At the edge of "Expensive"

[fncll]

I'm pretty sure we can all agree that a $1000+ pen is expensive.

But what is the lower bound of an "expensive" pen for you now?

I remember when I bought my first Pilot Varsity, I couldn't imagine paying $25 for a pen. I thought it was crazy.

I'm still the King of Cheapies. I've held and written with a quite a few high-priced pens, some of which are amazing, but it still thrills me to get a sub $25 pen that, maybe with a few tweaks, writes as well as one 10x or 20x the cost. And, of course, it can also depend a lot on one's disposable income.

That said, I have some holy grail pens. And I understand--even when I don't share--other qualities of pens that justify their price to the person who wants them.

But I'm still curious: what is your definition of an expensive pen? What's the lowest figure--assuming a working instrument--you stop and think "really? Should I?"

[Paul-H]

That will be different for every person, and will much depend on their disposable income.

Some people couldn't justify £25 on a pen but others will spend thousands and think nothing of it if it gets broken, because its easy come easy go.

For me £50 is a lot to spend on an old pen and I have to really must have it if I go over £100 although I have gone over £200 but only once and never again if SWMBO finds out, isn't it amazing what you can buy on eBay for a fiver :)

Paul

[bigevilgrape]

I consider anything over $100 to be expensive :P

[fncll]

SWMBO is even more important than disposable income (in my humble, punished-more-than-once, opinion)!

[erpe]

I have set an upper limit of € 100 (about $ 125) for an individual pen. Beyond thay, luxuriosity, decorations and expensive materials are added but I don't beleive that a pen becomes a much better writer. I am currently eyeing some pens from China, reasonably priced and apparently quite good quality. For the European products, some grailpens are just over the limit and I put them on the waiting list, I am in no hurry... If the economy gets up again, there is always time to act.
Oh, if SWMBO acts up I can always point at the shoe and handbag storage :bump2:

[jar]

Why would anyone care what someone else thinks is expensive or not expensive?

[fncll]

Mere curiosity. I consider the evolution of my own thinking---and the reactions of others in the rare times it comes up---and it makes me curious about others.

I assume it's uninteresting to you...so why post?

[fountainpenkid]

For me, anything over $250 is expensive.

[Nomdeplume]

My definitions have changed over the years...along with my salaries and lifestyles. There has been some significant increases in my definition of expensive as we became 'empty-nested' and gifts from my husband moved from jewelry to pens!

I think I have 'plateaued' around $250 as my definition of expensive...but can easily justify more for maki-e, one-of-a-kind pens as ART!

[AndyT]

What's the lowest figure ...you stop and think "really? Should I?"

About the price of a Nib Creaper, if we're talking new: I'm pretty much done with modern pens now anyway. For a vintage pen with the right nib which appeals to me, I'll stop and think hard at the £50 mark. There are however a handful of exceptions where I'd be willing to go significantly higher for the right one.

[ardgedee]

Why would anyone care what someone else thinks is expensive or not expensive?

My personal threshold for "expensive" is probably around $100, although like other respondents I could be convinced to go beyond that if spending a wee bit more will get me exactly what I want rather than something near-enough. (The most I've spent on a pen is $85 and that was completely by accident -- by pulling the trigger on the wrong Ebay auction among several I had been studying at the same time. Fortunately it's a nice pen and I like it.)

I can consider the price of a $500 pen to be fair, and admire the pen's beauty and craftsmanship, while at the same time not feel desirous of owning it. So it does intrigue me to see what the thresholds are among people who do collect Edisons or Pelikans or Mont Blancs or Nakayas, or who commission pens from the likes of our drgoretex -- all pens I like to look at but don't want to have. So I think it's a good question and I hope there's some insight to be gleaned by seeing a variety of responses.

[Tracy Lee]

Expensive is a tough one. For me, it is price+writing experience x intangibles. I have a pen that retails for $1995.00 but based on my experience with the feel of it, the nib, it is not expensive at all. I have a TWSBI under $100 and have really enjoyed it so I don't view it as cheap. Same with my Esterbrook under $50. I have some in the $100 to $200 that have been very disappointing and thus I instantly feel too expensive. Most pens for me can climb to $1200 before I start to wince but only in the Visconti line that I am familiar with. Other lines with which I am not as familiar, I don't know if $1000 is too much, or if $500 is too much. I have to learn. For Delta, I have had some great deals, but for the experience I have had with the dolce vita line, I would pay the full retail and never think it was too expensive. But I am a DINK and my life is different than a lot of folks, too. I have some leeway.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

[pencils+pens]

I'm in the $100 group, although about a year ago that was $30-$50.

