FINALLY! Yard sale pens.

[Sailor Kenshin]

In all our years of going to yard/garage sales, and asking the eternal question, 'Do you by any chance have any fountain pens?' the answer was YES.

And the gentleman went inside and brought them right out for us. A nice red Esterbrook with a 9x nib; a very pretty shiny Parker vac with a dropped nib; a Wearever that looks exactly like this one I already own but is a lever-filler and soaking.

I almost fainted when I saw the Skyline.



Five bucks brought them home. The Estie's already been cleaned and fixed.

[penwash]

I know the feeling of a totally unexpected find (and how rare it is), and I couldn't be happier for you

[amk]

That's a lovely find! you are the sumgai today!

[jbb]

Yay!!!!!

[Sailor Kenshin]

I know the feeling of a totally unexpected find (and how rare it is), and I couldn't be happier for you

Thanks! I'm just a little scared of tackling the Skyline. Maybe I will just coo at it awhile.

[penwash]

I know the feeling of a totally unexpected find (and how rare it is), and I couldn't be happier for you

Thanks! I'm just a little scared of tackling the Skyline. Maybe I will just coo at it awhile.

Some Skyline barrels do become brittle, so you have to be a bit more careful.
Use time as part of your toolset, if the section won't come out today, try tomorrow, etc.
You'll win in the end.

[FredRydr]

The pens were inside. If you hadn't asked, you'd never have known. Congrats!

[Chip]

Great score!

Buying drawer and estate lots on eBay, I was lucky to get one collectible pen among five or more.

This was the best bunch: some decent Sheaffers including a Lifetime Jade Flat-top and a Moore 94A Art Deco.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Nice catch!

[markiv]

Congrats on your first Sumgai in the wild

[Sailor Kenshin]

Oddly enough, I had an old Eversharp pencil that's missing its top, so I don't know if it's this pen's companion piece. Will try to get a picture up later.

[scrivelry]

In all our years of going to yard/garage sales, and asking the eternal question, 'Do you by any chance have any fountain pens?' the answer was YES.

And the gentleman went inside and brought them right out for us. A nice red Esterbrook with a 9x nib; a very pretty shiny Parker vac with a dropped nib; a Wearever that looks exactly like this one I already own but is a lever-filler and soaking.

I almost fainted when I saw the Skyline.



Five bucks brought them home. The Estie's already been cleaned and fixed.

WOW! That is a great haul to a great person!

My first catch in the physical wild was a Skyline at an Antique store in Huntington, years ago. I think I've found one other fountain pen in the wild since - vintage store in New Paltz. I've never found one at a yard sale.

The Skyline barrels are particularly brittle around the threads - at least, the burgundy ones are. Ask me how I know...

[eicart0523]

I found 4 pens at a yard sale once. I didn't buy them. The owner wanted $25 each for them. Each was in horrible shape. Even if they were in good shape, I wouldn't have bought them regardless.

Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk

[Sailor Kenshin]

I found 4 pens at a yard sale once. I didn't buy them. The owner wanted $25 each for them. Each was in horrible shape. Even if they were in good shape, I wouldn't have bought them regardless.

Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk

We had something similar with a community yard sale. One older gentleman said he had fountain pens but wanted $100 each—-sight unseen. We thanked him but declined.

This is the Eversharp pencil, with a part missing from the top:

[Chip]

When I was buying mixed lots online, I would copy the photo, enhance the quality, and zoom in so I could identify the collectible pens, using reference books and various websites. Some lots were all cheap pens or obviously broken ones. Some were missing clips, caps, nibs, etc. I've still got a few boxes of old junky pens that aren't worth restoring, that I can't quite bring myself to throw out. There's one old souvenir pen, from Paris in the Great War era, that I don't think will ever write again, but is treasured nonetheless.