Does Bad Taste Sell Pens?

[Chip]

I get catalogs from a couple pen retailers and have noticed that mid-to-high priced pens seem to be getting uglier, more garish, and less like writing tools. One resembled a spaceship. Others feature excess decoration, scary colors, glitter, etc. I hesitate to post examples that might offend those who've bought the pens in question. So I'll pose this as a rather vague impression.

[Jon Szanto]

Dude, I am entirely with you. And with that said, I know another pen discussion group that has a very high percentage of people going after these unbelievably butt-ugly pens, and they aren't cheap! It is what it is and having variety in the marketplace is common and good, but I will post only one actual opinion: the rise in these pens - and in ink formulations, etc - indicates the current faddish trend of fountain pens and related. "Oooh, shiny!" is the way, and shallow buyers are eating it up. People will look back on many of these pens and wonder wtf people were thinking.

[Chip]

Nice to know I'm not alone. In one sense, anyhow. A case in point (for $5000):



My tastes run to vintage or antique pens (when pens were pens!) or present-day makes with perennial designs such as Pelikan.

When I'm writing, I don't care to be distracted by my own pen.

[KBeezie]

What the actual f.... Is that....

[Chuck Naill]

Isn’t beauty subjective or , at best, individual?

[catbert]

What the actual f.... Is that....

A desk toy.

[FredRydr]

One brand in particular always stands out: Montegrappa.

Chaos pen designed by Sylvester Stallone


Game of Thrones


My Guardian Angel


Montblanc won't miss an opportunity, either.

[Sailor Kenshin]

That may be the worst thing I've ever seen.

[Yazeh]

Those are horrendous.....

[Sandy]

It's fun. The rocket ship would make me smile every day. Makes me think of those classic on style science fiction stories.

S T Dupont pens mke very good writers. Well balanced with nice nibs.

[Jon Szanto]

The Chaos pen has been out for a number of years. I always thought it was a joke and figured other people did, too. I recently have come across a person who not only sought one out for a good while, but is particularly proud of it and mentions it frequently. I'm glad it is just a casual, occasional online connection and they never see my face. These things are hideous.

And yea, taste is personal and individual. Well aware of that. How else to explain the many thousands of dollars that people drop on the clown pens from David Oscarson?

Circling back around...

[scrivelry]

Some of these are obviously intended primarily as objects of conspicuous consumption.

Some people really do like some of them.

As objects, I have no objection to them - people spend their money on worse things, much worse things.

I don't know how useful some of them are as writing instruments.

I have that Jinhao snake pen, which fills my need for this sort of thing and cost less than 50 bucks, but I don't do a lot of writing with it. It makes me happy.for me, for that item at that price given that I don't have a lot of things like that, it's good. Obviously the mileage on this topic is gonna va-a-a-a-ary.

[Kaputnik]

I have actually bought two pens exactly because they were in such bad taste that I thought they were hilarious. The difference between them and the pens mentioned above is that they were both Jinhaos, costing between twelve and thirteen dollars each. That made paying for them a bit lest wasteful, although in principle, one could still criticize wasting small amounts of money on a joke.

The photo below was taken for a different pen forum and a discussion of pen weights, which explains the notes, and the pens I mean are the top and middle ones placed horizontally. The relief work on the "Copper Dragon" is not only over the top as decoration, but it makes the pen uncomfortable to hold for any extended writing session. The bad taste on the "Long Offspring" (I suspect that the name sounds better in Chinese) is more subdued, and it is more comfortable to hold, but that pocket clip is pretty tacky looking. Sorry that the picture is a little out of focus, although then again, that might actually be a good thing.

In fairness, both pens actually wrote quite well when I tried them out, and the Copper Dragon does have one feature that I like; the cap screws on in the posted position. Both of them, esthetics aside, are quite well made for this price level, and I don't really regret buying them, even if I never use them again. But I would not pay Montegrappa or Montblanc prices for something like this.



And yes, my taste does run to simplicity. About the fanciest pens that actually appeal to me are some of the vintage celluloid patterns, and I like the plainness of old BCHR pens.

[TSherbs]

Garish clothing fashion sure makes a ton of $, so why wouldn't pens?

[whichwatch]

There is no accounting for personal taste. That is probably a good thing. Otherwise many of us would be married to the same person.

A lot of the pens that have been posted in pictures here are (IMO) butt ugly, and I'd never own one, but who am I to judge what someone else likes?

No matter how strongly we may feel one way or the other about any one pen, there actually is no right or wrong. I happen to be crazy about Nakayas. I have had other people tell me they are boring and overpriced. They may well be full of stuff, but they are certainly entitled to their opinion, regardless of how wrong it may be.

[Chip]

The rocket ship would make me smile every day.

For $5 large, I could find quite a few cheaper ways to smile.

I'm not a saint or anchorite. I could drop quite a lot on good wine.

[TFarnon]

I agree. I don't mind a mildly silly pen, especially at Jinhao prices. But at thousands of dollars, count me out.

[SlowMovingTarget]

Were I ever to pick up a pen with decoration, maki-e or raden would be the only tasteful choices, but that's completely subjective. Give me simple elegance any day. I would not wish the word "chunky" to apply to my pens.

[TSherbs]

I have actually bought two pens exactly because they were in such bad taste that I thought they were hilarious. The difference between them and the pens mentioned above is that they were both Jinhaos, costing between twelve and thirteen dollars each. That made paying for them a bit lest wasteful, although in principle, one could still criticize wasting small amounts of money on a joke.

The photo below was taken for a different pen forum and a discussion of pen weights, which explains the notes, and the pens I mean are the top and middle ones placed horizontally. The relief work on the "Copper Dragon" is not only over the top as decoration, but it makes the pen uncomfortable to hold for any extended writing session. The bad taste on the "Long Offspring" (I suspect that the name sounds better in Chinese) is more subdued, and it is more comfortable to hold, but that pocket clip is pretty tacky looking. Sorry that the picture is a little out of focus, although then again, that might actually be a good thing.

In fairness, both pens actually wrote quite well when I tried them out, and the Copper Dragon does have one feature that I like; the cap screws on in the posted position. Both of them, esthetics aside, are quite well made for this price level, and I don't really regret buying them, even if I never use them again. But I would not pay Montegrappa or Montblanc prices for something like this.



And yes, my taste does run to simplicity. About the fanciest pens that actually appeal to me are some of the vintage celluloid patterns, and I like the plainness of old BCHR pens.

73g for the Dragon? Hit me with your rhythm stick!

[penwash]

Ehh, what people like and what pen they want for their own money, is none of my business.

Actually I don't mind some of those outlandish pens.
For example this, I wouldn't mind having one, if the price is not where this thing is shooting at.