Should Your Highly Desirable Pen Be Used Or Never Used?

[Radium]

When it comes to fountain pens, knives, razors and shaving brushes (watches too) I come from a line of pack rats that took Spock's advice "Live long and accumulate". The basic family motto was "Remember one day all this junk will be their problem".

When you shave or write for a half century or more and your parents and grandparents also shaved and wrote for a half century or more and then boxed up all their junk and stored it in your garage it can seem like a large accumulation. But even just one or two knives or one or two razors or one or two shaving brushes or one or two fountain pens a year when repeated over more than a century can add up.

That`s quite a collection Jar. Thanks for sharing your take on how you keep and maintain and use your collections. Interesting to see your vintage pens too! Live long and enjoy them all!

 

[Radium]

Just drive it backwards half the time.

 

[Radium]

Just in case the horse is still breathing, another thought.

There has been some talk here about whether one would use a vintage pen or just display it. But the initial post wasn't about vintage pens; it referred to buying a limited edition in a store, which I assume to mean that it was a modern pen, still being made, if only for a "limited" time.

Now if the makers of such limited editions, at least the luxury brands, knew that none of their intended customers intended actually to write with their pens, they could save a lot of money on performance related QC. Don't worry about whether the nib is properly aligned, beyond what is needed to pass a cursory inspection under a loupe. Don't worry if it leaks, or dries up, or suffers from ink starvation; it will never be inked anyway. Heck, if they really wanted to be shameless, they could find an appropriate thickness of PVC piping, thread one end for a cap, give it a thin coat of artistic looking decorations, and slam a nib and feed in it without even bothering to give it a filling system.

But the luxury makers have to assume that some of their customers actually will write with these, and that a proportion of those customers are actually discriminating enough to know how a good pen should perform. That still doesn't guarantee that your $1000 commemorative pen will write better than a $10 Jinhao out of the box, but it should cover a service agreement that will make things right if it doesn't. It keeps the maker somewhat honest.

My two limited edition pens are not in the luxury class, and there was never any question of buying them as display items. One is the B&B limited edition of a Franklin Christoph 25, the other is a Stipula Passaporto associated with a specific pen show which I didn't go to. Of the two, neither has become a favorite, although I'm somewhat more likely to use the Stipula.

I'd kind of like to get hold of a Montblanc Agatha Christie limited edition, but almost certainly never will, because I'm resistant to paying the prices they go for, whether I can afford it or not. But if I ever did get one, it would definitely be used. If the writing performance was disappointing, well, at least I'd know.

The title of this post meant for the any pen that you most desire and in my first post near the bottom part it said limited edition or any pen that you like ie modern or vintage. The reason why I stated limited edition was when I was inspecting my LE pen a passer by strucked a conversation with me. He asked me if I would be using my pen that I just bought? He had the same one too and he has never inked his up and I perceived he thought that I was foolish for planning to be using my LE pen. I was too concerned at inspecting my new pen at the time to really chat with him on what was his reasons for never using his pen and I wish he had stuck around. It would of been great to have a cup of coffee or beer and talk shop with him. Anyways we are all talking pen shop in here right now.
Let me put it this way. If I had decided never to ink up my LE pen or any pen? I know some pen makers who do a quality control test by inking up each fountain pen or certain ones in a batch for test writing with it before they let it go to be sold in a lovely presentation box. So would that pen of mine that would never will be inked up by me be wasted since it was already inked up at the factory? I guess if I enjoy just having it untouched/written then there is no wrong to this or if I decided to write with this pen then there is no wrong either. Just be happy and enjoy it either way.
I hope you get your dream pen someday that Montblanc Agatha Christie limited edition! Then hopefully you can share your experiences with it in here at The Nib.

 

[Radium]

Until 2017, the largest MB shop in London sold out of every special edition before the pens arrived in store, I dont know why the same band of people bought these pens, perhaps investors/speculators or just collectors, I would hope that they have a regular MB for daily use, perhaps not.

The largest collector of Mabie Todds in the UK does not use a fountain pen at all, his collection is over 600 pens. the largest collector of Conway Stewarts does not use any of his collection.

The best known collector of Vacumatics cannot use his collection on a regular basis, it wouldnt surprise me if he dint have a few favorites that were in daily use but when you have thousands, its hopeless.

I have pens that get used once a year, some even less. My daily drivers have nibs that suit me perfectly and I am happy with that, they seldom cost more than $50.

