Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
Not negative at all, EOC, just your truth. If I could get enough money for each pen I own, only the MB149 I mentioned earlier would cause me to resist any realistic value. Eventually, even that pen will be sold....I have no intention of being buried with it and no one I know closely would use it.
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Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jon Szanto
Yeah, Will had to bring out the Lapis Conklins. I remember when at least one of those two first appeared, remarkable color retention.
Ok, here's a shout-out to Lloyd: did you think people would, in general, be able to narrow the answer down to one pen? I'm sure that might work for some people, and I didn't want to mess up your template/concept, but there were/are just way, way too many variables in play, pens that all mean a lot for various reasons. I'm guessing that if I had to do it, if I had to protect and preserve my most valuable, I'd get it down to 20-ish pens.
Anyway, very interesting thread, thanks!
I quite liked your response, Jon, despite it including several pens. I was trying to find what each member treasures most in their collection and why.. .be it rarity, challenge in getting, a personal milestone, or from who they received it.
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Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
To answer the actual question, probably my Pilot MYU, the plain one, seen on the left here. Not so much the Montblanc Noblesse that it's pictured with, but I was too lazy to take another photo or crop this one.
https://live.staticflickr.com/879/28...10ae0e88_b.jpg
And not so much this striped MYU (also an old picture), which is rarer and likely to cost more, but is less attractive to me. And mine has an extra fine nib which is less to my taste than the medium one on the plain MYU.
https://live.staticflickr.com/384/31...8cfbde8c_b.jpg
The reason, it's a pen that I want to keep which would be harder to replace at the price I paid for it than many others that I have. It's not an absolute favorite writer (although I do have it inked right now), but it is quite good enough to use from time to time.
To go off on a tangent, on the subject of losing stuff in general. It bothers me a bit to lose any of my pens, just because I like to keep track of my stuff, and it annoys me when I absentmindedly mislay something. I lost my Pentel Kerry mechanical pencil at work a few months ago, and couldn't think where I might have left it; Even though this was not one of my rare or expensive fountain pens. I was quite irritated with myself. Some time later, a coworker was running computer cables through the ceiling, and found it on the shelf, above my eye level, where I had put it down just for a minute. He reasoned that such a "fancy pen" (he didn't recognize it as a pencil) had to belong to me and brought it down.
Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
penwash
Wow, that is a gorgeous blue!
I'd probably spend more time looking at it than writing with it!
2 Attachment(s)
Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
All of my pens can be replaced, some at great expense and trouble, except one.
Attachment 63244
Attachment 63245
There's a long story behind it, but the person who attached the amber pebbles to this pen body (I've forgotten what it is, might be one of the Platinum 3776s I bought for its nib, might not) collected the amber when she was a child with her mother on summer vacations to places along the Baltic coast of Poland. I donated the Nakaya nib to her project.
Marta, who was my best friend and companion and roommate and saboteur! (she would laugh at that), died of cancer last December. Actually, exactly 38 weeks ago today. She spent many hours and weeks on this project, and I can see her sitting there, filing and polishing, polishing, polishing, while watching TV or talking on the phone with friends. She called it Baltic Sunrise.
She tried to sell the pen (and a second one that she lost or broke), but then she started using it, and the Baltic Sunrise became one of her daily pens. This is the only absolutely irreplaceable pen I own, and it's my best treasure.
Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ethernautrix
All of my pens can be replaced, some at great expense and trouble, except one.
Attachment 63244
Attachment 63245
There's a long story behind it, but the person who attached the amber pebbles to this pen body (I've forgotten what it is, might be one of the Platinum 3776s I bought for its nib, might not) collected the amber when she was a child with her mother on summer vacations to places along the Baltic coast of Poland. I donated the Nakaya nib to her project.
Marta, who was my best friend and companion and roommate and saboteur! (she would laugh at that), died of cancer last December. Actually, exactly 38 weeks ago today. She spent many hours and weeks on this project, and I can see her sitting there, filing and polishing, polishing, polishing, while watching TV or talking on the phone with friends. She called it Baltic Sunrise.
She tried to sell the pen (and a second one that she lost or broke), but then she started using it, and the Baltic Sunrise became one of her daily pens. This is the only absolutely irreplaceable pen I own, and it's my best treasure.
That is a very special story, the most treasured pens come with memories of people, not the value of the pen or anything else.
Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ethernautrix
Wow, that is a gorgeous blue!
I'd probably spend more time looking at it than writing with it!
Now that you've said it, I spent more time putting it together (the big one) than actually writing / sketching with it.
Hmmm... this may have to change.
Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
penwash
What's with this thought-provoking, gut-wrenching questions about losing our pens?
(just kidding, I think this thread is wonderful, thank you Lloyd!).
I agree with Christof's comment. I also have quite a few pens -- the exact number changes almost weekly.
And since I have spent time with each of them either during restoration, tinkering, testing, etc.
Almost all of them would hurt me if I lose them, so it's impossible for me to single one or two out.
But... for the sake of following the thread, this is one of many that I would truly be heart-broken over if I ever lose it:
https://live.staticflickr.com/7838/3...1d96caac_c.jpg
...
