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Thread: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

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    Member Inkflow's Avatar
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    Default Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    This issue came up years ago in the computer hardware world: the diehard techies kept the original boxes for their (new) hardware items and software programs. But is keeping the boxes just as valuable for pen collecting? It seems much space could be saved by transferring the pens to either a roll up or zipped case, the kind with individual pockets or loops for each pen. The space savings would be phenomenal, but I haven't done this myself. It seems I would lose a bit of the collector's glee by orphaning the pens from their cases in that way. Maybe when I'm forced to do so, for space reasons. But until, then I am keeping the boxes.

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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    I keep my original boxes and packaging for my pens, but I don't keep my pens inside them. I transfer my pens to collector boxes and the packaging goes into a large crate with other boxes.
    Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens

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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    I have no intensions of selling the pens I own, soooo... I will keep ornate boxes from expensive pens and maybe one box of a series. For the most part I tend to 'recycle' the boxes and store the pens in protective cases.

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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    I didn't start keeping the boxes until I bought my first "expensive" fountain pen, a Parker 51, circa 1963 for $30, a fortune to me. I lost that pen on a Greyhound bus but I still have the box it came in. I've been saving the boxes from my fountain pens ever since. I even kept the written sales receipts in some. Those were purchased in pre-Internet years when you had to go to a brick and mortar store and they hand wrote the sales receipt. Yes, that's how old I am! The pens themselves are now kept in a cases for multiple pens.
    Last edited by ambimom; December 17th, 2018 at 08:04 AM.

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    Senior Member ethernautrix's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    Like jodylud, I toss the boxes, unless they're especially nice or practical (made of wood and can be used to hold other things). Frequent moves before discovering that there was such a thing as a "fountain pen community" meant that I had no idea there was a collector's market or even second-hand/used demand. I bought a couple of Montblanc limited edition pens, for instance, and tossed the boxes (kept the papers) and didn't appreciate the "limited edition" part. I bought the pens to use them.

    NOW, if I were to buy a limited edition pen, I'd probably keep the box. Cos now I know ya nevah know.

    But... these fabulous Pilot Custom Heritages? I'm gonna wear these nibs out, so no need to keep the boxes. No one's gonna want these when I'm done with them.

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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    Interesting you would ask at this moment.

    For some reason, I was keeping all boxes, receipts, etc. This stuff got added to a storage unit I pay for. I recently decided the stuff in that storage unit isn't worth the $700 a year I pay so I've started pulling stuff out and ruthlessly tossing it. A couple of days ago I spent nearly an hour outside between rubbish and recycling bins sorting out all the pen boxes. Later that evening I thought better of the nice wooden box the Sailor King Of Pen came in so I went out and retrieved that; it now holds ink cartridges.

    So, now I'm not keeping original boxes and pens.

    Next I have to work on the boxes photographic equipment came in. That won't be so easy as UPS won't accept the liability of shipping some expensive items if they aren't in original packaging.

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    Resale of fountain pens is enhanced with original "box and papers." This is true with vintage pens, too. I found out the hard way when I first got into this hobby and tossed out all the boxes and ephemera.

    So, unless you have a space problem, stash boxes and papers somewhere (I put them in a covered cardboard box out in the garage) so that when you later surprise yourself by deciding to sell a once-lusted-for pen, you have what you need to get top dollar.

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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    Almost always. I use the boxes to store the warranty information. If the pen ever has a problem, I use the box to send it back. As Fred mentions, the box also adds to the resale value. A few years ago I received a pen from my grandfather that came in a box. The packaging contained things he held to be important. I hope that the boxes and packaging material of my pens will help my son know what pens he has when I am gone. That said, I never purchased a pen with a large box.

    I store my pens in a cigar box with added leather slots or in pen cases in the cigar box.

    Dan
    Last edited by dfo; December 17th, 2018 at 09:32 AM.
    "Love is the final fight."

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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    Quote Originally Posted by dfo View Post
    ...I never purchased a pen with a large box....
    For some reason, the revived Conway Stewart pen company enclosed its new pens in ridiculously huge boxes: inner boxes, outer boxes and whatnot. When it came time to sell my C-S Simpole, the buyer insisted on having all the boxes to close the sale. The box was about a foot and a half long! Luckily, it was a face-to-face transaction at my table at a pen show and I did not have to ship it.