Pen world is a very broad church, users, collectors, investors, its different strokes for different folks,

Vacumatic your last part of your comment hit it on the nail. Everybody has different ways of enjoyment for many things and not just for pen. It`s all cool

 

[the_edski]

The two most expensive pens in my collection (Pelikan M150 and Bexley Stalwart) are my two daily drivers. So I'm firmly with the "USE IT!" crowd.

 

[Doc4]

Let me put it this way. If I had decided never to ink up my LE pen or any pen? I know some pen makers who do a quality control test by inking up each fountain pen or certain ones in a batch for test writing with it before they let it go to be sold in a lovely presentation box. So would that pen of mine that would never will be inked up by me be wasted since it was already inked up at the factory?

Having already shown my hand firmly in the "use it" camp ...

... I'll say that it seems like this might be a valid concern for collectors who particularly value "mint". I know for some collectibles, "mint" is of particular interest. Anything that rapidly wears or deteriorates (comic books, hockey cards, paper stuff of any sort really ... coins, stamps, so forth ...) "mint" can be of great significance. The slightest bend, tear or crease ... the slightest scratch on the coin ... and you can no longer say "mint" and you lose that cachet and value.

You also have a lot of interest in "mint" for items that come packaged ... and the key is to have them still in their original packaging undisturbed. Toys are the big one for this that springs to mind. I'll let Comic Book Guy explain that one ...

"Mint" seems of particular value also in terms of collectibles that are normally in regular rough use, so the likelihood of finding an actual "mint" specimen becomes increasingly uncommon. And with toys, it's all about mint packaging ... after all, how many kids get a toy for Christmas and calmly put it in the closet never to be opened? Ha!

I don't know that fountain pens really fall into either category. My suspicion is that merely inking up a fountain pen, in the minds of most collectors, isn't going to affect the pen's collectible value. At least not in the way "non-mint" affects other collectibles described above.

 

[jar_]

Just on a personal note, here are a few pens I'd consider somewhat limited.

First are the totally handmade pens with a hand adjusted nib that are one of a kind and so unique by definition. That would include pens like the Nakayas and Platinum Izumos and some of the Platinum Limited Edition pens like their 2000AD Aizu urushi where only 300 were made. It would include most of the Danitrio maki-e and urushi pens. Pens done by a single Maki-e shi by hand would be included regardless of what basic pen was used as a canvas, so even if the basic pen is just a Pilot/Namiki or Sailor it would still be considered IMHO as handmade.

Then there are the large volume pens that are called Limited Editions such as most from Montblanc where there are often tens of thousands of them made. The MB Writers Editions and Skeletons and in particular their Special Edition pens such as Anniversary models would also fall into that category. It's very hard though to think of a pen that is one of fifteen or twenty thousand or so identical pens as a Limited Edition.

BUT, and it is a BIG BUT, if someone has something where they get pleasure just looking at the object then that is what THEY should do. If someone else has the same object but gets pleasure from using it then that's what THEY should do.

And my choice really is simply my choice; it is totally unrelated to all the other equally valid choices others make.

I can't think of any pens I have that I would not use, but can also understand others might feel differently. And that brings me to the third category I would include as Highly Desirable Pens; those that have a personal special meaning. In my post above I included two Parker pens. The first was a 1941 Parker "51", a first year "51" that was the engagement present from my father to my mother. She used it to write to him during the war, including telling him about the birth of his first child, me. It was also used as a teething ring (it's said I too teethed on it but being the first son and thus perfect that has to be slander) by my younger brothers and sisters. Mom would put the cap on her finger and let the kids bite against the cool silver surface. It still has the teething marks (from them of course not from me). The second Parker was mom's gift to my father when I was born. It was made in the first quarter of the year I was born and she sent it to him while he was serving in Africa.

Neither of the pens are really anything special except to me and much that does make them special also detracts severely from any absolute value.

 

[Radium]

Cheers and thanks for your thoughts and sharing everyone.

 

[Doc4]

BUT, and it is a BIG BUT,

if someone has something where they get pleasure just looking at the object then that is what THEY should do. If someone else has the same object but gets pleasure from using it then that's what THEY should do.

And my choice really is simply my choice; it is totally unrelated to all the other equally valid choices others make.

Indeed.

I think the best part about this thread is hearing the reasons and motivations behind each guy's own preference and answer to the question.

 

[Radium]

Indeed.

I think the best part about this thread is hearing the reasons and motivations behind each guy's own preference and answer to the question.

Haha big but! You said it bro! A great read through and through.

 

[jkingrph]

If I cannot use it, I do not want it, and that goes for everything, not just pens.