Quality fountain pen for Xmas?

T

Triophile

Member
Evening, all.

I'm just after some advice on buying a decent fountain pen. I've posted a similar enquiry over on audioasylum, and had a very informative reply. I was just wondering if there any pen afficionados here too.

I'm selling a rather special pen on eBay UK at the moment. It's one of only 50 made, in titanium, by TAG McLaren at their UK Formula 1 facility. I was given it as a gift. The only problem is, it's a ball-point, and I'm really a fountain-pen fan. I'm hoping I'll get a reasonable price for the TAG McLaren pen, and I was just wondering which fountain pen (or pens) I should invest in.

I'm not a collector, but I'm after something which has a very smooth writing action, and is comfortable over long periods of use. I'm definitely not into ultra-fat or ultra-skinny pens, or those with bodies which are so slick they're difficult to grip. It also needs to have a built-in reservoir rather than require refills.

Any ideas up to, perhaps, £300 (depending on what I get for my other pen)?

Cheers, Jon.
 
I always loved my dad's pen. Parker Duofold series.....they even fix or adjust for free...I have the entire set and its awesome..
 
Hello, White SE.

Thanks for your reply. Would you happen to know if those Parkers are still available?

Cheers, Jon.
 
Hi Jon,

I'm a bit of a fountain pen collector myself. Just a few, but I'm old enough to have learned penmanship (the Palmer Method, of course!) using a fountain pen, so I've always had a fondness for them.

As you undoubtedly know, there's been a huge increase in interest in fountain pens over the last ten years or so. The result is that there are literally dozens of manufacturers of quality pens, including all of the well known brands that have been around for decades.

For 300 pounds you can get as nice a pen as you could want. Over that price and you're into collector's pens...no higher quality, just fancier materials, more gold trim, etc.

Here's a very few suggestions, there are many more than I can possible list:

Parker Sonnet Sterling (Chisele or Tartan)
Parker 100 (brand new! Reminiscent of the Parker 51 & 61)
Pelikan (too many great models to list)
Montblanc (kind of like black BMW's, they're just too common now!)
Cross Verve (a beauty, $140-280 USD)
Aurora Optima
Delta Dolcevita (Italian)
Conway Stewart
Parker Duofold ($280-360 USD)

Try Fahrney's Pens at http://www.fahrneyspens.com/

I've purchased quite a few items from them over the past several years. I had one item I needed to return because I wasn't satisfied with it...zero difficulties with the return.

Have fun!
Clay
 
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