The Quest For My Final Fountain Pen Half 1: The All-Over-The-Place Interval – Reprise

My private quest for the last word fountain pen started unexpectedly.

I used to be taught to jot down with a fountain pen in elementary faculty, which is sort of regular in Europe. However I switched this out for a ballpoint pen in a while because the velocity of my courses’ lectures elevated.

Blessed with horrid handwriting, I by no means thought myself worthy of a pleasant fountain pen. Low-cost ballpoints just about dominated my adolescent years and I used to be positive with them.

However then my grandparents moved right into a nursing house. This was a tragic event, and it additionally meant that their home needed to be dismantled since not all the things may transfer with them. And that is how I ended up with the black-barreled fountain pen with silver cap from my grandfather.

Inside Martin Inexperienced’s Parker 21

The arrow-shaped clip clearly indicated it was a Parker, however I had no additional details about it bar that. I crammed it simply from an ink pot by urgent just a little plastic bladder 5 instances, and off I used to be on the trail to a journey I had by no means anticipated myself to take.

The broad, flat stub nib of Martin Inexperienced’s Parker 21 fountain pen

The metal nib of the Parker turned out to be a {smooth} author. It was truly a stub nib, which means a broad, flat one with rounded corners, which made my messy handwriting look extra acceptable. However much more than that, I loved the expertise: filling the pen with ink, the graceful writing, the sensation of satisfaction that this kind of writing gave me.

It was there after which that I made a decision that I may need a horrible-looking handwriting, however that I may actually compensate that with a pen that regarded wonderful – and felt wonderful as I wrote with it.

My excellent pen – yours is likely to be completely different

My quest for the proper fountain pen ended up taking virtually 20 years.

Throughout that point I wandered aimlessly via the world of fountain pens as a result of I allowed myself to marvel. This was the technique I had labored out to search out what I used to be in search of; in a way I used to be following my yellow brick highway to the wizard of Oz.

I think about all of the pens I got here throughout on my journey formidable writing devices, but in the long run there was just one that turned my final pen, the one above all others. But when it wasn’t for all these different pens, I might have by no means discovered it.

On one other observe – and I used to be very lucky to study this very, very early in my journey of discovery – I additionally realized that the “excellent” fountain pen is completely different for everyone. It has so much to do with the scale of your hand, the way in which you maintain a fountain pen, the stress you placed on the nib whereas writing, the way in which you progress your hand, and the velocity with which you write.

So one particular person’s grail pen could be any individual else’s writing nightmare. What I’d criticize on a pen could be taken as a suggestion by any individual else.

After I ventured off on the planet of fountain pens I realized that the pen I received from my grandfather was actually a Parker 21, the cheaper sibling of the famed Parker 51 launched in 1941.

The creator’s Parker 21

With the readability of hindsight, I now ask myself why I truly started trying additional in any respect as a result of I nonetheless think about it a formidable writing instrument.

However the reply is twofold: initially, it seems that I like dramatic-looking pens. And by dramatic, I imply virtually excessive. For me a pen must be eye-catching, and with its black physique and silver cap, the Parker 21 couldn’t be extra understated.

Secondly, I realized that nothing compares to writing with a gold nib.

Gold nibs

I needed to strive a gold nib, so I received myself a Pelikan M250, a 14-karat-gold-nibbed demonstrator. A demonstrator is a writing instrument whose barrel is partially or utterly clear in order that the filling mechanisms could be considered as they work.

The creator’s Pelikan M250 demonstrator with clear barrel

I received it in a brownish-yellow shade that I dubbed Havana. It was an amazing author, particularly for the cash, however as cool as a demonstrator sounds in concept, I realized that it’s not like a skeletonized wristwatch.

Sure, you may clearly see how the pen’s massive piston sucks within the ink, however since it’s full of liquid, you can too see condensation and ink residue. That is completely regular, however pens with coloured barrels don’t will let you see that. I discovered that as an alternative of including to the expertise, it took away among the magic. And it was time to maneuver on.

The 14-karat gold nib of the creator’s Pelikan M250

The Pelikan did have a smooth-writing 14-karat gold nib, however I used to be questioning if 18-karat gold would offer an excellent smoother writing expertise.

I’ve realized over time that this doesn’t essentially must be the case, and one among my academics was the Conway Stewart Amethyst fountain pen.

About the identical measurement because the Pelikan M250, the Conway Stewart Amethyst was based mostly on the model’s “58” mannequin. Being considerably of an anglophile by way of clothes and vehicles, I used to be taken by the truth that Conway Stewart was an icon of the British fountain pen trade and at all times had an fascinating method.

Conway Stewart Amethyst fountain pen

The Amethyst was most actually fascinating with a stunning-looking physique and cap displaying virtually each hue of purple that exists.

At the moment I used to be truly satisfied that thinner pens would show to be extra snug for me to jot down with. I couldn’t have been extra incorrect.

Nonetheless, I don’t remorse this aspect step as a result of it led me to a really slender magnificence with the very unsexy identify of Élysée Version No. 1.

Fairly in contrast to the photographs a reputation like Élysée would possibly conjure in a single’s head, this was truly a German model that made very high-quality pens. Nonetheless, by the point I turned conscious of the model within the early 2000s, it was already out of enterprise.

Élysée Version No. 1 fountain pen

In 1993 Élysée had the concept to pay tribute to the artwork of Chinese language cloisonné with a sequence of limited edition pens based on the Parthenon, the model’s flagship mannequin. The primary version of this sequence was created by German artist Karl Diesner, who would later additionally design a second one. Based on him, his objective was to “activate our imaginative and prescient.” And he was not kidding!

Virtually each geometric form recognized to man decorates the barrel and the cap of this pen. Outlined in yellow-gold-plated wire, the shapes are crammed in with pink, purple, black, and gray enamel in cloisonné type. That is for positive a pen that tantalizes the attention.

Gold nib of the Élysée Version No. 1

The extent of expertise is extraordinarily excessive; I’ve heard that Élysée truly went out of enterprise as a result of the agency produced a lot too excessive of a top quality in relation to its costs, limiting revenue margins. Judging by this fountain pen that might very effectively be the case.

Sadly, I additionally found at the moment that skinny pens don’t actually agree with my writing type.

Time to tuck my Élysée pen into the pocket of my white blazer, which I put on with matching white pants, a pastel t-shirt, and Gucci slip-ons, and take the white Testarossa for a spin on the way in which to half 2 of this trilogy, which is able to concentrate on my Italian interval.