What is a reasonable price to pay for a PFM today ?

[lowks]

I am looking at this ... ebay PFM. Is 180 a good price for a PFM like this or is it too steep ?

[david i]

Hi Lowks,

At Vacumania I play evil full retailer of old pens. I sell PFM I in excellent condition with no name engraved, fully restored (many charge $35 for that) with one year function warranty for $220-250 or so (save for scarce Gray). $180 for a raw pen without warranty with somewhat uncertain grading seems well overpriced. You might find a restored pen from a collector at lower price (or higher price) than my retail website offers, but that should give a sense of things. Hell, I have hundreds of restored pens not yet on the website. I probably have a warrantied clean restored well-working PFM I I could part with for $220-240 or so. If you are going to buy one raw/unrestored/without warranty though, hunt for a better deal.

regards

david

[fpquest]

I think 180 is a good price for a PFM but not for that one. I've paid slightly more a couple PFM I's that were restored, in excellent condition and from sellers I bought from before and trusted. Unless there's something that makes that pen rarer than I think, it seems high for a pen that's not in good cosmetic shape and may not work well mechanically.

[lowks]

This is going to be a problem since I won the bid

[david i]

Not a problem.

You won a pen. If it turns out to be clean (or cleanable) without flaws like cracks or nib problems and survives the subsequent pro restoration (unless you do your own), you will have paid retail or a bit retail (+) in view of the name in it and multiple shippings (two way to restorer, one way from ebay). A few bucks either way from retail is no biggy. This does demonstrate though that raw pens from ebay are not always "super bargains" relative to buying old pens from established sources.


regards

-d

[lowks]

The only consolation that I seem to have is that the seller seems to have a good reputation

[jar]

The only consolation that I seem to have is that the seller seems to have a good reputation

It's certainly not all that bad. Likely you can still get it restored and be under $250.00 and there are few pens today that sell for $250.00 that can compare to a PFM.

[kirchh]

I think it's too steep, especially given the engraved name on the clip (unless your name happens to be David!).

--Daniel

[mhosea]

So you paid some tuition as well as the price of the pen. That's life. I think it will restore well. I will point out that even if you restore the filling system yourself, I would suggest a professional nib adjustment, as the tip of one tine is bent slightly towards the other tine. An easy fix for a nibmeister here is a disaster waiting to happen for the uninitiated. Break one of those tips off trying to fix that, and you will be crying for sure.

[lowks]

Well as an update, I honored the deal although I pretty much know now I am getting skewered. I just attribute that to my own carelessness by not asking about the deal here first and an over reliance on a too trigger happy sniping software.

[lowks]

So you paid some tuition as well as the price of the pen. That's life. I think it will restore well. I will point out that even if you restore the filling system yourself, I would suggest a professional nib adjustment, as the tip of one tine is bent slightly towards the other tine. An easy fix for a nibmeister here is a disaster waiting to happen for the uninitiated. Break one of those tips off trying to fix that, and you will be crying for sure.

I am sending the pen to grandmia pens first.

[david i]

Well as an update, I honored the deal although I pretty much know now I am getting skewered. I just attribute that to my own carelessness by not asking about the deal here first and an over reliance on a too trigger happy sniping software.

Honoring one's commitment generally is a good thing. Not sure any skewering is involved, though if so it would be a bit of a self-skewering. The snipeware does only what we tell it to do. But, that's part of the learning process. There is a learning curve in buying old pens.

regards

-d

[TSherbs]

informative thread

thanks

[lowks]

Anyway here is the pen http://youtu.be/e0JCIqnvwdE

[jar]

Anyway here is the pen http://youtu.be/e0JCIqnvwdE

Got a link other than some video?

[mhosea]

Anyway here is the pen http://youtu.be/e0JCIqnvwdE

Got a link other than some video?

See post #11. It's not just "some video".

[Jon Szanto]

Anyway here is the pen http://youtu.be/e0JCIqnvwdE

Congrats! You not only have your pen restored, but you've got a nice video journal of it. This one's a keeper, I think.

[jar]

Anyway here is the pen http://youtu.be/e0JCIqnvwdE

Got a link other than some video?

See post #11. It's not just "some video".

It's still just some video. Kinda like what grandmia calls reviews.

I don't watch videos.

[lowks]

Well he is reviewing the pen he just sent to me, and no as of now there are no other links

[mhosea]

It's still just some video. Kinda like what grandmia calls reviews.

I don't watch videos.

I rarely watch videos in a linear fashion. I usually jump forward in steps, and once it's loaded I can jump around.

But if you want to see the original pen prior to restoration, the pictures are still up on eBay via the link at top. Nothing special about it there, but I think Stef did a nice job on it.