A needle in a haystack

[distracted_mom]

As I have spent some time reading the forums and conversing with you lovely people, I am trying hard to remember my first fountain pen.

Here are the details I remember:

I used it in 1989-90
I bought it at WalMart or some similar store. I vaguely remember bubble packaging. It couldn't have been more than $5-10 or so because I was a freshman in high school and had no money.
It used the standard international cartridges, which I also purchased at WalMart. No internet shopping back in the day.
The nib was painted, and I only remember that because the paint peeled off.

Based on those memories, I am guessing it was not a Sheaffer or Pilot product, as those don't take the standard cartridges.
Anyone have any idea of what kind of cheap pen started my journey? What brands might have been selling in a WalMart in the late '80s, early '90s? I don't even know what to google to get started!

[jar]

Lots of "NoNamis" that used international standard cartridges and converters. Most were from China and Hero was often the source.

[Anne]

Could it have possibly been a Platinum Preppy? They have painted nibs, but I thought they were eyedropper only, but I guess they could take cartridges. I just checked CultPens website and they offer it and mention it takes cartridges. Was it small like one? One to a package?

[distracted_mom]

Could it have possibly been a Platinum Preppy? They have painted nibs, but I thought they were eyedropper only, but I guess they could take cartridges. I just checked CultPens website and they offer it and mention it takes cartridges. Was it small like one? One to a package?

First of all, I had no idea about Cult Pens. This may be a problem.
And I have a Platinum Preppy. That's not it. It doesn't take standard cartridges.

[jar]

There were also a bunch of low cost student Waterman pens at that time so that is a possibility.

[Sailor Kenshin]

As I have spent some time reading the forums and conversing with you lovely people, I am trying hard to remember my first fountain pen.

Here are the details I remember:

I used it in 1989-90
I bought it at WalMart or some similar store. I vaguely remember bubble packaging. It couldn't have been more than $5-10 or so because I was a freshman in high school and had no money.
It used the standard international cartridges, which I also purchased at WalMart. No internet shopping back in the day.
The nib was painted, and I only remember that because the paint peeled off.

Based on those memories, I am guessing it was not a Sheaffer or Pilot product, as those don't take the standard cartridges.
Anyone have any idea of what kind of cheap pen started my journey? What brands might have been selling in a WalMart in the late '80s, early '90s? I don't even know what to google to get started!

With the painted nib, I'm thinking Stypen, a French make. I had a bunch, gave away a bunch. Very enjoyable, if dry, writers. I've seen pastel painted nibs....never had one of those.

Wish I did...

[distracted_mom]

As I have spent some time reading the forums and conversing with you lovely people, I am trying hard to remember my first fountain pen.

Here are the details I remember:

I used it in 1989-90
I bought it at WalMart or some similar store. I vaguely remember bubble packaging. It couldn't have been more than $5-10 or so because I was a freshman in high school and had no money.
It used the standard international cartridges, which I also purchased at WalMart. No internet shopping back in the day.
The nib was painted, and I only remember that because the paint peeled off.

Based on those memories, I am guessing it was not a Sheaffer or Pilot product, as those don't take the standard cartridges.
Anyone have any idea of what kind of cheap pen started my journey? What brands might have been selling in a WalMart in the late '80s, early '90s? I don't even know what to google to get started!

With the painted nib, I'm thinking Stypen, a French make. I had a bunch, gave away a bunch. Very enjoyable, if dry, writers. I've seen pastel painted nibs....never had one of those.

Wish I did...

How much time can I waste tonight looking into this?
I'm intrigued by the fact that Bic bought Stypen, but were the Stypen pens available in the US?

[Anne]

I am just happy that Walmart carried a fountain pen of any kind
I have found that you can buy the Pilot Varsity online from them, but I have never been lucky enough to find one their store.

[gbryal]

The pens I saw around my small town in the 80s and 90s were the major brand ones, Parker, Sheaffer, maybe Cross, and then usually a selection of 1. But those don't take international cartridges, or the ones you were likely to find then didn't I think.

I went through the same thing recently, looking for a pen I bought in the nineties. I haven't figured it out but I think it was maybe a Parker Frontier or a Parker 15 or maybe a Jotter or something. In any case, it always dried out and hard started and eventually broke, so I feel a little better about not finding another one.

(hmm, maybe it was this one: http://www.peytonstreetpens.com/park...ew-in-box.html)

[Sailor Kenshin]

As I have spent some time reading the forums and conversing with you lovely people, I am trying hard to remember my first fountain pen.

Here are the details I remember:

I used it in 1989-90
I bought it at WalMart or some similar store. I vaguely remember bubble packaging. It couldn't have been more than $5-10 or so because I was a freshman in high school and had no money.
It used the standard international cartridges, which I also purchased at WalMart. No internet shopping back in the day.
The nib was painted, and I only remember that because the paint peeled off.

Based on those memories, I am guessing it was not a Sheaffer or Pilot product, as those don't take the standard cartridges.
Anyone have any idea of what kind of cheap pen started my journey? What brands might have been selling in a WalMart in the late '80s, early '90s? I don't even know what to google to get started!

With the painted nib, I'm thinking Stypen, a French make. I had a bunch, gave away a bunch. Very enjoyable, if dry, writers. I've seen pastel painted nibs....never had one of those.

Wish I did...

How much time can I waste tonight looking into this?
I'm intrigued by the fact that Bic bought Stypen, but were the Stypen pens available in the US?

Perhaps? I know I bought my first few from isellpens, that the Stypens were available in the 90s, and you can still find them here and there, such as fleabay.

I may have purchased speerbob's entire stock at one point, lol.

[scrivelry]

My first fountain pen was from Ben Franklin, on a card, a Sheaffer school pen. I still love those pens, though I do not have that individual any more, or at least not any place I can find it.

In the late 80's I bought a black fountain pen with a sort of road-stripe yellow clip, all plastic. I liked it. I lost it. I spent about two years on Ebay recently finding another one, which, right now, I cannot locate in this cyclone...

The body of the pen was sort of hexagonal, I think, and the nib was sort of flat. It had a swirly thing that could have been anything from a bird to a letter in a small circle at the bottom of the clip. I wish I knew what brand it was, but I never did.

[catbert]

My first fountain pen was from Ben Franklin, on a card, a Sheaffer school pen. I still love those pens, though I do not have that individual any more, or at least not any place I can find it.

In the late 80's I bought a black fountain pen with a sort of road-stripe yellow clip, all plastic. I liked it. I lost it. I spent about two years on Ebay recently finding another one, which, right now, I cannot locate in this cyclone...

The body of the pen was sort of hexagonal, I think, and the nib was sort of flat. It had a swirly thing that could have been anything from a bird to a letter in a small circle at the bottom of the clip. I wish I knew what brand it was, but I never did.

Sounds like a Waterman Jif or Jiffie (link).

A black one with a yellow clip was my backup student pen. The barrel is pentagonal. It languished in a drawer for years until I had the brilliant idea of digging it out and trying to eyedropper it. I discovered that the section (some kind of clear plastic laminate over softer plastic) had degraded to the extent that it couldn't hold the nib firmly - possibly a side effect of regular immersion in bottled ink. It was sold as a cartridge pen but I bought a converter separately.