Here is a short, true story with a happy ending.

Back in November, I bought a Cross Century II fountain pen, the black lacquer with chrome cap version. This was the subject of my blog post of 30 November (see link:  Cross Century II, black lacquer and chrome cap ). I had bought only the fountain pen, although I had seen them offered for sale previously with a matching ballpoint pen.

I loved the look and the weight of the fountain pen and enjoyed using it, despite the very slender grip section. Currently, I have it inked with Waterman Mysterious Blue. The nib seems to have a rather narrow sweet-spot and so is better for sustained use, where you can hold it at a consistent angle, rather than for picking up, writing little notes and putting down again frequently.

A month or so later, I visited the same shop where I had bought it and spotted the matching ballpoint pen offered for sale, at £40.00. I thought about it for a while but resisted.

However, on later trips to the shop, I kept checking to see whether the ballpoint pen was still there and kept seeing it at the back of a glass display case, gleaming under the little spot-lamps. It began to bother me, that I had the fountain pen but not the ballpoint.

I rather surprised myself at how much this bothered me, such that after three months, I finally decided to buy the ballpoint and got out my £40.00. However, the assistant was unable to find the box and without this to show the necessary bar code, was unable to process the sale. Another lady came downstairs to help but despite a thorough search of the pen cupboard, they could not locate the missing box.

It occurred to me that I might have it, since the fountain pen that I had bought in November does come as part of a set. I told them this and they asked that I please bring in the box to show them.

And so the following day, I brought in my Cross Century II box and there found that the sticker on the box and the receipt (which I had put inside) clearly referred to the item being a fountain pen and ballpoint pen set. And so it turned out that my box was the one that it should have been in. Not only that, but I had already paid for the set. Yes, I should have studied the receipt more closely.

Faced with this evidence, the staff cheerfully told me that the pen was mine and that no further payment was required. The fountain pen and ballpoint pen had been separated for three months but are now reunited.

See how nice they look together.