Vintage Pens in May

[gbryal]

I think for May I am going to use nothing but vintage pens. Some of my modern pens are full of ink so I guess I'll also be seeing how they do for a month without being used.

Haven't decided which, but I think among them will be a:

• Wyvern Perfect 81
• Waterman 94
• Sheaffer OS Balance
• Parker 51
• Wearever of some kind
• Esterbrook J with manifold nib
• Parker Lucky Curve
• Parker Lady Duofold
• Pelikan 400nn

And I just ordered a Waterman Taperite so maybe that can get in there too.
Anyone else in?

[Deb]

Sure. I can do that.

Several 1920s and 30s Conway Stewarts
A 1940s Penco
A Sheaffer Imperial (if that's old enough to qualify)
A 1930s Parker Frankenpen
A Sheaffer Balance
A Merz & Krell
An Osmia
An Onoto plunger filler
An Onoto piston filler
A Swan Leverless 1060
A Geha
and a dreadful old Velvatip

[fountainpenkid]

Sure. I can do that.

and a dreadful old Velvatip

Would love to learn more about that one!

I already use them almost exclusively, so it will hardly be much of a disruption. For me it'll be:
Pelikan 400 early model
late '40s OMAS Extra vest pocket
Soennecken 111 Superior
and maybe a Waterman's Safety

[Runnin_Ute]

I certainly have enough to try. Not sure if I will though. It would look like this:
Pelikan 140
Parker 51 Demi Vacumatic
Parker 51 Special
Esterbrook SJ- red
Esterbrook LJ-black
Esterbrook J transitional -blue
Esterbrook J (black, gray, copper, green)

All pre 1960. If I expanded to pre 1970, I would be adding most of my Parker 45's. Only one is post 1970.

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[penwash]

This should be easy for me as I use 99.5% vintage pens.

The question is, I don't know which pens are coming into my inventory in May.

[Kaputnik]

Looks like fun, although more pens than I would choose to have inked at one time. I'm currently at six, which is about my maximum. I want to empty at least a couple (by writing with them) before inking something else, but my Vacumatic hasn't been used for a while.

No "vintage" pens currently inked, although I am using a couple of no longer made 70s-80s models. The O.P. reminds me that I want to try one of my Wearevers again, maybe one of the double-ended pen/pencil combos, which don't hold much ink and can be written dry quickly.

And there's my 1940s British Mabie Todd, an Eversharp Skyline that's very good, some Sheaffers, Moores...

Darn this too many pens syndrome.

[migo984]

Sounds fun - I’m in. May I ask what are we defining as “vintage”?

I’ll post which pens before end of this month. Will possibly include:

Waterman W5
one of my Parker 51s,
Esterbrook J
1970’s Pilot Elite
A Parker Vac
Swan 3170 or Calligraph
Mabie Todd Blackbird
Conway Stewart 15
Parker Victory or Duofold
Matador Click
Stephens 106
1940’s Aurora 88 Nikargenta

[fountainpenkid]

Perhaps we participants could exchange letters? I would love an excuse to use my pens more! (no note-heavy courses this semester!)

[azkid]

Perhaps we participants could exchange letters? I would love an excuse to use my pens more! (no note-heavy courses this semester!)

That would be fun. Only so many notes I can take at work...

I would love to try an all-vintage month... except I just got a brand new pen in the mail today.

PS: pens would include Sheaffer Skripsert cartridge pen, Parker 51 & 45, and Wahl ringtop, and whatever I fail to resist buying in the near future...

[fqgouvea]

An all-vintage month sounds like a worthwhile challenge! I’d need to be pretty careful, but I think I can make it work.

[gbryal]

Sounds fun - I’m in. May I ask what are we defining as “vintage”?

I think we can be relaxed about the specific meaning. If we include 1970s pens I guess I am vintage too!

[migo984]

Sounds fun - I’m in. May I ask what are we defining as “vintage”?

I think we can be relaxed about the specific meaning. If we include 1970s pens I guess I am vintage too!

Yikes! It’s scary to think that my teenage years are now deemed vintage.......

[Deb]

Sounds fun - I’m in. May I ask what are we defining as “vintage”?

I think we can be relaxed about the specific meaning. If we include 1970s pens I guess I am vintage too!

I think vintage is what you think is vintage.

[Kaputnik]

Sounds fun - I’m in. May I ask what are we defining as “vintage”?

I think we can be relaxed about the specific meaning. If we include 1970s pens I guess I am vintage too!

Sounds fun - I’m in. May I ask what are we defining as “vintage”?

I think we can be relaxed about the specific meaning. If we include 1970s pens I guess I am vintage too!

I think vintage is what you think is vintage.

It's a loose term. I don't think of my Montblanc Noblesse (late 1970s) and Pilot Murex (introduced in 1977, but mine has a 1980 date code) as vintage, although they haven't been made for a long time. With their converters, they just seem like modern pens to me. Both are currently in use.

On the other hand, I was forgetting my Esterbrook Dip-Less desk pens. I have three of them filled and in my main writing area at home. Not quite like filling a fountain pen, as it's the inkwell that gets filled, but I think they'd meet anybody's idea of vintage. And when I say that I have X pens inked, I never count these.

Yes, I'll continue to get a large amount of my writing done with vintage pens this year.

[Deb]

Unlike motorcars, where the term "vintage" is defined, it remains open for fountain pens. For me, it's anything before 1960. For the next person it might be earlier or later. Looking at the four pens that happen to be on my desk at the momen two are vintage by anyone's standards, one is new and the fourth might be vintage by a year or two, by my definition.

[Mags]

Unlike motorcars, where the term "vintage" is defined, it remains open for fountain pens. For me, it's anything before 1960. For the next person it might be earlier or later. Looking at the four pens that happen to be on my desk at the momen two are vintage by anyone's standards, one is new and the fourth might be vintage by a year or two, by my definition.

I agree with you. I also believe that current pen users who are becoming collectors are younger than myself and already view an ‘80’s pen as vintage.


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[penwash]

Perhaps we participants could exchange letters? I would love an excuse to use my pens more! (no note-heavy courses this semester!)

Not lowering the admirable standard, but I think if we can get participants to post photos of the pens being used, it'd be a good content for the forum

[Runnin_Ute]

Generally, I think vintage as pre-1960, and semi vintage as probably 1960-1980. Using that definition, the pens I posted earlier would be vintage, and my Parker 45's (all 6 of them) and Pelikan 120 Merz & Krell would all be in the Semi-Vintage grouping. Everything else is newer than that.

[azkid]

I'm starting out Vintage May with my Parker 51 Aerometric (Q3 1948), black with G.F. cap.



I am hoping to use up the overly gushy ink in it now so I can see if Pelikan 4001 behaves better as it's done in two other pens so far.

[welch]

Unlike motorcars, where the term "vintage" is defined, it remains open for fountain pens. For me, it's anything before 1960. For the next person it might be earlier or later. Looking at the four pens that happen to be on my desk at the momen two are vintage by anyone's standards, one is new and the fourth might be vintage by a year or two, by my definition.

I agree with Deb. Any pen before the Parker 45, which marked the point at which companies shifted away from pens that were meant to be returned to a service center for repairs.

I'm in.

- Parker 51 aero

- P-51 Vac

- P-51 Special

Maybe a Snorkel or a PFM.