The most expensive pen that I purchased is a TWSBI Vac 700 for $80. I went that high since it was the least expensive new vac filler I could find.

My next most expensive pen is a Sheaffer Snorkel at $54. I misbid on eBay and won it. I don't regret it but it was at the time the most expensive pen I had purchased.

Third in line is the Sheaffer 100 I bought at the Miami Pen Show this past Friday for $40.

All of my other pens (about 120) were $40 and mostly substantially under.

I don't have much interest in vintage pens, especially those before the cartridge/converter era (circa 1960). I prefer modern pens. I also couldn't care less about gold nibs or flex nibs and wouldn't pay extra for one. I own several Noodler's Ahabs, Konrads and Nib Creapers and I don't use them in flex mode.

My two grail pens of the moment are the Visconti Starry Night and Dali Time and I just can't convince myself the pens are worth the price.

[jfsisler]

I would spend up to $250 before I would really have to stop and think about it.

[jar]

Mere curiosity. I consider the evolution of my own thinking---and the reactions of others in the rare times it comes up---and it makes me curious about others.

I assume it's uninteresting to you...so why post?

Mere curiosity. I am trying to understand why people post questions like "what should I buy" or "which is better" or 'what is the lower bound of an "expensive" pen for you now'.

[fncll]

I didn't realize psychoanalysis was a topic here...is it free? :)

[ardgedee]

3990

[fncll]

I could use help breaking the $100 mental barrier. I'll pay more, but it takes some doing and getting past the feeling of taking a step back and pondering the absurdity...

Then I can worry about those voices!

[79spitfire]

Well, I suppose it would depend on the pen, but the most I have spent (on an individual pen...:crazy_pilot: ) is $130 for a Pilot VP, and I'm afraid to take it anywhere... Dangerous. I have some pens that are worth more, but came to me needing repair or were inherited. (I have an early Conklin Nozac that was my great grandfathers)

On the whole I would have to say a special pen for the collection $100 is likely the upper limit, but that has more to do with the budget than anything else. If my budget changes, the upper limit is likely to change.

For one as a daily user or abuser, $40 is pushing it...

[tarheel1]

To me anything in the 250.00 range is expensive, but i have set a limit of not owning a pen over 5,000.00. Currently most expensive pen is my Jules Verne at 1,000.

[ethernautrix]

I'm not sure what the cross-over point is for expensive for a pen: $25? $50? $100? All I know is that I like expensive pens (such as Nakaya), and that I've bought some - and enjoy them.

I mean, they are expensive regardless of my buying them.

[jde]

For me an expensive pen is any pen I don't have the cash for.

When I stepped back into fountain pens, I thought anyone who spent over $100 on a pen was nuts.

I appreciate pens in a different way now, and I have some expensive pens which in theory I should never have been able to afford. (It is amazing how resisting the impulse buy of pen/paper/ink how much you can save up for a really cool pen you love.)

As Lisa wrote, they are expensive regardless of my buying them. They are not my pens because they are expensive... they are my pens because I love writing with them.

[de_pen_dent]

I am always mildly amused by some of the comments these types of threads always raise. Really folks, it is just people talking about pens - nothing to get too worked up over.

I actually dont really have a single cut-off point. I spent months obsessing about whether or not to buy a Montegrappa Miya before Dennis's 15% sale last week pushed me over the edge. I still havent gotten around to convince myself to get a custom Edison, even though I've been wanting to, for a while. And I recently bought an Onoto Magna on an impulse last week. Go figure.

If you ask me, I'd say my cut-off is somewhere between $200-300. With frequent exceptions, as mentioned above. Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds anyway (or so I keep telling myself - sometimes, I almost believe it too). Or more likely, my propensity to indulge in spontaneous acts of credit card damage is directly proportional to the degree of lust factor I have for a particular pen.

