Grail Pens

[hutchcal]

To me, there are (at least) three categories of this possibly overused descriptor:
1) Pens that I own (or owned) but that took much effort to locate and/or savings to afford and/or haranguing someone to sell/give/bequeath to me
2) Pens that I do not own, were once available at a much more reasonable price than now and produce a melancholy that cannot be expressed
3) Pens that I do not own, and, if I were rational, I would realize I will never own but still...maybe...never say "never"...can a brother get a hookup?
I am interested in your grail pens. My examples:
Category 1 -- Omas 360 Personal Computer LE Fountain Pen (kiss)
Category 2 -- Cartier Platinum LE Fountain Pen Watch (sniff)
Category 3 -- Montblanc White House Limited Edition 43 Fountain Pen (sob)

 

[Fred D]

Luckily for me, I already own my "grail" pen.
The first fountain pen I ever owned, Sheaffer Imperial VIII

This is why it's my grail pen:

49 years later, I finally got my pen back.

Around 1972 I had my first fountain pen taken away from me, a Sheaffer white dot. I was only 10 years old, so I'm guessing at the name "white dot", as it's been a while. The nib is 14k, and the cap is 12k G.F.. I don't know if it works or much about it, just happy to have it back for...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Shutterbug57]

Category 1 - OK, I will give this sub-categories:

A. Beater Pen - one of those pens that you can clip to a t-shirt and go about your business. It is cheap enough that if you were to break or lose it, its not the end of the world. It allows you to have a pen on you wherever you go.

Lamy Safari, Red, broad nib

B. Mid Priced Workhorse - This is that pen that you take to work daily or have on your desk at home and use on a daily basis for whatever needs to be written down. This could include journaling, work correspondence that is not computerized, grocery lists, whatever.

Pelikan M800 broad or stub nib or Mont Blanc 149 broad or stub nib

C. Money is No Object Pen - This is a pen that you save up for. It is not one you are willing to put into risky situations. This puppy is expensive, great eye candy and has a great nib. It is a joy to write with.

Namiki White Tiger broad nib

Category 2

Pelikan Fire

Category 3

Omas 1997 18-K gold Return to the Motherland LE

 

[Tomo]

Cat 3) Nakaya Portable Writer Midori-tamenuri. Medium Gold Nib.

 

[tankerjohn]

Interesting concept, "grail" pen. I typically think of grail pens as being the purview of collectors hunting the next unobtainium piece and Instagram-types who think they are, but are really just lusting after the new hotness to indulge their FOMO. Being more of a serious writer myself, who actually uses my fountain pens rather than shows them off, I am of course above all that banality. Experiences are better than stuff and all that jazz. I do make an honest effort to enjoy and be grateful for the fountain pens I have. But I would be fooling myself if I claimed the FPAD bug didn't bite once in a while. Maybe more than once in a while. And when it does, how could I ignore those expensive grail pens? Especially the ones that aren't necessarily that far out of reach. So in that spirit, I'll play along.

1. Ordinarily I'm not a special edition kind of guy. But the Cross Townsend Han Solo Special Edition pen really spoke to me, maybe because it is so tastefully designed and my abiding Gen X love of Star Wars. But the MSRP was quite out of my league. For a while, I saw the fountain pen version come down in price to almost what I could reasonably splurge for, but I held off. Then it was sold out everywhere and I thought I missed it (category 2). At last, it popped up again as a rollerball for a very reasonable price, and this time I didn't hesitate to snatch it as fast as I could. And the best part is that Cross cleverly made the fountain pen nib and rollerball sections on the Townsend interchangable, so I was able to easily convert it to a fountain pen. Other than my Retro 51s, its the only pen in my collection that I primarily got for its appearance rather than writing experience, though it is a fine writer as well.

2. Since the Han Solo pen ended up working out, there really aren't any pens in this category for me. Maybe the Sailor Pro Gear, just because I fancied one for a long time. But they are getting so expensive, for me the value just isn't there anymore - fabled "pencil-like" feedback or not. I kind of feel like this sailor has sailed. (bad pun intended)

3. Nakaya Dorsal Fin 2. Unfathomably cool pen. Its like an urushi samurai sword with a nib. But I don't see any scenario in the near future in which I can responsibly join the "Comma Club".