2023: some of my fountain pen highlights.

~ rupertarzeian

I usually start this exercise by looking at how many pens I acquired over the year and how much I spent on the hobby. 2023 saw me acquire 39 fountain pens, of which four were gifts for others, so 35 for me. The total spent was £1,676.19: not too terrible.

A strong theme throughout the year was vintage Parkers, mostly bought on eBay plus a small number at the London Pen Shows.

Always late to the party, this was really the first year in which I started looking for and buying vintage pens on eBay. Of the pens acquired in 2023, 15 were vintage Parkers and the remaining 24 a mix of other brands. I would search a make and model, say “Parker 17 fountain pen,” for example. This might find several hundred listings, which I would whittle down by filtering the results to UK only and then sorting them in order of auctions ending soonest.

Occasionally, a special item would come up, such as a Burgundy red Parker 17 Super Duofold with the early “beak” nib, which I would set my heart on winning. In the days leading up to the auction, I repeatedly checked how the bids were going and always stopped to look at the close-up photographs, particularly of the nib, front and back. Happily I was successful and that pen is now mine.

After buying a number of Parker 17s, with their 14 carat gold hooded nibs and hooped squeeze-bar fillers, I moved on to the Parker 61. Again with so many for sale I decided to be choosy and ignored any with the inlaid arrow missing from the section. By the end of the year, I had acquired four Parker 61s. Two were the early, capillary fillers, with one of these being the “Heirloom” (with two-tone rolled gold cap also called the rainbow cap). Two were cartridge or converter fillers; one was a Flighter; one was Made in USA and the others all Made in England; so, a good cross-section.

I was thrilled when a Parker 51 with an oblique nib came up and again when I found a Parker 45 with an oblique medium nib. Both are great for me to use in lefty-overwriter mode.

Some of my 2023 vintage Parker finds.

Eventually, my wife expressed concern that my buying of Parkers on eBay was getting “out of control,” and that temptations would be never-ending, since hundreds more pens come on the market every day. True. We agreed that a recent, lovely teal Parker 61 would be my last. 

It was about this time that I happened to spot a black Parker 45, with a 14 carat gold Medium nib, in great condition. I zoomed in on the close-up nib photos and made screenshots of them. It was only £24.99 “buy now or best offer”. I held out bravely for a few days but then received a thoughtful notification from eBay that the seller had dropped the price to £19.99! This was too much to bear. I knew from the photos that the pen would write like a dream. A vintage Parker, with a pristine gold nib at less than the price of a new Parker Jotter or Lamy Safari. I could not not buy it. Then a solution came to me: I would buy the pen, but as a gift for someone else!

The pen duly arrived. As it was to be a gift, I had to check it first, flush it and test it out. The nib was as wonderful as I had imagined and needed only a light flossing with a brass shim and a rinse. I separated the nib and feed to clean and photograph them. The sac puffed out air bubbles into the water and all looked well. I dried the pen and filled it with Waterman Serenity Blue. It was a joy to write with. Ink flow was ideal, once I had ejected about three or four drops of ink.

I decided to “test” the pen over a few days. Big mistake. This pen was exceptionally enjoyable and I bonded with it. With Serenity Blue, it wrote like my Pelikan M800. There was no way I could part with it. Instead, I gave the intended recipient a lovely new fountain pen of equivalent price.

Of the remaining brands represented in my 2023 acquisitions, these included a flurry of Jinhaos, first the X159 and later the 9019 and 82 models. After trying these, the most enduringly successful seem to be the blue demonstrator version 9019 with an EF nib and filled with Diamine Tavy blue black and the 82 in Caribbean Sea Blue with gold trim, F nib and the same ink. Both start immediately after long intervals and write smoothly with good flow.

I greatly enjoyed the London Pen Shows in March and October. These are always joyous days, running into numerous friends from the online fountain pen community and talking to the sellers. Some of my favourite buys of 2023 were:

  • Montegrappa “Monte Grappa”, in black with 14 carat gold M nib: possibly John Hall’s last one as Write Here of Shrewsbury was to end links with this brand;
  • A Cleo Skribent Classic, cartridge-converter filler version in Burgundy red with 14k Broad nib (also purchased from John Hall);
  • An Aurora Duo-Cart, sold by Kirit Dal from his ex-samples tray at a generous discount; he kindly sent me a branded Aurora converter for it afterwards and a box of cartridges.
  • A Benu Euphoria Bourbon, with a broad nib, from Stonecott Fine Writing Supplies Ltd: the perfect vehicle for Diamine’s Caramel Sparkle ink.

My last and quite possibly most special fountain pen arrival of the year was a gift from my aforementioned wife, bought whilst on her trip to Hong Kong in November. It is the Pilot Custom Heritage 912 with a 14 carat gold Waverly (upturned) nib. I use it every day and it is a wonderful pen, with an element of Unobtainium about it, since they are not readily available in the UK. The WA nib is great for me as a lefty who uses both over and under-writer styles.

