I only dabbled in collecting. Despite being on the order of 100 pens (excluding the cheap ones) at one point, my "collection" was really a set of pens to use, with a lot of backups. Consequently, it would be really valuable for me to know what I know now about which pens I would want to keep when I moved on to other hobbies. I could save myself a lot of money that way, but OTOH, that analysis gives short shrift to the pleasures of learning, particularly of restoring and tinkering with vintage fountain pens. I think ultimately, there are only minor things I would tell myself, such as
1. You don't need a collection of Bexley Poseidon Magnum II prototypes -- you'll turn around and sell most of them for a loss, leaving the one that you really wanted.
2. You don't need a collection of Sheaffer Targas -- you'll wish you'd just bought one excellent, solid sterling silver one and left it at that.
3. Parker VS's will eventually fail if you use them, so collect them as a pure collection, not as potential users, and leave them in unused condition if you can.
4. Montblanc 149's, Pelikan 1000's, and Sailor KoP are too big, but you like the penultimate sizes in these lines.
5. BTW, you don't actually write all that much. Just sayin'.
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