard]

9 hours ago, Aysedasi said:

 

Mine tends to be - how much trouble will I be in if my wife finds out how much I just spent on 'another'  pen....... 

that old joke springs to mind, often applied to push bikes, ‘my greatest fear is that after I die my wife will sell my pens for what I told her I paid for them’

[inkstainedruth]

4 hours ago, The Mustard said:

that old joke springs to mind, often applied to push bikes, ‘my greatest fear is that after I die my wife will sell my pens for what I told her I paid for them’

This sort of thing actually happens in real life.  A guy my dad used to work with told him that her daughter ran into a friend of hers, who was driving some fancy expensive car like a BMW.  And said "Hey, I knew you were looking for a car -- but how did you afford THIS?"  She got told "I saw an ad in The Pennysaver -- thought it was too good to be true but went to look just in case.  Asked the seller what the deal was, and got told 'It's my ex's car.  He moved to the West Coast.  I was going to join him out there but he said he he'd met someone else.  And to tell me to sell the car for what I thought I could get for it.  So *I* decided I could get $75 for it!'  Oh, and she asked me to mail the check to the guy as I was leaving...."

But seriously, I wonder sometimes at the prices I've paid for pens at estate sales, if the families have any clue how little the pens actually sell for -- and how much more they could get for them.  Like the Forest Green Aero that I paid two bucks for...; I didn't realize when I bought it that it was one of the rarer colors (just that it was a color I didn't have yet).  Or the same estate sale company's warehouse sale a couple of months ago -- a 6 nib unit Platignum italic set, a Parker 21, and a couple of calligraphy pamphlets.  Four bucks for EVERYTHING....  The two pamphlets were under the Platignum set (so maybe technically together); the 21 was in a metal tin with mostly ballpoints.  There was a sign which said that if there wasn't a specific price, everything on that table was $2 US.  So I presumed two bucks each for the pamphlets; I think the entire tin (and its contents) were marked at $5....  So I was expecting to pay ten bucks total ($4 for the Platignum set and $2 each for everything else) which was STILL pretty cheap....  Not $4....

Even the Snorkel with the semi-flex stub nib.  I thought $42 US was a good price -- especially with that nib.  The cashier dropped the price to $20 without me even attempting to haggle.  All I said -- LITERALLY -- was "I'd like to buy this...."  And he's the one who cut the price by more than half....  And I was so dumbfounded that I was going... "okay..." and not even saying "Are you SURE?"

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[eerestis]

I've tried so many pens and nibs already, and now I only rarely have the urge to buy a pen. Or maybe I get the urge, but it doesn't lead to a purchase when I start to think what the pen would add to my collection. Often it would add nothing, and as I usually attempt to sell any pens I dislike, usually just thinking of the chore that is selling a pen is enough for me to lose interest. I'm also more aware what is a good deal, and this limits my purchase choices as I find that prices on Ebay or classifieds are often too high (I don't really have other purchase options here).

 

I also keep a budget, but I do not always follow it and I may allow it to go negative. If the budget is too low, then it's a sign I'm not allowed to purchase a pen unless I can replenish the budget. Lately I've replenished it by selling things of two very close relatives who died. Being able to buy a pen motivates to go through their things and get rid of the things that I cannot store. It's also some sort of therapy for coping with the loss.

[I-am-not-really-here]

Voted for Other.  I restrict buying pens to only odd or even days.  It is a system that has worked quite well.  Too well in fact.  The good news budget-wise is that my collecting obsessions tend to peter out after five or six years and I am just starting year four.  
 

After pens, maybe a switch to Matchbox cars, 1966 - 1972, or Hot Wheels cars, 1970 - 1975.  But ideally collecting would by then be limited to Social Security.

[lionelc]

5 hours ago, I-am-not-really-here said:

 I restrict buying pens to only odd or even days

reminds me of my system at the roulette table - odd or even numbers only - not my best strategy

[Runnin_Ute]

My purchases typically (but not always) coincide with events like birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas and sometimes when receiving work bonuses. 

 

Most recently I bought four pens in four months. The last arrived in February. One was my Christmas present, the others were purchased with funds from various sources at Christmas. Two new and two vintage (Lamy 2000, Pelikan M205 Duo, Parker 51 aerometric and a Pelikan M100)

[Sailor Kenshin]

On 4/27/2021 at 11:33 PM, loganrah said:

Like any other collectable item there is often a drive to buy more and more fountain pens, to complete the collection or find the perfect pen. But we all know that is pretty unlikely to happen. So, how do you limit your buying of pens? 

 

I have a three part system at the moment: 

1. I only buy new made pens that I believe will actually exceed in functionality other pens I own. And I try to sell any new made pens that I'm not using (since I can replace them fairly easily).

2. I limit my vintage pen buying to a small number of categories. At the moment I am only buying Parker 51s and early safety pens. 

3. As I am a researcher I am trying to limit myself to one pen per publication or other career milestone (for example I just complete my PhD oral defence). Since I already have too many pens I  back dating this: I can't buy any new vintage pens until I have published enough papers to account for all the ones I already have. I expect that it will take me 2 or 3 years before I can buy more...

 

I'm interested to hear what other people's systems are, if they have one. 

 

I'm even more interested to hear from people who had a system and gave up on it: Why didn't it work for you? Would you try it again? 

 

 

 

Step 1: Grit teeth, swear NO MORE PENS.

 

Step 2. Blatantly ignore Step 1.

 

😜