This reminds me of my Conklin Endura with the super flexible nib:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...0192d25e_h.jpg
It's the largest and most flexible nib I ever had (a Waterman's #7 Pink is far less flexible...). The pen does not really match to my collection, but this nib would be more than hard to loose.
Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ethernautrix
All of my pens can be replaced, some at great expense and trouble, except one.
Attachment 63244
Attachment 63245
There's a long story behind it, but the person who attached the amber pebbles to this pen body (I've forgotten what it is, might be one of the Platinum 3776s I bought for its nib, might not) collected the amber when she was a child with her mother on summer vacations to places along the Baltic coast of Poland. I donated the Nakaya nib to her project.
Marta, who was my best friend and companion and roommate and saboteur! (she would laugh at that), died of cancer last December. Actually, exactly 38 weeks ago today. She spent many hours and weeks on this project, and I can see her sitting there, filing and polishing, polishing, polishing, while watching TV or talking on the phone with friends. She called it Baltic Sunrise.
She tried to sell the pen (and a second one that she lost or broke), but then she started using it, and the Baltic Sunrise became one of her daily pens. This is the only absolutely irreplaceable pen I own, and it's my best treasure.
Thank you so much for sharing that personal story. It easily justifies this thread for me.
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Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
christof
Huh, my handwriting and lines never look so fabulous when I write with a flex nib. Harrumph!
Hahaha. I love it, though. Your handwriting and lines.
Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
My Montblanc Classique with a Medium nib that I bought in 1992 at the Navy Exchange shortly after reporting to San Diego. It writes well on just about every paper surface I've used it on. Buying it was a milestone on my grail quest.
And my Pelikan M805 Clear Demonstrator. Thanks to the Medium nib customized to cursive italic that I bought on this forum last week, the M805 my daily carry again.
I like these two pens so much they tie for the "one" pen I would miss the most.
Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ethernautrix
All of my pens can be replaced, some at great expense and trouble, except one.
I miss Marta and her presence in your world, and I never even met her. Though, in a way, I did. A precious object that embodies a bit of her spirit, living on.
Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jon Szanto
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ethernautrix
All of my pens can be replaced, some at great expense and trouble, except one.
I miss Marta and her presence in your world, and I never even met her. Though, in a way, I did. A precious object that embodies a bit of her spirit, living on.
Do you miss Marta, Jon? Really? Have you even thought about her or me since your public condolence on FB around the time she died?
This isn't about you and your meeting Marta. Please don't pretend to care.
Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
I gave away a 51 Insignia to a man who was a good friend, he never had a bad word to say about anyone and admired by many.
He died soon after.
I miss that pen, if the pen was still around then so would be my friend.
Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
What a wonderful story, and what a beautiful pen. I'm sorry for your loss, and so glad you have these memories.
Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ethernautrix
Do you miss Marta, Jon? Really? Have you even thought about her or me since your public condolence on FB around the time she died?
This isn't about you and your meeting Marta. Please don't pretend to care.
It was as sincere an utterance as possible, but a place like this isn't the place for any more dialogue. I'll contact you elsewhere.
Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
Aurora optima 360 monvisio with stub Nib.
Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jon Szanto
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ethernautrix
Do you miss Marta, Jon? Really? Have you even thought about her or me since your public condolence on FB around the time she died?
This isn't about you and your meeting Marta. Please don't pretend to care.
It was as sincere an utterance as possible, but a place like this isn't the place for any more dialogue. I'll contact you elsewhere.
I'm sure you believe it.
We had some correspondence via FB, you and I... and then when I told you through FB messages (not messenger, cos I won't use FB apps) about my father's death more than a year ago... crickets. Cos it wasn't public?
Shockingly, a couple of actual friends disappeared after I told them about my dad's death. So maybe that's just a thing. Made me wonder, If your father dies and you don't mention it on Facebook, did he really die?
So, yeah, don't bother (any more so) contacting me elsewhere. And don't be politic with Marta's death. It's transparently unbecoming, no matter how sincere you wish it to appear.
Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
I regret not keeping pens that my maternal grandfather— a lover of Sheaffer pens— left among his personal things at his death. My grandfather set aside a desk set, black pen with gold trim and a black onyx stand (like the one below) that he used for signing contracts and writing poems, for me to have. I remember handling his fountain pens when I was young– they fascinated me as talismans of his character and adulthood. He liked to draw a wee cat cartoon on the back of my hand, that I loved. He was the illegitimate son of a Norwegian seaman and a Mormon immigrant, conceived at sea, who started out running a mine hoist in Goldfield, Nevada, and ended up founding an engineering company.
https://i.imgur.com/WfF8nKS.jpg
Later on, being not only rebellious but also barbaric, I saw them as old and useless items unsuited to the sort of life I imagined for myself. I didn't realise 'til much later, when they couldn't be found, what I'd denied. Tears seldom overcome me, but alas!
Re: What one pen of yours would you most miss?
Despite my not having his pens, I do have an old silver-mounted red velvet album with a photo of grandfather as a child.
https://i.imgur.com/UxZvllm.jpg
To compensate, my collection includes virtually every iconic Sheaffer pen up to 1950 or so.