[Mesu]

For me it is how much i want the pen.

Daily users and chuckable pens max $5. Indian manufactured pens are inexpensive and i used some pens about $1.5 which wrote straight out of the box, never skipped and lasted years. People who used Camlin pens would know what i am talking about.

I love limited edition Lamys and spent as much as $70. But it is very rare. The only pen in the $200 range is the Ruby red Pelikan M320 which is a gift from my husband. I can never bring myself to spend so much on a pen!!

[kaisnowbird]

Like others, it's hard to pinpoint a threshold that defines 'expensive' for me. I'd agree with and paraphrase some of the comments above - expensive is when I am not convinced that a pen worths its asking price.

To provide some monetary threshold, I'd say
- FPs that are well made and cost $50 or under are inexpensive;
- an FP that costs more than my monthly pen purchasing budget, currently at AUD $250, is a real luxury item, because buying it means I won't be able to buy another pen for more than a month, which will induce some agony and anxiety.

Edit:
By these standards, I currently own two luxury pens: a Caran d'Ache Leman and a Visconti Homo Sapiens. Only one of them is "expensive", but I won't say which one is. :p

Being primarily a user, not a collector, I'd say the writing pleasure to cost ratio starts to decline pretty much after the $200 mark. As long as I remain a user, I don't see myself crossing the $250 threshold (plus price increase and inflation) very often in the next couple of years

[Fawkes]

For about the first 7 years of my collecting/using fountain I usually only bought in the 50 dollar range, which was a lot for me. And, on the rare occasions I was gifted a pen they were usually no more than 250 dollars. Now, however, I spend on average 300 for the vintage pens I need and have been known to go for several thousand dollar pens if I have wanted them for a very, very long time.

[VertOlive]

This is an interesting thread. Now that I've been into pens for a little longer, I find my price ceiling rising. For me, a big part is the eye candy appeal-- not the fact it is expensive-- that makes it attractive to me so if I could find a Chinese maker sensible enough to do a decent knockoff of a Dolce Vita [that writes as well as my Hero] I'd go for that instead.

Is that tacky? :crazy_pilot:

[ac12]

$100 is the psychological break going from 2 digit to 3 digit price.
There are enough decent/good pens below $100, that I put $100 as my transition point.
And I can count on one hand the number of pens that I paid more than $100 for.

[raging.dragon]

I didn't realize psychoanalysis was a topic here...is it free? :)

Free, and worth what you pay for it!

[velo]

$100 is the psychological break going from 2 digit to 3 digit price.
There is enough decent/good pens below $100, that I put $100 as my transition point.

It seems an arbitrary yet natural barrier for me too. Yet two pens I really liked, the matte black VP and the Lamy 2000, got me over that hurdle pretty easily.:cool:

Personally it has to do with the pen. As much as I admire Pelikans the price always seems to be a sticking point. Ironically with Nakaya I can see myself owning one without too much angst over the price.

[ethernautrix]

Since this thread has been revived, I'll say that any pen more than, say, $50 is an expensive pen. I mean, it's a pen. However, my tolerance threshold for buying expensive pens is high, about $1,000 high.

[Massaya]

I am new in the 'pen' game, but my choice at the moment is to buy 'job lot's 'and look for that 'diamond in the rough' so to speak. My most recent purchase was £72 for 25 pens and some bits. There was some nice pens in there.

[Mr. JW]

$100 is the psychological break going from 2 digit to 3 digit price.
There is enough decent/good pens below $100, that I put $100 as my transition point.

This is my psychological barrier as well. I just broke it for the first time the other day for a Vacumatic in excellent condition. But there are so many good pens below $100, vintage and new, that it takes a lot to get me over that hurdle.

[KrazyIvan]

I posted this somewhere else but I have yet to break the $180 point. I do have one pen that is worth more but I traded for it. Every once in a while that Visconti or Omas 360 calls my name but I just can't pull the trigger. It seems that every time I find a pen that I want, for some odd reason the prices skyrocket right after I discover it. So, I sit and wait patiently.

