CBS Sunday Morning Fountain Pens

[Antique Hoosier]

Rita Braver takes a tour through the wonderful world of fountain pen collectors.

Snipped from CBS Sunday Morning upcoming show Oct 24th. One of my very favorite shows. Check local listings for times. I'm not (yet) a fountain pen collector but Braver recently also did a superb report on her husbands huge cufflink collection. Might be of interest to you pen lovers.

[brianw]

Oh great, just when that AD is under control

[djh]

Oh great, just when that AD is under control

mmmmm just the mention of pens is enough to set me off!

[bythbook]

NO.

thanks, Mike... but NO.


I'm knee-deep in fountain pens, nibs, inks... still don't know what I'm doing, the enablers out there are enabling... and you want me to watch this?

Nope.

(Maybe I DVR it and watch it back-to-back with "Hoarders," eh?)

[dpm802]

I watched the show, and it was quite interesting. Even though I don't collect fountain pens, I could relate to the passion and enthusiasm of those that do.

There is one guy who was sowing off his collection. He has a whole room at his house devoted to pens, and estimates that he has spent $500,000 on pens down through the years.

You can read a summary of the show here.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/24/sunday/main6987066.shtml?tag=cbsnewsTwoColUpperPromoArea

Video of the segment should be available later on today.

[LouieGrandie]

Yes collecting fountain pens can get very expensive. People think nothing of dropping $500-$1,000 on a pen.

[Wilpar76]

I saw the piece as well. It was very interesting. The gentleman that repairs and restores them said he is one of only a half dozen people in the world that specializes in that craft.

I dabbled in fountain pens once before. I think the thing that kept me from getting serious about is that I never got used to writing with them. I felt like I had to retrain myself how to write, but I never wanted to take the time.

I have to laugh as I am typing this, because I had to retrain myself how to shave once I got into DE shaving.

Awww damn, just when the spending was under control, I may have to explore the fountain pens again.

[craig87c]

Oh great, just when that AD is under control

I just saw you at the Fountain Pen show last week- if that was an example of your FPAD "under control" I'd be worried :lol::lol::lol:

[DunEdinRanger]

Oh great, just when that AD is under control

:001_huh::blink::huh:


I watched the show, and it was quite interesting. Even though I don't collect fountain pens, yet, I could relate to the passion and enthusiasm of those that do.

There is one guy who was sowing off his collection. He has a whole room at his house devoted to pens, and estimates that he has spent $500,000 on pens down through the years.

You can read a summary of the show here.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/24/sunday/main6987066.shtml?tag=cbsnewsTwoColUpperPromoArea

Video of the segment should be available later on today.

There, FTFY - speaking as someone who ten days ago did not own a single fountain pen, now has three, 11 on the way, and 2 bottles of ink.


I just saw you at the Fountain Pen show last week- if that was an example of your FPAD "under control" I'd be worried :lol::lol::lol:

:thumbup1: +1 OTOH, he only bought one, right?

[Groat]

There, FTFY - speaking as someone who ten days ago did not own a single fountain pen, now has three, 11 on the way, and 2 bottles of ink.

I can commiserate. I just started using fountain pens about a month or so ago, and I've been loving them so far. The fact that every pen seems to write differently and even handle different inks in different ways makes me want more. It's just another new learning process for me. Just the other day I bought a bottle of ink and tried it in one pen. I thought it looked pretty awful, but then I tried it in another and it went from ugly to 'WOW' in a matter of minutes.

Problem is, I wish that I had more reason to write by hand. In school, nearly every one of my assignments is done and turned in on a computer. There is one professor who likes PDFs though, and perhaps next time I'll handwrite the assignment and scan it to a PDF. :lol:

[bythbook]

:001_huh::blink::huh:



There, FTFY - speaking as someone who ten days ago did not own a single fountain pen, now has three, 11 on the way, and 2 bottles of ink.



...

Oh, man. You too?

(Two Estys in this week; 7 nibs... two more on the way. Two bottles of ink on the way. And NoNonsense pens - they're cheap... one at a time - but like razors... it adds up!)

[binowatch]

I went thru a fountain pen period-acquired a number of mostly middle range pens-I still carry one every day but use it only occassionally. I love using them-the same sense of elegance, connection with pastime manly skills, the same slowing of time as classical wet shaving. The average work day rarely allows this luxury. I suggest getting some sort of nice, leather carrier-basically a non-nerd pocket protector. Every fountain pen will eventually leak-either its fault or the users-that can save a good shirt. Also although I love using bottled ink many pens allow cartidge use as well - for a daily carry use cartridges-less prone to leak and malfuntion in my experience. One pen collector told me the difference between pen collecting and drug addiction-pens were safer and more expensive!!!

[Antique Hoosier]

I watched the piece and it fell a little flat for me. Would have enjoyed perhaps multiple interviews with vendors and collectors rather than one guys collection of what appeared to be custom and one off items. The "Pen Doctor" was interesting.

[DunEdinRanger]

http://c0389161.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/dyn/str_strip/350114.full.gif

[Pebcak]

Oh great, just when that AD is under control

Ya good luck with that. I have to balance the AD between shaving and fountain pens. I need to win the damn lottery just to satisfy the AD. :mad3:

[DunEdinRanger]

Ya good luck with that. I have to balance the AD between shaving and fountain pens. I need to win the damn lottery just to satisfy the AD. :mad3:

That certainly sounds like a PEBKAC to me. :lol: