Vis-a-vis SBRE Brown's recent video asking, "Why are we attracted to expensive pens?" (https://youtu.be/UtrBPRAO4nQ)
My short answer is that I am not attracted to expensive pens. It's that the pens that I especially want cost what they cost (Nakaya, for instance). My first Nakaya, a Piccolo Cigar, cost $250, which I thought was a lot at the time (2008, days before a price increase), but if I knew then what I know now, I would have bought five of them (eventually, I bought more than five but never again at $250).
It costs what it costs.
Recently, when contemplating replacing a lost favorite Piccolo, I looked through the offerings on Nakaya's website (nakaya.org, btw). There's a Venetian Moon at $4,400 that just rings my bells -- but Neo Standard (i.e., not Piccolo). (Also, $4,400, hahaha. Yeah, not today.)
I wanted the kuro tamenuri. That's it. No matter how enticing the various other pens I looked at were -- the Chinkin, black with colorful flowers, for instance. I just... no, the kuro tamenuri. That's the one that I really wanted. That was the one I bought three years ago (finally) -- and lost a year-and-a-half ago.
Maybe I lost it, cos I didn't order it with the kanji for my name. Because maybe I really wanted that kanji. Huh.
Meanwhile... I'm using these: IMG_20200902_160108068_HDR~2_resize_72.jpg
That <$20 Moonman C2 sports a Pilot #10 PO nib. Had to pay for the 912 (which I did maybe five years ago), which was more than $20, but it's my favorite nib. So... I didn't buy the 912 because it was more expensive than the Moonman; I bought it to try the PO nib, and it cost what it cost. And the PO is my favorite nib.
Can cheaper pens give a similar-enough writing experience? Maybe if I were starting out. I know too much now, hahaha. I can discern the difference, and if I want the Pilot PO nib experience, then I have to buy the Pilot model with the PO nib. So far, no way around that.
And no way around the cost of using a beautiful urushi pen. I doubt those will ever come cheap.
If I didn't care for fountain pens, I'd use needle-tip Pentel Jetstreams and Uni-ball Signos and Pilot V5s -- and some people might say, "Why would you pay so much for that when you could get a dozen Bic ballpoints for the same price?" Hahaha. I'd be all, "But... but... needle tip!"
Pens in the photo are, L-R:
Nakaya Piccolo Cigar unpolished shu (Platinum steel EF), filled with Iroshizuku Take-sumi
Kaweco Special (F - but a delightfully EF F), with Platinum Carbon Black
Pilot 823 (PO), Noodler's Black
Moonman C2 (Pilot #10 PO), Platinum Blue-Black (as of yesterday)
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