[john]

When I started to collect pens, seldom paid more than $80 for a pen. But after I got the Pelikan 400NN, my limit push to $150. Now my max limit is under $300. That is what I can afford for the pens. Just like KrazyIvan said that sit and wait patiently for the pen I want.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I could use help breaking the $100 mental barrier. I'll pay more, but it takes some doing and getting past the feeling of taking a step back and pondering the absurdity...

Then I can worry about those voices!


If you're not comfortable with it, you're not comfortable. And you may find that pushing the barrier backfires.

I have a handful of not-cheap pens: a MB 32, a Sheaffer Legacy, two Waterman Carenes, and five jolly Sailor pens (deliberately not counting the Clear Candy and inexpensive fude). They're all good pens.

But if I listen to my heart, the ones I reach for time and again are the Lamy Safaris, the Nemosine Singularities, the Hero 616s, and now the Hero Summer Colors.

That's my comfort zone. It's where I live. Every single person's own CZ will vary.

[Sailor Kenshin]

This is an interesting thread. Now that I've been into pens for a little longer, I find my price ceiling rising. For me, a big part is the eye candy appeal-- not the fact it is expensive-- that makes it attractive to me so if I could find a Chinese maker sensible enough to do a decent knockoff of a Dolce Vita [that writes as well as my Hero] I'd go for that instead.

Is that tacky? :crazy_pilot:

Not at all. Besides, don't they do one of those? I remember seeing one and thinking, 'Shiiinyyyy.'

[Lbravo]

Expensive pen? It depends - a pen that is old and in perfect working condition AND fits within my collecting parameters? $200. But it has to be a well engineered pen. In perfect working condition. Modern daily driver pens that don't leave the house? About $125. Something I would walk around with? $50 or maybe $75.

I guess it depends on what you want, what you can afford, and what you can afford to lose, right?

[Sandy Fry]

I have said it before and will say it again. A pen is only worth what YOU are willing to pay for it.

David

[Koyote]

I don't know where the "too expensive" threshold lies for anything, but my wife always tells me when I've crossed it.

[kia]

Over $150 is expensive to me. Heck, any pen is expensive to me, now.

That said, I own a pair of custom to me Danitrio maki-e pens that set me back more than 30 times that amount 5 years ago. I cannot ever go there again, but I'm honestly glad I did back then and I don't regret the purchase.

[kaisnowbird]

Over $150 is expensive to me. Heck, any pen is expensive to me, now.

That said, I own a pair of custom to me Danitrio maki-e pens that set me back more than 30 times that amount 5 years ago. I cannot ever go there again, but I'm honestly glad I did back then and I don't regret the purchase.

A pair of custom of Danitrio maki-e, now that's indulgence!

[abritdownunder]

For me anything over the $AU250 would be expensive but I get just as much joy from writing with a my $20 Parker Jotter as my $1000 Montblanc because the Parker has sentimental and nostalgic value that the Montblanc doesn't.

I used a very similar Parker throughout my time at secondary school, it was with me during my first crush and when I got detention for the first time, it was even in my breast pocket when I was first caned. That pen and I saw good times and bad, and when I use a Parker now, those memories come back. With the much more expensive Montblanc, I love the way it writes, the way it feels in my hand, the look of it as it glides over the paper. I love it aesthetically and materially but not so much emotionally, as with the Parker Jotter.

[kia]

Over $150 is expensive to me. Heck, any pen is expensive to me, now.

That said, I own a pair of custom to me Danitrio maki-e pens that set me back more than 30 times that amount 5 years ago. I cannot ever go there again, but I'm honestly glad I did back then and I don't regret the purchase.

A pair of custom of Danitrio maki-e, now that's indulgence!

The pair together, not each, but yes it was an indulgence. Foolish perhaps, but I still don't regret it. :)

[Laura N]

Over $150 is expensive to me. Heck, any pen is expensive to me, now.

That said, I own a pair of custom to me Danitrio maki-e pens that set me back more than 30 times that amount 5 years ago. I cannot ever go there again, but I'm honestly glad I did back then and I don't regret the purchase.

A pair of custom of Danitrio maki-e, now that's indulgence!

The pair together, not each, but yes it was an indulgence. Foolish perhaps, but I still don't regret it. :)

Good for you!

