[Pen/Pencil Review] Goes into Wishful Thinking
This is one of those “lots on the plate” weeks. I know I should suck it up and get something written. But today I’m going to branch out a bit and wax a bit philosophical-ish. I’ve been drooling over the awesome posts I’ve seen about the DC Pen Show. It’s one of those “When Money Isn’t an Object” kind of goals – that and the New York Pen Show.
Why? Because they’re the SDCCs for pen nerds. All the brands I can only dream of owning right now have booths at these shows. Some have special editions or hold the releases of their new lines for shows like this. So it’s a lot like the big comic conventions but without the costumes, because it’s darned cool STUFF.
And I do have a pretty fantastic Wish List of brands I want to play with and add to my collection – and I thought I’d take today to mention just a few of them. Some lines are “reasonably” priced for what we’re talking – which is high end, often times stupidly expensive ink pens.
The first and foremost, the “reasonably” priced luxury pen is the Pilot-Namiki Vanishing Point fountain pen. I’ve wanted one of these since I realized there was such a thing as a retractable fountain pen. These pens retail about $140 – and I really dig the Raden. This is the pen I’ve promised myself as a reward for a good publishing deal. But…I’m open to play with any retractable fountain pen.
Then there’s Yafa. Yafa is an umbrella company with many lines of “yowsa” level ink and graphite. Not only do they have amazing luxury lines – this year’s Stipula Israel 65 – Stipula is a brand line, but this limited edition line runs several hundred dollars each.
The Yafa umbrella also includes Monteverde and Delta. Monteverde I love a lot. Monteverde has a very reasonable line of pens. Some of their nice ones run under $100, some are more. They were also some of the first pen people to incorporate touch screen styluses into pen tops for use with smart phones and tables.
Then, of course, there’s the STUPIDLY expensive pens that I still want…a lot. Like Mont Blanc – that’s always been the writerly Gold Standard. I’ve loved some of the limited edition collections that routinely cost more than $1000. I have a couple of replicas, but SO. Not. The. Same.
Then there’s Montegrappa. Montegrappa is the “nerdvana” of pens. They do pop culture limited editions – like Batman, Elvis, and Sinatra. The Chaos was designed by Sylvester Stallone (and used in Expendables 2, I was one of the few people in the theater who knew what it was). The REGULAR lines cost run $200-$300, the limited editions? MUCH more. But fine materials and Italian design.
Some day… Some day. Though until I can put the money down? I don’t touch the pens if I can help it because they all want to come home with me. And stay. Which is probably a good reason to NOT go to some of the bigger pen shows. But this year… totally looking forward to the Dallas Pen Show. It’s smaller, but it’s not on FenCon weekend this year. I can go for more than an HOUR, and Jimmy gets to go with me. WHEE!