Most expensive pen you have damaged (irreversible)

[The-Thinker]

What’s the most expensive pen that you have damaged in your whole life? Share how did it happen and insights about the event. 

[AmandaW]

The nib on an EF Turquoise Pilot Custom 74 has a bunch of it's tipping missing.

 

I asked my dh to take a look at it when the pen arrived because it was a bit scratchy. He has really good microscopes and stuff cos he designs, makes and repairs circuit boards. I wanted to know if it was misaligned. He misunderstood and thought I meant please fix it. He did. With sandpaper.

 

Am left hoping to find a damaged pen with a rhodium Pilot nib in fine or extra fine some day. Sigh.

[TheRedBeard]

Well... I have never damaged any of my valuable pens but stupidly decreased the value of one of them...

 A few years ago I bought a good polishing paste and decided to "improve" a couple of my used Parker 61s by polishing them...

I was doing that in a room with quite poor lighting ... and mistakenly picked up a beautiful P61 Mk II Custom in immaculate NOS condition with chalk marks... err... and after a few polishing moves over the barrel the chalk marks were completely wiped out...  It was very very frustrating... and every pen collector knows this horrible feeling..  

 

A few weeks later at the LPS I was comforted by some experienced Parker collectors telling me that almost every collector had faced that experience earlier or later...

 

[Mark from Yorkshire]

A Cross Classis Century bought through lock down 1st by putting a international standard cartridge in it then by removing the nib and feed to clean as it wouldn’t write when re-assembling the nib and feed the feed snapped in half. 

[es9]

Lamy 99 demonstrator. Hubris of youth. Though technically it’s only the shell/section that’s damaged irreversibly. 

[PAKMAN]

Sheaffer Legacy II it rolled off my desk and landed on the nib and curled it back. Had to purchase a complete new section/nib unit. 

[kulnet]

I once snapped a waterman 52 1/2 v where the section and barrel meet when I was trying to re sac it. I guess I was forcing it together too hard. It snapped in the threads. At least I was able to salvage the section/nib and cap to make half my money back from it. It was a pricy lesson. Ouch.

[Checklist]

So far, it's a relatively cheap one for me: a very nice Esterbrook SJ that I did not rotate while heating it.  I felt so stupid when I noticed it, but it has been a great parts pen for me, so the damage has been quite minimal.

 

[51ISH]

Not an expensive pen, but it always seemed to be inked up and I probably used it more than any of my other fountain pens, as it was always 'to hand'.  It's a Chinese copy of the Dolce-Vita Naranja. Along with all my other pens it had been in storage until recently, when I opened it the nib was totalled. No idea how it happened or when 🙁 I'm  not sure what make it is, but I can't see them for sale, I think they must have stopped making them? Love to hear from anyone who may know where I can find a replacement.

[Toolattack]

Definitely trying to remove a mark on the clip of my MB Starwalker with nail polish remover. It was a stupid idea and even more of a stupid decision to leave the cap on the pen - it dripped onto the barrel…

Unfortunately this ruined the finish of the ‘special resin’ and I had to replace the barrel section - painful for my ego and expensive. At least the MB technicians seemed to find it amusing!

 

[peroride]

On 2/25/2023 at 1:26 AM, The-Thinker said:

Share how did it happen and insights about the event. 

I let a trusted pen dealer from the UK specializing in Flex pens handle my Sheaffer #5 as I was searching for another with a similar concord like tip.

 

Worst idea ever.

 

He proceeded to test flex first on his thumbnail then wrote with it, pressing quite hard. Again my stupid naivety for letting the so called Flex pen expert proceed.

 

Only later, I realized a small crack beginning to form at the breather hole. Had to have Greg Minuskin repair the nib to defer further run on the crack. 

 

Lesson learned: NEVER EVER LET SOME STRANGER handle your expensive fountain pen. 

[Penguincollector]

I’m pretty sure the box that contained my 150th anniversary Cross Century II was inadvertently taken to Goodwill, it’s not damaged per se, but I am unable to use it nonetheless. 

[InesF]

My brand new Waterman Carène, unpacked, opened for its first fill, put on the desk to open the ink bottle: the section unit rolled of the table and - peng! - nib gone.

Bought a new section unit, arrived 2 weeks later, filled it (successfully), wrote some days, put aside open, rolled off the table and - peng! - second nib gone.

The third nib is now in use but is not as good as the second was.

An expensive Carène, that is!

[A Smug Dill]

There's damage, and then there's damage.

 

My first Pilot Custom Heritage 912 that was fitted with an FA nib, which I bought for its alleged wonders and merit on hearsay only — in other words, hype propagated and echoed by some vocal members in hobbyists communities online — early on in my mostly blind, headlong deep-dive into the hobby frustrated me so much that I pulled its nib out one night in anger and snapped it in two (after a few tries) with my fingers.

 

But then, that pen is not as expensive as the Aurora 88 Minerali demonstrator in which I ‘managed’ to put some scratches on the inside wall of the barrel. That's irreversible damage that diminishes the pen's (resale) value, although it's otherwise perfectly functional as a writing instrument even today, whereas the Pilot CH912 without its nib is useless.

[Paul-in-SF]

Through sheer carelessness, I forgot to put the clutch ring back on a Parker 51 before screwing on the hood, which then screwed on too far and cracked. This is on a double-jewel Vacumatic in a fairly rare color. I managed to repair it enough so that it doesn't leak and is usable, but the crack is visible, and so the resale value is shot.