Would you ever spend a lot of money on a pen?

[TheOwlChronicles]

Not something I've particularly considered before but I've got a lovely new planner type thing and I'm being bugged for what I'd like for my birthday this month and I wondered if I'd actually quite like a posh pen!

The one I've seen that I like is a lot of money - silly money really, in the 100s. But it comes in at what this person usually would spend on me and it struck me as something I'd keep for life. Or until I lost it 😀

Anyway it got me thinking - would you just stick with any old thing or do you have a lovely pen?

Ah, sadly I am spectacularly shite when it comes to skincare - my 12yo was drafted in to sort out a regime for me when I decided that I really should make some effort 😂

I did have lvl lashes for the first time this week though, and am feeling very proud of myself and fluttery atm. Perfect for lazy arses like me!

Yes I would. However I do have a really lovely waterman pen that my parents gave me for my 21st. I save it for writing with at home then I have a cheaper but equally prized (because Dd bought it for me) pretty rainbow metallic fountain pen that lives in my filofax

I think it depends if you like writing. I am a paper diary girl, write letters and generally like to write and a nice pen makes that even more enjoyable.

I love fountain pens, I've been using them since my schooldays. I tragically lost the Mont Blanc I got for my 21st 😩

In uni I used my mums vintage Parker until someone nicked it from my desk in the library, I was so upset about that one.

Since then I've got see a variety of Lamy, Cross and Waterman, and recently bought a Kaweco which writes very nicely.

I am also a professional calligrapher but use a dip pen and ink for that.

@capelmustard
erm excuse me but you cannot drop "I'm a professional calligrapher" into a thread of pen-a-holics and leave it there ! !

please do tell more about what you do !

That Mont Blanc mini pan is too small though. It would be like one of those little bookies' biros!

I would if I used a pen quite a lot. I think birthdays/ Christmas are a time when you can ask for things you wouldn't normally buy yourself. If you want a pen, go for it!!

I think it's wanky. I'm a writer though so for me pens are tools and not at all to be revered. Mine are badly bitten and frequently lost.

@StiffyByngsDogBartholomew It sounds far more glamorous than it really is! I spend most of my time writing names on place cards and wedding invitations, but I do occasionally get to do lovely things like book launches which makes up for writing Laura and James multiple times per wedding (they are by far my most frequent wedding guest names)

I specialise in flourished copperplate, I am self taught, did a course and practiced for about 4 years to become reasonably good. I love it, it is totally absorbing and the next best thing to meditation to me.

Posh pens used to be a very popular present, back in the days when we all wrote rather than tapped. People often gave pens, or even better ‘pen and pencil sets’ for twenty first presents, or graduation gifts or other important life events. You could get them engraved with names or messages.

I gave my now DH a pen and ballpoint set for his second birthday spent with me. He still uses it forty years on ( although it has had a new tube and several new nibs).

I've still got the pen my grandmother gave me when I got into Oxford (although the cartridges have been discontinued ☹️).

So that would be a yes from me.

@capelmustard do you do it full time or alongside another job ? Where does your work come from ?
dp you have a favourite pen ? Abd do you write for pleasure too ?

Is it a Montblanc? I'll read the thread and check.

I have an old Waterman fountain pen that cost just over £100, so yes. I suppose that's cheap by comparison.

I'm also self taught @capelmustard. Copperplate also what I'm best at, but gothic script was the one people requested the most. I haven't done it for many years now!

Never. I get free pens whenever I can

I love fountain pens and collect them.

I love pens but don’t have anything that expensive. A Parker 25 from my school
days, a Pelikan Twist and a Pilot Prera are my favourites. And of course my Lamy. I quite fancy getting a Pilot 74 one day.

I am a massive Jinhao Stan!

I think their take on the classic Parker 51 is fantastic. I have it in several colours. I also have a couple of vintage Parker 51's and the Jinhaos are just as nice to write with.

I'd test the pen out first. Shorter pens like that can give your hand cramps.

DH is a pen fanatic, from cheap to vv expensive.
Just the other day he told me “Don’t get me anything for Christmas; I’ve already put the pen I want into my Amazon basket!”, so I’m expecting it to be on the more expensive side… At least one of us will get a surprise on Christmas Day!

DF used to work at Cross pens and would bring home prototypes but I’m not a huge fan, I don’t like twisting pens to open them.
I have three similar ballpoint pens by the Italian brand Aurora, my favourite is stainless steel with a gold “ring”. They were gifts from DH so not sure how much.
I also have two “London Architecture” Parker Jotters. One is etched like the Gherkin and the other is Houses of Parliament. £15 each (?) but I love broad Parker refills.
For cheap biros you can’t beat broad Ink Joy pens with the triangular barrel.

OP, that’s a bold choice for a Mont Blanc. Putting the top on the other end while you write will make it a more comfortable length.

I have a Mont Blanc , I love it.

I have a Mont Blanc ballpoint pen and I did used to use it all the time but then worried I might lose it

I write everyday so I just various ball point pens now

Any Noodlers fans?

I was given a Cartier gold pen as an award at work. It disappeared off my desk about a week later, while I made a coffee.

Expensive pens are very portable, Don't use it at work if you want to keep it.

I would if I didn’t loose everything 🙄 I’ll stick to my bics

My pen of choice is a Faber Castell fine liner. Usually in sepia because I am very pretentious, but it comes in lots of other excellent colours as well. Less than five quid.

Mum bought dad a Mont Blanc for his 70th birthday as he had such beautiful writing. She gave it to me when he died a couple of years ago, as I like to write too, I cherish it but I don't really use it as it has too much sentimental value. I would probably use one I had bought.

Mind you, my preferred pen at the moment is Bic Cristal gel pen, stocked up when Wilko was going bust. Lovely to write with.