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Pen as old as you are?


flodoc

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So, I have Esties which are of course  older than me, and a have I few Sheaffer school pens that are probably circa Amber, but for me the coming of age pen is Ocean Green demo Pelikan.  I saw it at my first pen show and it's taken me almost thirty years, but I have it.  I'm a grown up!!!

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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17 hours ago, Honeybadgers said:

If we wanted to go by mental age, I wouldn't be allowed to even have a pen. Toddlers could get HURT.

Speaking from experience, toddlers tend to heal.  Pens don't.

"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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1 hour ago, Checklist said:

Speaking from experience, toddlers tend to heal.  Pens don't.

 

I laughed when I read the first quote.  Diapers are cushy, nibs are not.

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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18 hours ago, Honeybadgers said:

If we wanted to go by mental age, I wouldn't be allowed to even have a pen. Toddlers could get HURT.

:lticaptd:

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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On 2/14/2022 at 3:58 PM, Honeybadgers said:

Pff, nothing good was made in 1988.

 

Sheaffer Targas were still being made and they are great pens.   I’m not an expert, but you might be able to pinpoint a particular model to 1988.  

 

And couldn’t you get a Parker 75 back then?  They are good pens, with date codes by that time, so you should be able to find a 1988 version.

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I have a later model (dished tassie) sterling 75 Ciselé, but not seeing a date code on it.  I do have a note in the pen inventory file on my laptop, which says that it is probably pre-1979.  But don't remember where I found that information.

Ruth Morrisson aks 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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On 2/14/2022 at 8:58 PM, Honeybadgers said:

Pff, nothing good was made in 1988.

 

In the interests of preventing any other readers of your vintage from succumbing to Despair:

 

I do not know what you consider to be a ‘good’ pen buuut…

 

Here in Europe the piston-filling Lamy 2000 and Pelikan Souverän were in-production in 1988.
These first-series Souveräns have been described as having ‘better’ nibs than the current ones - sometimes more-flexible, almost always less-‘blobby’, and more ‘crisp’ or ‘stubby’ (my only Souverän is from 2020, so I personally know absolutely nowt about the early pens’ nibs 😉).

Oh, Montblanc Meisterstücks were also in-production in 1988.

 

In the US (& in Europe), the c/c-fill Parker 75 was still in-production in 1988.

(I know this, because my dad wanted to gift one to me for my birthday in 1989 but, as I was then still suffused with the Cocksure Arrogance of Youth, I chose the 75 ballpoint instead :yikes: :doh:)


I don’t actually have a 75FP in my possession yet, but I have seen them described on here as ‘the last good Parker pen’ 🤷‍♂️

 

 

Foul in clear conditions, but handsome in the fog.

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On 2/14/2022 at 9:20 PM, JulieParadise said:

 

Yeah, I did not find a nice pen from 1980 yet, either. Maybe those of us born in that weird period between to golden age of until the 60s and the 2000s, when fountain pens started to pick up again (at least from my perspective and field of interest) just have bad luck here. 😶


If you were ‘produced’ in 1980, you could aim to buy a Lamy 2000 or Montblanc Meisterstück of the same vintage as you if you favour piston-fill pens.

Or indeed a French or American Parker 75 (if you prefer a c/c pen).

Foul in clear conditions, but handsome in the fog.

mini-postcard-exc.png

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I was manufactured in the early 1970s.

I do own one Parker 45 ‘Flighter’ from that era, but I cannot say whether or not it shares my ‘incept date’, as the Parkers of that era didn’t have date-codes stamped on them 🤷‍♂️

 

If we were to extend the OP’s question to ‘pens older than me’, I have two aerometric “51”s from 1954, and two original Conway Stewart lever-fillers from the 1950s/60s.

Foul in clear conditions, but handsome in the fog.

mini-postcard-exc.png

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I have a lot of pens that are older than i am.  I have a Parker 75 from the year of my birth (definitely), as well as several that could be.  The maybes are other Parker models & MBs. 

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  • 2 months later...

For those born in the 1960s-1980s, the Japanese Pilot, Sailor, and Platinum have dates engraved on bodies and/or nibs. They had lovely pocket pens in that period and, if you like more expensive furniture, they had some in silver and various other materials around the 1970s and 1980s.

 

Finding such a pen from the same year as you should be reasonably easy, and finding one from the same month should be doable. 

 

With a bit of luck, you may be able to find a pen minted on your birthday! 😄

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I did just recently pick up a Duofold that's from very early in production, so PROBABLY either late 87 or early 88. The date code unfortunately is worn off of it. I'll call that close enough.

 

And yes, since someone mentioned 75s, they were still being made in the 80s.

 

For anyone wanting to date 80s and later Parker Pens, just remember that QUALITYPEN with N starting in 1979 and then cycling through starting with Q in 1980 and repeating(determine which decade based on production date/changes in models). This is preceeded either by nothing, a I, II, or III. III means first quarter, nothing means last quarter, and the others the in-between. I just wish that with their letter/word/year codes, they'd have printed 2 letters like Hasselblad (VHPICTURES, so my "US" 500C/M was made in 1970), but it works well enough. Parker date codes on newer pens are generally near the cap lip on the side opposite the clip.

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Out of 9 1948 P 51's, six have no dots.  My birthday is in October (no dots).

 

Looking for a black SJ Transitional Esterbrook Pen. (It's smaller than an sj)

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Missed by two years - my closest so far.

IMG_20220430_023345-01.thumb.jpeg.b70e8c2fb8f8b5cc9a8faeda7737eac8.jpeg

UK Duofold, the final "4" at end of the nib engravings indicates 1954.

 

I would prefer to have only aerometric Duofolds, but it seems I was born as a vacumatic!

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I have a Mabie Todd eyedropper that belonged to my late wife's grandmother.  I believe it was made in 1900.  I also have a number of Conway Stewarts that date from the 1920s through to the year (1948) I was born.  Using each of those pens is in a sense like reaching back through time to touch the hands of the people who owned them.

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1 hour ago, ParramattaPaul said:

  Using each of those pens is in a sense like reaching back through time to touch the hands of the people who owned them

Very nicely said, @ParramattaPaul

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On 2/14/2022 at 9:21 PM, Honeybadgers said:

 

We could probably find some nice parker jotters 😄

Parker 88 was a very nice pen then :) 

All the best is only beginning now...

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I can't complain about "my era": Parker 75 Silver Cisele (US one with flat tassies) and capillary Parker 61s (both from mid-60s) are still my favourite daily pens :) 

All the best is only beginning now...

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Some pens are way older than I am but it is not a problem.

Pens are like watches , once you start a collection, you can hardly go back. And pens like all fine luxury items do improve with time

 

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