Most beautiful blue fountain pens

[Chris1]

17 hours ago, Carrau said:

I’ll nominate the Cross Townsend Lapis Lazuli, and the Waterman Carene in blue and the Waterman Carene L’ Essence.

I'll second the Cross Townsend Lapis Lazuli, even though I never could justify buying one; an absolute beauty.

[senzen]

Depends on the definition of affordable; the Sailor Profit Jr in Cyan is gorgeous, all of $22 but hard to capture, my phone wants to oversaturate.

 

 

They also have it in dark blue demonstrator.  

[lamarax]

13 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

@lamarax, have you seen @USG’s Boucheron? 

 

Oh wow! Just looked it up. Impressive! But that kind of "LE overstatement" does start to get a little "too precious" for my taste 🙂

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

1 hour ago, senzen said:

Depends on the definition of affordable; the Sailor Profit Jr in Cyan is gorgeous, all of $22 but hard to capture, my phone wants to oversaturate.

 

 

They also have it in dark blue demonstrator.  

That’s a great looking pen. And at that price I’m tempted to pick one up. 

[lamarax]

7 minutes ago, IThinkIHaveAProblem said:

That’s a great looking pen. And at that price I’m tempted to pick one up. 

 

+1

[jmccarty3]

On 3/16/2025 at 5:48 PM, IThinkIHaveAProblem said:

blue Parker Vacumatic?... anyone?...

Yes! I found a mint example at the DC Show a few years ago. It's a marvelous pen.

[inkstainedruth]

Blue Pearl is probably my favorite color of the Vacumatics (I think it's the only color I have more than one of; although admittedly my favorite Vac overall is the Red Shadow Wave).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[jchch1950]

Cross Townsend in Lapis lazuli.

[Mercian]

Going back to more-'affordable' pens that are blue, here ↓ is...

 

 

... a photo of my Parker Urban in 'Navy Blue'.

 

It is an Urban from the first series, i.e. before the launch of the 'facelifted' version in 2016.

The 'coke-bottle' curves of this model are what attracted me to it.

I far prefer the shape of this version of the Urban to that of the re-modelled version.

 

It is a lacquered c/c pen that was positioned one (or maybe two) steps up from the 'school' pens in Parker's range.

 

This pen uses the same nib that was on the 'Jotter' and 'Vector' pens of that era. It is a very stiff nib.
I have bought five of them(!), and have found them to be a reliable pen.

Caveat lector - if any of you does ever decide to get one, you need to know to the following:

• never soak its grip-section in hot water!
  I did that to one of mine when cleaning it, and doing so caused a gap to open up between the grip-section and the nib-collar, causing the pen to leak. Luckily for me, replacement nib/grip sections were still being sold at the time.
• make sure that you put ONLY the later, slimmer Parker converters in them; the early converters that have the wide metal band around their middle can get stuck in the pen (ask @inkstainedruth).
• you also need to take care to NOT bend the pen's clip (a mistake that I clumsily made with one).
  The clip is curved, and I found it impossible to bend its 'elbow' back into the correct alignment. The cap of this pen is riveted together, and cannot be disassembled, so nowadays one must buy another entire pen in order to get a new cap/clip.
• I advise against constant 'posting' of the cap.
  I always used to 'post' this pen in the way shown on this photo, with the clip aligned with the nib. Doing that has, over the years, worn off a tiny area of lacquer that is in-line with the nib. I can now see a small patch of brass there, where the lacquer has worn away. I find that small patch of brass to be triggering. YMMV.

 

Parker also made this version of the Urban in a very bright colour that they named something like 'Bay City Blue'.

Photos of one of those can be seen on this ↓ review:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/99617-parker-urban/

 

Slàinte,
M.

[Penguincollector]

  I bought this affordable fountain pen pre tariff brouhaha, it was $14 then, and Aliexpress has it on first time customer sale for under $6. Mine is a long knife M and I really like it. The photo is from the seller.

 

A-108 in Waterstone Blue

 

[Manalto]

I have found peace in interpreting the very subjective term "affordable" as "in the bottom half of the typical price range." For example, if a gobbledygook costs from 100 to $1,000, an affordable gobbledygook costs less than $500. One must ignore the outliers, such as that solid gold gobbledygook that retails for $11,000.

[Doc Dan]

[chromantic]

Would be my blue-striped M400 and M405.

[dms525]

Maybe one of these?

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

WOW!  

What's the Pelikan to the right of the pink and blue Pelikan in the second photo?  For that matter, what are ALL the birds in that photo? 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[dms525]

36 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

WOW!  

What's the Pelikan to the right of the pink and blue Pelikan in the second photo?  For that matter, what are ALL the birds in that photo? 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Pelikans, left to right: 

Blue M600

M600 with custom binde in "Amedeo" resin used in Montegrappa's Amadeo Modigliani LE

M620 Piccadilly Circus

M800 Blue O' Blue LE

M800 Blue Ocean LE

 

David

[Penguincollector]

2 hours ago, dms525 said:

Maybe one of these?

 

 

 

    I would love to go shopping in your collection.  What beauties in the best color! 

[TgeekB]

I have found some beautiful bespoke pens on Etsy. Here is an example. 
 

 

[inkstainedruth]

On 3/21/2025 at 2:25 PM, dms525 said:

 

Pelikans, left to right: 

Blue M600

M600 with custom binde in "Amedeo" resin used in Montegrappa's Amadeo Modigliani LE

M620 Piccadilly Circus

M800 Blue O' Blue LE

M800 Blue Ocean LE

 

David

Sigh....  I had wondered if that one was a Piccadilly Circus.  

I keep drooling over those -- only then I get sticker shock.... EVERY TIME.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[PennyTheDog]

I have this blue Lamy Studio that I like a lot. I got it at an art store for $70-80.