What do you wish you'd known when you started collecting?

[SIR]

Yes, indeed; see you at thetruthaboutguns.com .

[kia]

I also kind of wish I'd known just how passionate people can be about pens, almost as much as me! I thought I was the only one interested in such things as pen, paper, and ink. I've always amassed quirky pens and such since I was a kid, but now I'm collecting the good stuff, and it's fabulous.

I am very passionate about pens and the part their development as a basic tool has played in history. We wouldn't have history without the means to record it.

I am also passionate about other stuff, including my rights under the Constitution. Freedom of speech (written, as well as oral), and freedom of religion (my choice, to worship - or not - as I wish), and my right to bear arms (which I do). America is a great place, and instead of arguing or judging and condemning, I think pushing forward the power of the pen and writing is more important. Seriously. Time to bring back cursive and schools and enable our children and their children to be able read the original Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States (or at least facsimiles thereof in the written hand of our forefathers), and to push forward with careful thought and logic, as well as pride. The rest is to be debated. But not here.

I try to choose my battles wisely, and here I am choosing to arm myself with pen and paper and the history - past and future - it represents. I write, therefore I am. Scribere est agere. To write is to act. But this is my pen forum. And, so, my pen fanaticism is here. My other passions are elsewhere.

Ok, said my peace. I'll disappear for another 3 years, now.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I also kind of wish I'd known just how passionate people can be about pens, almost as much as me! I thought I was the only one interested in such things as pen, paper, and ink. I've always amassed quirky pens and such since I was a kid, but now I'm collecting the good stuff, and it's fabulous.

I am very passionate about pens and the part their development as a basic tool has played in history. We wouldn't have history without the means to record it.

I am also passionate about other stuff, including my rights under the Constitution. Freedom of speech (written, as well as oral), and freedom of religion (my choice, to worship - or not - as I wish), and my right to bear arms (which I do). America is a great place, and instead of arguing or judging and condemning, I think pushing forward the power of the pen and writing is more important. Seriously. Time to bring back cursive and schools and enable our children and their children to be able read the original Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States (or at least facsimiles thereof in the written hand of our forefathers), and to push forward with careful thought and logic, as well as pride. The rest is to be debated. But not here.

I try to choose my battles wisely, and here I am choosing to arm myself with pen and paper and the history - past and future - it represents. I write, therefore I am. Scribere est agere. To write is to act. But this is my pen forum. And, so, my pen fanaticism is here. My other passions are elsewhere.

Ok, said my peace. I'll disappear for another 3 years, now.

Bring back cursive! Yyyyeahhh!

[RNHC]

Forget cursive (which I had to teach my kids myself), I was shocked that no one at school taught them the proper way to hold pen/pencil. When my daughter was a wee lass, I saw her hold the pencil between her middle and ring finger. When I brought up the matter to her teacher, she just shrugged and said it was already too late! My daughter was in first grade at the time, mind you.

This was not at a public school where everyone assumes nobody cares but at a private school. I was especially annoyed at the teacher's attitude since I expected more for what I paid in tuition. I thought perhaps I should have sent my daughter to a parochial school instead where proper things were taught properly. (The tuition would have been cheaper too!) It's appalling how essential basics of education have been discarded. Fundamentals are fundamental!

[wingwiper]

That gold nibs would go away for cheaper steal nibs.

[fountainpenkid]

That gold nibs would go away for cheaper steal nibs.

I'm not sure what you mean.

[FredRydr]

Perhaps he swallowed a steel nib and isn't happy about it at all.

[stevekolt]

That I REALLY should try ink samples before blindly trusting others reviews and buying bottles of ink...

[Dreck]

Gold nibs are significantly cheaper than steel nibs, if you steal them

[Paddler]

Where is your imagination? Where is your curiosity: the will to "run and find out"? If you must, think of this exercise as a tribute. It is a tribute to companies that waste the world's resources to manufacture trash.

I don't owe the pen collecting world a thing. Making it a little better is not a consideration. So now that I have learned a few things about pens and rifles, I have no reason to share the information with you.

You can justify however you want but it won't change the fact that you are just a selfish person with no consideration for others, especially the future generation. "Give a hoot, don't pollute!"

