u/Cranmer33

This collection of six (of course!) pens that for whatever reason did not bring me joy.

Left to Right:

Montblanc 144/Mozart
Sheaffer 440
Sailor Realo ProFit
Parker Duofold Centennial
Pelikan M405
Platinum President

The MB Mozart is incredibly small, flimsy and has a snap cap (not the biggest fan of the mechanism in general, but this one is the worst versions of a snap cap that I own). The 440 was bought as part of my inlaid/inset nib collection and just never liked it. The Realo isn’t a bad pen, but I bought without realizing it had a black and silver Progear counterpart. I bought on EBay from Japan and got a great deal, but the retailer has a rule that they will replace defective ones but ‘I don’t like it’ is not a reason for returns. The Duofold I bought from EBay from Denmark and I thought I was buying the Centennial Big Red but was mistaken. My fault, not the seller’s but same situation as the Realo. The Pelikan is a great pen, but the M600 series is the smallest I like to use. The Platinum President is okay, it’s just a bigger nib than the 3776.

Not horrible pens, just my collection of mistakes!

Installments of six, this time retractable.

Left to Right:

Platinum Curridas
Pilot Vanishing Point
Lamy Dialog 03
Ensso Bolt Copper
Stipula DaVinci
Nahvalur Eclipse

These mechanisms are fascinating and relatively practical in a business environment (as practical as a fountain pen can be anyway).

The curridas is the flimsiest one, but the least expensive. The vanishing point is the original and still best in my opinion. The Dialog is extremely heavy but has the best engineered mechanism. The Ensso is a surprisingly good writer and I got it for about $115, so relatively inexpensive. I believe it is discontinued though. The Stipula is just ridiculously huge and extremely expensive, but is a very fine writer. It takes the longest to extend. The eclipse has probably the most interesting mechanism and it’s hard to explain without a video showing it. Reasonably priced, I only wish it had silver trim as I am not a huge fan of rose gold. Easily the best bang for your buck out of the six.

I post a new collection of six every workday. I currently have 24 collections (not all of them are complete).

So far I have posted :

The Montblanc Writer’s Series
Brass Pocket Pens
Vintage Inspired Modern Pens
European Metal Pens (MB, GvFC etc.)
Piston Demonstrator Pens
Lamy 2000 Standard and Special Editions

The latest installment of my collection in batches of six.

From left to right:

Graf von Faber-Castell Guilloche Rhodium
Waldmann Tango Imagination
Montblanc Legrande Blue Hour
Caran D’Ache Leman
ST DuPont Line D Medium
Otto Hutt Design 04

The Leman is one of my top ten pens as it is truly beautiful and has a very smooth nib. The ST DuPont is one of my least favorites as it had a horrible nib and feed and when sent back for repair, still has a pronounced‘squeak’ when writing. They did fix the hard start/gushing ink issue, but I think they kept the same nib.
I would like to replace the GVFC as it’s not a very remarkable pen and replace it with something blue. The only pen I’ve found that would be a good replacement is the Krone Blue and Gold, but that is technically an American pen, not European. Any thoughts on a substitution? I would like it to blue, guilloche pattered and European.

My collection of brass pocket pens. As explained in a previous post, I collect in groups of six.

Left to right:

Gravitas Pocket
Traveler’s Company Pocket Pen
Fifty-4T Pocket GT
Kaweco Brass Sport
Kolo Tino
Schon Design Pocket Six Brass

The Gravitas is a fine pen, but nothing really special. I know a lot of people like the Traveler’s, but it really is the flimsiest of the lot. The Fifty-4T is probably the nicest as it has Delrin interior cap threads which screws in very smoothly when closed and posted. The Kaweco brass sport is the original and still in my opinion the best pocket pen. Great workhorse and practically indestructible. The Kolo Tino has the best nib out of all of them, but not even the foldable Kaweco converter fits inside (I’m not the biggest fan of cartridges) and it has a friction cap unlike the rest. The Schon Design has the added plus of screw posting, but doesn’t have a clip or roll stop so you have to be careful when placed on a flat surface.

I have been collecting fountain pens for over three years. I store my pens in knock off Galen leather six sleeve pen cases. Whenever I find a new type of pen, I limit my collection to six. If the collection has a large amount of examples I will expand, but only in sets of six.

I wanted to share my collection because no one in my real life appreciates these as much as I do. I live in a “Pen desert“ and don’t get a chance to share these with anyone.

My first collection to share is the Montblanc Writer’s Series.

From left to right:
Honore de Balzac (2013)
Miguel de Cervantes (2005)
William Faulkner (2007)
Ernest Hemingway (1992)
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (2017)
Friedrick Schiller (2000)