Thinking about the characteristics of my collection.....

[Nomdeplume]

I completed conversion of a Harbor Freight Tool Box (thanks to FPGeeks!) and, as I tried to figure out which pens would go where, I gained some new insights into my 'habit' of amassing pens!

here is the short list of my pens' characteristics:

"Pretty" or works of art....maki-e, hand-made, one-of-a-kind
gifts, souvenirs,sentimental
varieties of filling mechanisms
cheap and utilitarian
"interesting" or "curious"
"cute" (little pens)

I do have mostly modern, but a few vintages fit the categories, as well.
Some, obviously, fit more than one category.
I have not focused on any one brand, country of origin, or manufacturer.
I use all my pens...none are so-called COLLECTORS that don't get inked!
Nib quality is a consideration, but can be fixed, adjusted, or replaced.
Overall performance is a consideration, so I rely on all of my FPN and FPG and Posse for reviews.

One more observation, I can justify absolutely ANY new purchase by sticking to my criteria!

How about you? How would you describe your collection's characteristics?

[I like mango pudding]

montblanc and more montblanc

stub and stubby.

[AndyT]

Three categories:

- Cheap and cheerful.
- Old and flexible.
- Guinea pigs. (Pens with reground nibs, modified feeds and so forth).

Other than a pair of Swans in marbled finishes, I've never made a buying decision based on barrel appearance, and even then I'd have passed if the nibs weren't right.

[fountainpenkid]

1. Old and beautiful
2. Modern and out of production
3. fifties plastic wonder.

[tandaina]

German piston fillers
Flexible, oblique and/or stub

[jar]

When it comes to being in my collection a pen must support TRUTH, JUSTICE and the AMERICAN WAY so that someday all pens of whatever color, whatever station, whatever sexual persuasion or nation of origin might live together in harmony for the GREATER GOOD of ALL PENKIND.

[Roger W.]

I'm methodical (then I'm also a CPA probably something in that).

Sheaffer 1912-1942 everything that they made - pens, desk sets, lamps but not those damn wire fillers.
Boston Fountain Pen Company 1904-1917 - they only made fountain pens. Colonial and Colonial pen (the related precursor) 1899-1903, Wahl Tempoints (the successor) 1917-1921.
Edward Todd fountain pens - Actually made by Edward Todd, Jr. after 1900.

That's enough for a lifetime with just those.

Roger W.

[pencils+pens]

1. Sheaffer, Parker, Noodler's = > 90% of the accumulation (125+ (I stopped counting)).
2. Using FP Geeks Price Class 70% Economy (including freebees), 30% Intermediate. None in a higher class. I plan on culling the herd on the extremely low end.
3. Cartridge/converter 70%, piston (and 1 Vac) 25%, all other 5%. I plan on purging most of the "all other", except for my Sheaffer Snorkel and Tip Dip. Through trial and error I found I don't like sac based filling systems or eyedroppers.
4. Modern (post 1959) - almost 100% and maybe 100% after the cull/purge.

[Tracy Lee]

1. Visconti x 30
2. Delta x 6
3. A couple of Stipula, a Conklin, two Waterman Carene, a Cross Apogee, and a few others.

I have a couple of Waterman, Shaeffer ( my uncle's father's daily pen for decades), Cross and others that have been kept for deeply sentimental reasons, and a few others kept 'cause I kinda like them or they aren't worth selling. I recently sold off 22 other pens from my experimenting phase to make way for my path forward. So, one sees a certain Italian leaning in there, and no question I prefer modern pens. Majority are medium nibs, a couple of broads (ha ha, that's funny!), and a few stubs now. One fine is all, the only fine experience that has worked for me. :). Extra fine would send me into a rage :mad:, but I like how it looks when other people write to me with it. :p Probably mostly piston fillers, with several converted to eyedropper, and some of the Visconti are power fillers with double reservoir (love these). I won't use cartridges anymore.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

[Sailor Kenshin]

Whatever struck my fancy and didn't break my wallet.

Cute.
Cheap.
Chinese.
Sailors.
Safaris and Al-stars.
Watermans.
Fude (if I had a specialty, this'd be it)
And a vintage or two.

[jde]

pens that make me smile when I use them.

[Moxoftritonytes]

Pens with selfmade stubs and italics
Lamys
Pelikans
Cheapos
Expensive ones
Experiments

[ardgedee]

Three categories:

- Cheap and cheerful.
- Old and flexible.
- Guinea pigs. (Pens with reground nibs, modified feeds and so forth).

Other than a pair of Swans in marbled finishes, I've never made a buying decision based on barrel appearance, and even then I'd have passed if the nibs weren't right.

This probably best represents my collection to date too (except I haven't got any Swans yet). Although I haven't had time for the experiments I want to do yet: I have some "flexible" nibs from Noodler's and Fountain Pen Revolution that I intend to try modifying for improved feel, and an EF Nemosine nib that I'd accidentally ground down to a F and has to be restored to an EF if I'm ever going to use it again. It sure is smooth, though...

At some point I will probably sell off some of my collection and concentrate on owning a few, better pens rather than a whole lot of nice pens. On the whole I'm much more interested in well-performing nibs rather than pen appearance, and I genuinely prefer avoiding showpieces; as much as I admire them (honestly, some of the handmade pens exhibited here have made me all but salivate), I'm too afraid of harming them to want to indulge in one. Not when I could get a few Swans, Esties or Watermans for the same price.

[Adhizen]

My list would look something like this... based on my use, visual and creative relationship to each pen. I seems to have a lot of the Lamys... and a mixture of other pens like Visconti, Laban, Edison, Faber-Castell, Krone (Moderne), Jinhao, and a few others.... I like the"feel" of certain pens and the shape in the hand can invoke the thinking... or creative parts of my brain.... or the playful the mindless scribble...

Woods
Metals
large
Sleek/Smooth
Bauhaus
Mechanical/Gadget
Magical/Inspiring
Drawing
Zen