Extra Fine (?) Points
If you’re a subscriber to Nib Noise, our free monthly e-newsletter, you’re probably here because you want to add your two bits about modern pens and Don Fluckinger’s choices for the best thereof. If that’s not why you’re here, that’s okay, because now that you’re here, you’re encouraged to join in and take your shot at Don. Just follow the link to read Don’s Extra Fine Points piece, and you’re locked and loaded.
So, umm, what modern pens does Richard like?
Now that’s really a loaded question, given that I’m in the business of selling modern pens. I can say honestly that I like all the pens we sell, but you gotta believe that there are some I personally prefer. As a rule, they’re the smaller and lighter ones; I’m a confirmed vintage guy, and I really do better with light pens. Here are a few of my personal faves. You will note that we don’t have these pens available for sale. Some of them we’ve had in the past, some are brands we don’t even handle.
The Bexley Simplicity is almost exactly the same size as the Sheaffer Flat-Top that inspired it. It’s light, and the SE that Bexley made for us, in Jade Green to evoke that pen of 80 years ago, is lovely.
A Pelikan of some description is probably at or near the top of everybody’s list. My favorite Pelikan is this M400, a special edition for a German retail chain. It’s decked out in the same Tortoise trim that Pelikan used for a run of the M800. The big guy is way out of my price range, but the little one wasn’t, and since the one I could afford is my size anyway I just had to buy it from Rick Propas.
When I was given the opportunity to design a pen for Filcao of Italy, I took full advantage of the chance to promote the vintage feel by creating a lightweight button filler in a shape reminiscent of the Wahl Eversharp Equi-Poised pens of the early 1930s. Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean, has been in Filcao’s catalog since its introduction, and although we no longer handle Filcao pens I’m thrilled to see it there. (But I did cheat a little on my personal Columbia, pictured here, by replacing its very good Schmidt steel nib with a 14K gold nib that added to the vintage sensibility.)
My daughter Kate is seriously addicted to her Pilot Vanishing Point, so much so that Don, who is her husband, had to have one. He likes his, too. I have an older Namiki Vanishing Point, and I also have a current Pilot décimo, the thinner, lighter version that Pilot won’t sell to us here in the U.S.A. This is one sweet pen! (No, I really cannot get one for you. I’ve tried, and I’m still trying. Maybe someday.)
One more. This almost qualifies as a vintage pen; it’s been in continuous production since its introduction in 1964. It’s not a “51”, and it’s not a “TRIUMPH”, but it’s every bit as nice a pen as either of those two grand old names. It’s the Lamy 2000, and what a classic it is.
That’s it. Now it’s your turn. Comments, brickbats?