I have enjoyed attending our monthly pen club meets, (The London Fountaineers) whenever I can. Also, there have been daily interactions with a host of fellow enthusiasts online, via WordPress and Instagram and in correspondence from the UK and beyond.

As I do every year (and usually fail), I will endeavour once again to buy less pens, ink and notebooks and to make more use of what I already have. Thank you for reading and I wish everyone a Happy New Year.

Some of The London Fountaineers at our Christmas meet. I am the one with the bunny ears.

15 thoughts on “2023: some of my fountain pen highlights.”

  2. What a joyous selection of pens to be taking forward into 2024. However, it’s always good to cut back on your buying and I have a workable proposal. If you reduce the number of pens coming in by just 1 per year, you will be down to buying only 1 for each month in 2051 and, come 2063, you will be able to proudly boast that have bought 0 pens the entire year.

    P.S. Don’t tell your wife, but I only bought 2 pens in 2023!

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    1. Thanks Pamela! Yes, my pen cups overfloweth and I am very fortunate. I have said before, I can find joy from very inexpensive pens too. At work, my main pen is still my blue Cross Bailey Light. I sometimes find myself thinking, after using it for a bit, that I do not really need any other pen. And yet here we are.
      I liked your suggestion of a phased reduction in pen buying. The concept of making steady progress, appeals to me a lot. The pace might be a bit too slow however, rather like targets for becoming net zero. But any target is better than none.
      By the way, I looked at Waterman’s L’Essence du Bleu range, and the photos on their sumptuous website. That blue! And the wave patterns in the Palladium plated brass cap! If I fall for one of those I will ironically have only myself to blame for penabling.

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  3. Happy New Year, Rupert! I enjoy your blog so much. I may have mentioned this before, but it’s so refreshing to see another left-handed overwriter reviewing pens. Too often I’ve bought pens which had glowing reviews from right-handers, only to discover that the nibs were sub-optimal for the way I write. I was interested to read that the Pilot Waverly nib works well for you, I might have to look into a 912.

    I love Pamela’s proposed timetable for reducing pen acquisitions!

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    1. Thanks for your kind words Ruth. I am enjoying the Waverly nib although I have been writing mostly in under-writer mode. The nib delivers a uniform, fine line and smooth writing experience however steeply you hold the pen. Ideally you should try one before buying if you can, although I didn’t.
      Another possible aid for lefties is an Oblique nib. I first found one on a Moonman S5 demonstrator but have since acquired several more, on modern Aurora, and vintage Montblanc and Parker pens.

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  4. Your wife and mine apparently speak to us from the same soap box. Mine is convinced I have a “problem.” I did very well this past year, spending only $363, of which 3 pens make up 67% of that outlay. I am working on redeeming myself through the sale of pens. My bigger issue at the moment is I am redecorating my office. I’ve decided vintage vinyl LPs would look nice on a wall. My wife is not happy about this…. All the best.

    Happy New Year.

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    1. Thanks Danny! Your annual expenditure on pens seems quite modest and restrained to me. Given that the figure represents a full year, it does not sound like you have a “problem” to me but I am not in a position to judge. Also I do not wish to get into an argument with your wife, as wives generally know best.
      I would just add that Keith Richards once said that he did not have a problem with drugs. He just had a problem with the police.
      I wish you all the best for 2024 and good luck with your office decoration.

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  5. Thank you Rupert for your blogs this last year. I have so enjoyed sharing your joy over a new pen and the story behind them. Im so amused by your internal ‘dialogues’ (should i? Shouldn’t I?) and hearing of your dear wife’s wisdom and moderating influence. Finally i was touched by your reflections on your father last month.

    So thank you. Wishing you a very happy and contented new year with some new and exciting encounters with pens.

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    1. Thank you so much Tim, for your kind comments on my blog. It is wonderful to read that others have enjoyed my posts.
      You are absolutely right about my “dear wife’s wisdom and moderating influence” and you have put it better than I did.
      I always start the year with good intentions to cut down my stationery excesses. Time will tell how this works out.
      Best wishes to you too, in the coming year.

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  6. Old Parkers always make me smile. That’s an impressive bunch you were able to add in just 12 months. And cheers on the 912 Waverly. It is a great writer and wonderfully consistent in my experience.

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    1. Thanks Nathan. I am glad to hear that you feel the same way about these vintage Parkers as I do. Also I agree that the Pilot Custom Heritage 912 WA is a great writer and wonderfully consistent. I am also enjoying Pilot blue black ink cartridges, as the ink has a degree of water-resistance.

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  7. Oh it’s really nice to see you are into the vintage fountain hobby. 39 pens bought in 2023, whaauw thats a lot 😀. I like vintage pens, but buying them online is something that is still uncommon to me. Afraid if they are not delivered or damaged, especially in the case of vintage pens. Enjoy your hobby and a happy 2024!

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