What was your last very deliberate pen purchase?

[Misfit]

There is a fun thread on your last impulsive pen purchase. Sometimes, though, a pen purchase is a very deliberate process. You search and search, looking for the best price, or the nib you must have. A model is discontinued, but you have to have it. You search, maybe wait a year or more. I did that for a True Writer in Sea Glass, the version before they came out with it again. 
 

What prompts this thread is my search for a Monteverde Mountains of the World (MOTW) K2. It came out in 2015. I’ve looked for it before, unsuccessfully. Last week I found it on a website based in India. I sent an email to ask if K2 was in stock, and did they ship to the US. Later I saw on their website they did not ship outside of India. 
 

The reply indicated they did indeed have the pen, and more nibs than their website showed. The person also said that while they did not ship to the US, one of his trade partners did. So far I’ve been asked to indicate the pen with nib choice I want, plus address to determine shipping.  I decided to ask if I could get two quotes, with one including the Fuji version as well. He even sent photos of the pen and it’s nib. And they have stub nibs!
 

I’m waiting on the email reply with the price with shipping quotes. 
 

Another deliberate purchase I’ve made involved ordering a custom pen from Edison Pens through email. That was in 2021. 

[Misfit]

I’m impatient for an email update on the MOTW pens. Nothing today.  😞

[InesF]

Good luck, @Misfit!

 

There was only one such pen purchase over the years for me: the Montblanc Virginia Woolf.

I saw the first photo of it in Spring 2020 (first COVID house arrest boredom) and fell in love. Uncounted searches in all types of online shops followed - only to be assured to be 14 years too late. And, for sure, unwilling to pay 2000 € for a piece in questionable condition.

I gave up and forgot about for a while.

 

Towards the end of the year I started a new intense search phase - which failed again as it brought no new findings and no change in the questionable offers.

With lower effort I did new search phases now and then and when I didn't have any hope left, a Spanish MB dealer who offered a pen as NOS for exactly the original price of 2006 appeared in my search results out of nowhere!

Suspect?

Sure!

Read everything about the dealer (cost me two full days)?

Sure!

Order?

Sure!

 

Its a beautiful pen and I love it so much!

The subjective value is much higher than the retail price ever can be. There is a story behind, not only because of the search, it is also some empathy with the real person Virginia Woolf and her writings. I read them all.

[Misfit]

Great story. I clicked on your link @InesF It is a very attractive pen.  

[A Smug Dill]

On 4/26/2022 at 4:41 PM, Misfit said:

Sometimes, though, a pen purchase is a very deliberate process. You search and search, looking for the best price, or the nib you must have.

 

There are pens that were on my radar for a relatively long time, but I didn’t (and wouldn’t) buy them until I spotted them on offer with a significant discount or otherwise at a very good price; until then, I just keep watch, without actively hunting for them. Would that count as “very deliberate”? Personally, I don’t think it’s quite what you’re talking about, if the absence of a discount offer was enough to deter me.

 

The one pen I ordered (new) four times with different sellers/retailers, over the better part of a year, only to be frustrated time and time again when they could not fulfil my orders after acceptance (and, in some cases, taking my money) and end up cancelling on me days, weeks, or even months later, was the Sailor Kabaizaiku. I finally managed to get one, but the whole ‘quest’ for that pen took more than a year from start to finish.

 

Another pen that I didn’t buy at asking price when I had the opportunity way back when, and only decided I ‘must’ have to complete my ‘collection’ of standard colours of that since discontinued model, was the Opus 88 Picnic in brown. I ended up having to pester retailers month after month, and not getting any extraordinary discount for it of course, to finally secure one.

[chromantic]

Disappointed with the Ciselle-pattern Hastil I had bought on impulse, I deliberately went looking for a smooth one. I had stainless steel in mind but ended up with a beautiful matte black/gold trim. The black/chrome slim Targa I ordered just after was impulsive.

[Misfit]

@A Smug Dill

I suppose I mean the opposite of impulsive. That is my quest for the Monteverde MOTW K2. I’ve looked in the past to no avail. Finally found them at a place that technically won’t sell them to me. Except hopefully it’s going to happen. I’ve yet to get an email reply with the price plus shipping total. 

[AmandaW]

I posted already today about using my grey Parker 45 with an Accountant nib. For me it's a special pen that was the outcome of a lot of looking because 45s with an A nib don't come up very often. And grey ones aren't abundant either. After collecting the other three over the last year - it seemed to me that it would be the perfect pen for the last slot in the little drawer. I achieved it buying the pen and nib separately - both in perfect condition.

