Through a combination of luck and patience, I have managed to find myself in the position of having a very stable "collection" (<20 pens, mostly vintage), and around 1000 USD in my pen account.

I don't need any other pens, but I have always thought that I would close out my collection with a crown jewel. The problem I have (and, yes, as problems go it is not really one that you would lose any sleep over) is that there are only a couple of pens that I pine for1:

  • Conid Flanders Field
  • Leonardo Maestro Arco Verde


Both of which are unlikely to appear on the market, or be even close to what I would allow myself to spend on a writing instrument.

So, is this it? Do I spend the rest of my days, perusing pen boards on the off chance that one of these pens, or one sufficiently like them, will appear and I will be able to pounce? Or do I turn my attention to stamps?

What have the rest of you done at this point?

1. I suppose, if pressed, there are a couple of other pens that might be more realistic, like a Namiki Emperor or a Nakaya...