Greetings from Amsterdam

[Sanninha]

Hi all!

my name is Sanne and I'm from Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

When learning how to write in elementary school fountain pens were mandatory. My mom is a teacher herself and she made sure my handwriting was, well, acceptable; I didn't like handwriting at all and didn't put much efford in learning it properly. A few years later however, handwriting became a serious hobby. I imitated beautiful scripts of famous people, did some calligraphy and had a small 'pen + ink' collection.

When I entered university I switched to ballpoints, let go of my hobby and never looked back until 2 years ago. My mum gave me a Parker IM Midnight Astral special edition when I graduated for my bachelors in physics and astronomy. Of course I loved the star map design on the pen and when I did some practicing, I was sold again. The writing looked like a four letter word starting with an S, but wauw. Why did I ever give this up?

I love to collect old, personal stuff that people actually used, like watches, diaries, books, etc., things 'with a story'. There is no money tree growing on my balcony and for now I depend on a little gambling and a lot of luck when strolling around on online 2nd hand marketplaces. I haven't been very lucky yet , but I like the hunt. My focus is now mainly on old fountain pens.

Last week I bought 14 pens at once for 10 euros. When the package arrived I didn't expect too much of it, but it was exciting to find out what was in it. There were some that came in nice boxes, but the fancy Parker box that got my hopes up actually contained two cheap Stabilo's, one damaged beyond repair. There was an Osmia box, too, that was almost falling apart. I expected a Bic pen or something. But it contained an Osmia 883 with an EF 14K gold nib. I still have no idea how much of a find that actually is, but it's in good condition, writes very smoothly and I am very happy with it. It's the first 14K gold nib I've ever owned . A date is written in the box: 8-12-'37. Anybody could have written that at any point in time, but looking at the condition of the box it makes sense. There's a name engraved on the barrel but I don't really mind that.

I don't consider myself a collector, at least not yet. Currently I just have two pens that I think are great to write with, the Parker Astral and the Osmia 883. I registered myself because I think there is a lot I can learn from all of you here, and I could use some help from time to time identifying 'random' pens I found 2nd hand. I hope that is okay .

After viewing all of the great pictures of beautiful collections here, it feels a bit silly to attach this, but hey.. We all have to start somewhere .

pens.jpg


Lots of love from Amsterdam!