Strange as it may sound, there may be some quirky people who may be interested in your exercise in wanton destruction. As an atonement for your transgressions, the least you can do is share the useless information (that has no practical value to anyone) with those interested. I, of course, have no interest since with my knowledge and experience know what had had happened - the pen went kaput.

The world is not a penitentiary and you are not the warden. Give it up.

[pajaro]

Collecting pens has been an interesting exercise. The things I didn't know at first I found out through some interesting exercises that were sometimes fun, sometimes a frustration. I have had fun doing this. You could always say you would have liked to have more facts. There's fun in the journey.

[comixfan]

Forget cursive (which I had to teach my kids myself), I was shocked that no one at school taught them the proper way to hold pen/pencil. When my daughter was a wee lass, I saw her hold the pencil between her middle and ring finger. When I brought up the matter to her teacher, she just shrugged and said it was already too late!

Wow... this hit home for me on two counts. First, this is EXACTLY how I learned to hold a pen/pencil (between my middle and ring finger). I started drawing and writing at a very young age and I think my parents were so thrilled by this that they paid no attention to how I was holding my crayons, and by the time I reached kindergarten, it really was too late! I tried to learn the correct way, but it never took.

Secondly, I never learned to write cursive because I was just learning D'Nealian (anyone remember D'Nealian???) as a grade school student in Georgia when I moved to Missouri midway through the school year and was shocked to discover that my classmates had ALREADY BEEN TAUGHT CURSIVE! So I never learned to write script-- I've printed my way through everything my whole life.

And to answer the OP, had I known just how deep of a rabbit hole I was getting into with this hobby, I might have been content to stick with my Sheaffer school pen I had as a kid. It was red and I loved it. *sigh* "Rosebud..."

[Tiggercat]

I wish I had known from an earlier age how wonderful good handwriting can be. (I'm a bit of an old dog now...)

I wish I had known that the simplest way to justify nicer pens is to buy ones my wife thinks are stylish.

I wish I had known to start experimenting with different nibs early on - buying different pens that all have the same basic nib doesn't begin to expose you to the possibilities available.

I wish I had known how much other people enjoy this - if you don't use a pen any more and can't sell it for a appreciable price, give it away to a new user.

[pajaro]

I wish that I had known at the start that many collectors were so high strung.

[Fermata]

I wish that I had known at the start that many collectors were so high strung.

.....................or ought to be.

I would never have imagined that certain people could be so aggressive and confrontational about this hobby, especially inks for some reason.

[SIR]

I wish that I had known at the start that many collectors were so high strung.

Neurotic.

[KrazyIvan]

I wish I'd known that just because a pen is rare does not mean it is valuable. Sometimes it is rare because the pen was not very good or of poor quality and few examples exist because they did not stand the test of time.

[Pendragon]

"Some of the folks here" used to have eight pens, once upon a time :-)

The 215 is a lovely pen, isn't it?

I like it very much. When I first started checking pen forums and blogs, the result of a random google search, most recommended the Pelikan pens as the very best around. The M200 was particularly recommended as a great first pen. The M215 was a little fancier and not all that much more expensive, so I got one. All the praise heaped on the pen has been true in my experience. A cursory look around indicates that much has changed and been added to the fountain pen world, and quite a bit has stayed the same.

That gold nibs would go away for cheaper steal nibs.

That has happened on a widespread basis? Please pardon my ignorance. Until recently, I have not checked the forums or kept up to date on fountain pen news in years.

The steel nib on my M215 has never disappointed, so it is not always a bad thing.

[Wahl]

After about 50 years around pens, I wish I knew all that I still don´t know !

[gbryal]

I wish I'd known that just because a pen is rare does not mean it is valuable. Sometimes it is rare because the pen was not very good or of poor quality and few examples exist because they did not stand the test of time.

Audio is not so good, but it's a pretty funny story that illustrates the point, or reminds me of it anyway.

Spoiler:

Summary: Man working at Jamestown re-enacting woodworking looks for authentic period axes obtains some from experts who dug them up from the bottom of an old well. He replicates them and finds they don't work very well and thinks the problem is just that he is doing it wrong.
Punch line: The axes are indeed authentic. They were also thrown into a well, presumably for good reason.