 

So I now have X (extra fine), F (fine), C (fine italic) and A (accountant) - all of them are 'fine' nibs, but in different ways. 

 

What I didn't know when I bought the grey pen was that it would be an Australian one - the others are England, UK and USA made - which for me completes my mini collection in another way.

 

 

 

 

[A Smug Dill]

3 minutes ago, AmandaW said:

I achieved it buying the pen and nib separately - both in perfect condition.

 

Congratulations!

[DvdRiet]

3 hours ago, AmandaW said:

I posted already today about using my grey Parker 45 with an Accountant nib. For me it's a special pen that was the outcome of a lot of looking because 45s with an A nib don't come up very often. And grey ones aren't abundant either. After collecting the other three over the last year - it seemed to me that it would be the perfect pen for the last slot in the little drawer. I achieved it buying the pen and nib separately - both in perfect condition.

 

So I now have X (extra fine), F (fine), C (fine italic) and A (accountant) - all of them are 'fine' nibs, but in different ways. 

 

What I didn't know when I bought the grey pen was that it would be an Australian one - the others are England, UK and USA made - which for me completes my mini collection in another way.

 

 

 

 

 

Everything about this is amazing!  

[Misfit]

@AmandaW I love your post. It’s neat how your collection represents nibs, pens, and where the pens were made. I like the little drawer too. 

[senzen]

All my purchases have been very deliberate, but I wait for the right price or they show up after I'd given up; it pays to have a maximum budget, an idea of how much a pen is worth to oneself, and any possible problems with a specific model. (In bold recent pens).

 

Pens I'd given up on but that eventually showed up at the right price: Pelikan M605, M205 Blue transparent, Olivine and Aquamarine, Parker Vacumatic Silver Pearl, 75, Rotring Renaissance, Waterman 33, Waterman W5.

 

Pens I was able to take a chance on, worked out great: Minerva 60, Parker 105.

 

Pens that didn't work out in spite of all my research and any warnings from fellow pen users: Waterman Concorde, Platinum Cool; a Waterman Strong works but is very fragile.

 

Pen that was a hail mary but worked out in the end: Waterman Carène at 90% discount.

 

[chromantic]

Being on a skinny pen kick, I went looking for a Parker 180; found a near-mint Flighter.

[Misfit]

43 minutes ago, chromantic said:

Being on a skinny pen kick, I went looking for a Parker 180; found a near-mint Flighter.

Did you buy it?

[TitoThePencilPimp]

Pelikan 500 black stripe. Always wanted this pen, but it really came up, and the sellers asking price was too high. Finally found one which appears nos , was gently used and taken care for, for $270.

[chromantic]

12 hours ago, Misfit said:

Did you buy it?

I did, indeed! $48. 

[OCArt]

13 hours ago, TitoThePencilPimp said:

Pelikan 500 black stripe. Always wanted this pen, but it really came up, and the sellers asking price was too high. Finally found one which appears nos , was gently used and taken care for, for $270.

If it's a 500 that's a *very* good price!

[Geslina]

I took months to decide on a Franklin Christoph with a 14k nib.  Mostly I was waiting for a model and color I liked, then it was the question of fine or medium.  I eventually got an 03 with a fine nib.  Underwhelmed at first - not really any problem with the pen, I guess I was just expecting to be more thrilled due to the high price.  Learned it’s not really worth it to upgrade to a gold nib with FC.  Their standard steel nibs are just as smooth, if not smoother.

[amberleadavis]

3 hours ago, Geslina said:

I took months to decide on a Franklin Christoph with a 14k nib.  Mostly I was waiting for a model and color I liked, then it was the question of fine or medium.  I eventually got an 03 with a fine nib.  Underwhelmed at first - not really any problem with the pen, I guess I was just expecting to be more thrilled due to the high price.  Learned it’s not really worth it to upgrade to a gold nib with FC.  Their standard steel nibs are just as smooth, if not smoother.

 

[vicpen123]

A Parker UK Duofold Maxima (50). I find the shape of the UK Duofolds to be very attractive and remains so for all sizes.

 

As I already had a 5, 10, 25 and 25, it seemed natural to search for a 50.

 

Two years of lockdowns that denied me the Melbourne Pen Show made me wait but I finally found one online from the UK.

 

Deliberately happy.