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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    For the most part, I do. I don't keep blister packs etc. However, I've got a growing collection of spare boxes Sheaffer and Parker boxes. For those odd times, I buy a pen without a box. One thing | love to see is faded date stamps, receipts and warranty stamps on pen instructions etc I think it adds a whole nother dimension to a new purchase and in some ways it gives you a glimpse of its history

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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    I usually do not keep boxes (paperwork) of the modern pens I bought (I might keep exceptional well made ones but this is rare).
    I also do not plan to resell something.

    Most of my pens are vintage pens and most (almost all) came without the original box/packaging, paperwork.

    But I do not care about that stuff, this has no added value for me.

    In fact I would not pay a single Euro more just for a box or paperwork, as I‘m a user not a collector, it‘s the pen that counts.

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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    I'll just leave this right here.

    Capture+_2018-12-17-11-49-47-01.jpeg
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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    Quote Originally Posted by KrazyIvan View Post
    I'll just leave this right here.

    Capture+_2018-12-17-11-49-47-01.jpeg
    Yeah, but the real question is would you pay a premium to have a old cardboard and a old sheet of paper in addition to the pen?

    How much more would you pay for this little paper add-ons?

    My personal answer is as said above, I would pay nothing extra for it (but I would not toss it away either, if it comes with it fine, if it comes without it also fine).

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    It was my understanding that the OP is not asking whether he should pay extra to buy a pen's box and papers, but rather, whether there is good reason to keep them in the realm of the fountain pen hobby.

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    Senior Member Pterodactylus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    Quote Originally Posted by FredRydr View Post
    It was my understanding that the OP is not asking whether he should pay extra to buy a pen's box and papers, but rather, whether there is good reason to keep them in the realm of the fountain pen hobby.
    True, but as the discussion evolves it might be a valid additional question if some would pay more to have it or not.

    Old vintage ones I would not toss away but would not pay extra.

    And a monetary bonus is imho the only really reason to keep such things.

    I remember my grandparents seem to have kept many original packages independent of the goods they bought.
    The basement of their house was full of packages of all kind.
    Some answers I got when I asked for the reasons were: what if I have to bring it back for repair, warranty,... might be needed for transportation later,..... I can put it back when I do not use it for a while,......, the packaging belongs to the product,.....
    Maybe the times were different in the past and people valued things (including the packaging) more, for me it looked always a bit like a hoarder mentality.
    Last edited by Pterodactylus; December 17th, 2018 at 02:25 PM.

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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    I always keep all packaging at least a month in case I get a defective pen and need to return it. Then after that, if it's a nicer pen, I keep the packaging because I know that eventually it will enhance the value of the pen in case I want to sell or trade it later, or a descendant does. I've been around long enough to have seen first hand how stuff that cost me next to nothing and threw away years ago would now fetch hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    I've kept all the packaging from modern pens (3 Pilots and a Lamy 2k).

    Vintage pens that I bought that came with boxes (often for different pens) - I kept the boxes when gifting or selling the pens becuase to include them would have increased the shipping cost considerably.

    Custom made pens tend not to come in special boxes, although my Chris Yoke dip pens did (o I kept those).

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    Senior Member azkid's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    I will start pitching Safari and Metro boxes if I run out of room. I figure it adds slightly to resale value for vintage so I keep those.

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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    I always keep all boxes and paperwork when purchasing a pen as invariably I will eventually sell the pen to buy something else anyway.

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    Senior Member Marsilius's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do you keep the original box and packaging of your pens?

    I keep the boxes of my more notable (expensive, vintage, special edition, or nice box) pens. But I have some that should probably disappear. I did NOT keep one of those new Conklin boxes that had white "satin" and looked like a coffin.
    I am not a fan of those boxes that look like old froufrou jewelry boxes, with fabric that your can't remove, but if the box is nice or useable, I keep it.
    Save for my Bulkfiller case which holds the tools and an extra nib, they are almost all in a separate box, one that I open and clean out spider webs from time to time.
    I sometimes feel like just tossing the lot, but have always been glad I didn't.
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