Hello from Phoenix, and small plea

**El Mocho** · October 15th, 2012, 01:57 PM

Hello Everyone!

I have not been on the FP Geeks board before. I have been "in the hobby" for some years, ever since I got a Pilot Varsity from a small bookstore, then started to get several Waterman Phileases, because that's the only pen I could get reliably from the office supply store near where I lived. A few years ago, I branched out and now have a variety of new and vintage pens.

I am a writer by aspiration, but I also calligraph-- little did I know that the first fountain pens I had were actually Sheaffer NoNonsense in a calligraphy set or Osmiroids. I had no idea the pens I used for calligraphy also came in a form that was rather convenient to write with. I graduated high school in 1995, so back in those days, we still had to do a lot of in-class writing, and I may be the only one in the history of the world who wants to go back in time, back to school, just so I can write more with fountain pens.

I live in Goodyear, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. I have a wife, two stepsons, and a son that just turned 13 months old, so this has curtailed my budget for pens. I mostly like old Sheaffers and pens under $100, though every now and then a more costly model turns my head.

Over the past weekend I looked at something I'd written four years ago with a pen that ended up stolen. My car's engine was overheating so I pulled off of the freeway and limped into the first side street I could find. I popped the hood and looked at the radiator, and figured I could get a gas station for some water to cool it down so I could get it somewhere. In my panic, I left the windows rolled down, and my bag and the pens in it were gone. I lost a journal and some books, but also a black Lamy Safari, a Kaweco Sport Ice, a Kaweco Al-Sport, a Sheaffer TM Crest (whatever they called the green) and a two-pen discontinued leather case from Levenger, initialed CLS, containing a Sheaffer Defender, Marine Green Striated, and a Sheaffer Balance from about 1930.

I doubt I'll see any of them, but the Balance was distinct. It had a single-tone nib with a serial number (3535609) and was a "convertible" model which could turn into a desk pen. It had a part at the back that unscrewed like a blind cap, where the quill of a desk pen could screw in. Pictures of pen and nib are here:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3055/...6848973d_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3289/...6e9bdb59_b.jpg

If anyone sees this, could they drop me a line? I know four years is a long shot, but when I looked over those lines and thought about the pen, I figure it can't hurt to ask. I have checked Ebay since, but I couldn't monitor Ebay forever!

And if anyone's in the Phoenix area, there is more than one fountain pen person roaming around.

Thanks,

Chris