This slightly taller dude on the left is the newest member of my Gold Bond stable.
amk (May 15th, 2021), ChrisJ (April 27th, 2021), FredRydr (April 27th, 2021), Jon Szanto (April 27th, 2021), KrazyIvan (April 27th, 2021), Lady Onogaro (May 6th, 2021), Schaumburg_Swan (April 28th, 2021), Yazeh (April 27th, 2021)
Such beautiful pens! They look to be in great condition.
penwash (April 27th, 2021)
"When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."
~ Benjamin Franklin
penwash (April 28th, 2021)
Please continue to show your beautiful acquisitions, Will. I used to buy many American pens direct from the US but the customs charges have made that too costly. Though we can buy the more common US pens, pens like your Gold Bonds and other less well-known pens were never imported here. I love to see and hear about those pens I no longer have the chance to handle.
Detman101 (May 24th, 2021)
Just put in an order for a Franklin Christoph Model 20 'Marietta' in kaleidoscope acrylic! Been Jonesing for this model ever since Marie lent me one of hers to try, and originally was going to go for one of the muted though elegant colours (all black or vintage green) but decided to be loud and proud.
This is the pen -(image from Franklin Christoph, used for illustrative purpose only)
I've also asked for the nib to be upgraded to a Nagahara fine italic. Quite looking forward to trying that out.
amk (May 15th, 2021), Jon Szanto (May 6th, 2021), Lady Onogaro (May 6th, 2021), SlowMovingTarget (May 24th, 2021), Yazeh (May 6th, 2021)
I had a couple things pop in over the last few weeks but I'm going to go with the most recent first. I had my eye on an auction with just a couple of photos and I swore it was a particular model but couldn't be certain. Leap of faith and I won the auction, the pen arrived on Monday. I got it right: a ~1935 Sheaffer OS Balance in Grey Pearl celluloid with silver trim. Condition was a bit difficult to ascertain but turned out to be remarkably good in an odd way. This pen seem to have taken about 95.6% of it's abuse on the clip! Pretty scratched and some plating loss, but in contrast to that, the body of the pen showed relatively little wear and tear. The nib is also in very good order.
Honestly, I'm posting this because I haven't had a restore go so smoothly! Tonight I was looking at it and thought "well, I'll try pulling the section". I didn't think it would go but after about 20 minutes of patient heating, it slid right out. Sac was dried in one piece, barrel was remarkably clean inside and the pressure bar showed virtually no corrosion, etc. In no time at all I had done all the steps, new sac in place and pen back together. I celebrated with a quick desktop shot (the spouse is asleep so no banging around!), and the ambient light is a bit yellow so it gives the pen more of an amber cast than normal light. Anyway, after some of the restorations that have you banging your head against the wall, this was a joy, and another OSB that I had been wanting is in the house, used but with dignity intact.
Last edited by Jon Szanto; May 6th, 2021 at 02:20 AM.
"When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."
~ Benjamin Franklin
amk (May 15th, 2021), Chrissy (May 11th, 2021), FredRydr (May 6th, 2021), Lady Onogaro (May 6th, 2021), mizgeorge (May 6th, 2021), penwash (May 6th, 2021), SlowMovingTarget (May 24th, 2021), Yazeh (May 6th, 2021)
That is very nice. The two-tone nibs look particularly attractive to me, whether open or conical.
Jon Szanto (May 6th, 2021)
Jon, that's beautiful! How does it write?
Jon Szanto (May 6th, 2021)
Jon Szanto (May 6th, 2021)
Perfectly. I love these nibs and I didn't even have to tune this one. I'd say and FM line, literally nothing to adjust or change.
Hehe... One of my good friends is Stacy Hills of PaperWantsAPen. He collects (after restoring) the vac models, and joked with me that this way we'll never be in competition for the same pen. Honestly, if I wound up with each of the colors available as a lever, that would be more than enough, plus I am far more confident in my sac restores than my vac restores.
"When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."
~ Benjamin Franklin
After 11 months and 7 days, an MB 149 Calligraphy. *I ordered it at the end of May 2020, and it arrived in the first week of May 2021.
I immediately inked it up with some 1950s*Parker Washable Blue and tried*some calligraphy exercises.**It has exceeded my expectations. Yes, my vintage pens out flex it and have juicier feeds. Nevertheless, the 149 Calligraphy has enough flex to keep things interesting. Alao, the feed keeps up with me, which hasn’t always been the case with modern pens, especially the flexy ones..
fountainpenkid (May 7th, 2021), Jon Szanto (May 6th, 2021), Lady Onogaro (May 6th, 2021)
I have the new TWSBI Eco Lilac on the way from Pen Realm (Kirk Speer). He's tuned the nib for me, too.
Lady Onogaro
"Be yourself--everybody else is already taken." --Oscar Wilde
Chrissy (May 7th, 2021), Empty_of_Clouds (May 7th, 2021), Jon Szanto (May 6th, 2021)
"When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."
~ Benjamin Franklin
Has arrived! I have to say that, poor photograph aside, this kaleidoscope pattern is really rather fetching. Will have to wait for some good daylight to try and capture it better. The Marietta (Model 20) maybe my favourite FC so far (the only other one I may go for is an Intrinsic) and fits my hand very well. The fine cursive italic nib by Nagahara-san is superb and very approachable. It gives a surprisingly crisp definition between down and across strokes. Couldn't be happier (well I guess I could have more pens, haha).
So that's 3 FC pens now, a special edition Model 31, this Marietta, and a Model 66P in grizzly bear (by Brooks).
I do wish that I could buy specialty nibs from FC, because it gets expensive real fast having to buy whole pens each time for just one nib.
Scrawler (May 20th, 2021)
Looks great!
I believe you can buy nibs separately without any issues - the Nagahara grinds aren't listed on the nib unit menus, but can, I think, be requested at an additional charge. They're in the accessories bit of the website. I'm not convinced they'd be covered by the free shipping though, and that makes it almost worth buying a new pen (given what Fedex costs these days). Or buy a new pen with a couple of extra nib units...
I didn't know about asking to buy the nibs separately. The threshold for free shipping is $100, so about 3 nibs. Something to think about. Cheers.
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