I maintain you aren't really a fountain pen fancier until you've spent way too much on a much desired pen. Sometimes you realize that particular pen wasn't worth it and you wish you hadn't. But sometimes you are glad you did it.

[odd_soul]

When I started getting into fountain pens, I was ok with anything under $50. I quickly jumped to being ok with anything around $150. I cringed when I bought my Platinum #3776 Century, which was about $175, but I LOVE it, and I would buy it again in a heartbeat. So then I was ok with anything under $200. But then I recently bought a couple that were more than that, so now I'm ok with anything around $250. It keeps creeping up! And now I've got my eye on a couple "holy grail" pens that are much more than $250. I'm trying to lay off buying pens for a while, though. We'll see how that works out. :P

[kaisnowbird]

I maintain you aren't really a fountain pen fancier until you've spent way too much on a much desired pen. Sometimes you realize that particular pen wasn't worth it and you wish you hadn't. But sometimes you are glad you did it.

I like you way of thinking. We all have to take a leap of faith or do something foolish once a while. In my view, a pair of custom Danitrio Maki-e certainly beats a Chanel handbag or a low-end Omega watch any day!

[GHCToolman]

Over 100 USD I would consider expensive. But so far all my pens over that threshold have been gifts from my girlfriend

[bluefeathers]

Since this thread has been revived, I'll say that any pen more than, say, $50 is an expensive pen. I mean, it's a pen. However, my tolerance threshold for buying expensive pens is high, about $1,000 high.

I like the way you put it, since I can't decide which qualifies as "expensive"--the lower limit, or whatever is above your tolerance level. I would say $100-200 is expensive, but reasonable, because most of the pens I like are more than that; $300 is my tolerance threshold. I have a much lower 'expensive' threshold for pens I don't really "need", but want to try out, since there's no guarantee I'll like them. Also agree that going past your threshold can backfire--to the person who said they're trying to get past it, beware! Asking for the pen as a present may be the way to go. After many years of not using any fancy pens, I broke past my ideas of what was expensive quickly, from $50 to $200 to $300--all it takes is 1 pen, and valuing aesthetics! Age probably also is a factor besides budget.

There are pens in $600-800 range I want, but I can't imagine being okay with spending the price of an airplane ticket to Europe on one pen; I would feel guilty using it, and be even more terrified of dropping it! Maybe if I had the budget to not blink an eye about 3x that amount the response would be different. On the other hand I don't think twice about taking my $200+ pens out of the house, since I enjoy using them more than other pens now. I am curious too about whether what you're comfortable with has to do with income or psychology, value, impulse buying, or some combination of that, and whether it changes over time depending on personality...it's an interesting topic.

[Adhizen]

I'm a bargain hunter... I don't necessarily want to pay a lot for pens. I also want to have pens that I use regardless of price. The most I have ever spent on a pen was in the 4 figure range. It took me a long time decide to get it and I have no regrets and use it daily. This purchase was kind of a fluke in what I would call my purchasing habits... I have to admit that after buying this pen I am much more discerning about materials, design and quality. For me to purchase a pen at that price point there are many things about it that must go beyond "Precious" resin... I'm an artist. I value the craft/trade of hand made pens so, I don't mind supporting that market of the pen world when something present itself.

In general, my regular threshold is a range of purchasing a new (retail) $100 to $400 and $25 to $200 for used pens

To contrast this, on the cheap end I have at least a half dozen Jinhao 159s, and other cheap plastic fountain pens in my art bin that use for creative projects. They work for the job needed.

[ethernautrix]

There are pens in $600-800 range I want, but I can't imagine being okay with spending the price of an airplane ticket to Europe on one pen; I would feel guilty using it, and be even more terrified of dropping it!

It's an insidious progression, but eventually your value unit might be Nakayas instead of airplane tickets, as in, "Should I buy [this thing]? It's one-and-a-half Nakayas."

[bluefeathers]

There are pens in $600-800 range I want, but I can't imagine being okay with spending the price of an airplane ticket to Europe on one pen; I would feel guilty using it, and be even more terrified of dropping it!

It's an insidious progression, but eventually your value unit might be Nakayas instead of airplane tickets, as in, "Should I buy [this thing]? It's one-and-a-half Nakayas."

Oh no, better hold off on buying a Nakaya then! :p