Kaputnik
September 12th, 2015, 11:53 AM
I still don't buy it.
There is a flea market every Saturday about a mile from where I live. I've been going there for years, but rarely find any pens of interest. Once someone was selling an Esterbrook J, but nothing remarkably different from ones I already have. There is the occasional Wearever Pennant, or no name pen without either a cap or a nib, but nothing really tempting.
Today, though, a woman had a box with some interesting items in it. There were some Esterbrook pencils (well, I have enough of those). There was a pen that said Wahl on the clip, seemed to be BCHR, and had an Esterbrook nib shoehorned into it. There were some other complete, restorable lever fillers, almost all third tier brands.
I asked her what she wanted for a couple of the pens. One was an Epenco, not a top of the line brand, but a rather pretty celluloid pattern. The other was a Sheaffer Touchdown filler desk pen, turned up Triumph nib, in very nice condition but without the holder, which of course is essential. I would have to find a holder for it (easy enough but an extra expense) and restore it (which I think I'm ready to try for myself on a TD filler). It would be an extra $20 plus postage if I chickened out and sent it to Danny Fudge.
She wanted $10 for the Epenco and $20 for the Sheaffer, neither of which was delusional, although I'd judge that's too much for the third tier Epenco. If I could have haggled her down a bit on either, I might have taken it, and it would have been good practice to try, but I like to think that it was common sense that stopped me. I have so many pens already, so very many, and for a desk pen, my Esterbrook Dip-Less is really immensely practical. So I just walked away, which truthfully is the only part of bargaining that I do really well. :)
Still, it was fun to find something there at long last. I hope that someone else wandered by and took advantage of what I left them, after negotiating a lower price.
There is a flea market every Saturday about a mile from where I live. I've been going there for years, but rarely find any pens of interest. Once someone was selling an Esterbrook J, but nothing remarkably different from ones I already have. There is the occasional Wearever Pennant, or no name pen without either a cap or a nib, but nothing really tempting.
Today, though, a woman had a box with some interesting items in it. There were some Esterbrook pencils (well, I have enough of those). There was a pen that said Wahl on the clip, seemed to be BCHR, and had an Esterbrook nib shoehorned into it. There were some other complete, restorable lever fillers, almost all third tier brands.
I asked her what she wanted for a couple of the pens. One was an Epenco, not a top of the line brand, but a rather pretty celluloid pattern. The other was a Sheaffer Touchdown filler desk pen, turned up Triumph nib, in very nice condition but without the holder, which of course is essential. I would have to find a holder for it (easy enough but an extra expense) and restore it (which I think I'm ready to try for myself on a TD filler). It would be an extra $20 plus postage if I chickened out and sent it to Danny Fudge.
She wanted $10 for the Epenco and $20 for the Sheaffer, neither of which was delusional, although I'd judge that's too much for the third tier Epenco. If I could have haggled her down a bit on either, I might have taken it, and it would have been good practice to try, but I like to think that it was common sense that stopped me. I have so many pens already, so very many, and for a desk pen, my Esterbrook Dip-Less is really immensely practical. So I just walked away, which truthfully is the only part of bargaining that I do really well. :)
Still, it was fun to find something there at long last. I hope that someone else wandered by and took advantage of what I left them, after negotiating a lower price.