Help! Christmas GIft for mom.

Gents,

I am looking get my mother a pen of some sort of Christmas. She absolutely loves to write and has the most gorgeous hand writing. I have considered getting her a calligrapher's set but I am not sure she would put it to use. That said she will sit and every family member's complete name repeatedly. I would have loved to turn her a lovely pen but that is NOT a skill I have. I would love some help as I have no knowledge about this topic. I am however "trying" to make some paper that I will have bound for her.

Terence

what kind of Budget did you have in mind,.. will help us narrow the focus to the best pens in your price range

That is great question. I do not know where to start. Why would I purchase a $100 pen over a $25 pen?

more options, better fit and finish, higher quality build, and a solid gold nib. While steel and gold can both feel smooth, gold tends to handle vibrations off the page better giving a different feeling then steel which lets you have more feeling of the surface you ar writing on, think of the different feedback different razors will give you, not really better just different. most prefer the feeling of gold. there are a few options for pens in the 25 dollar range worth recommending, but at that range a lot of them are utility and sacrifice on design material. A few options to look at that Mum may like though are a Pilot Metropolitan you can find at GouletPens.com or GoldSpot.com

at the hundred dollar range I would look at maybe a Pilot Custom 74, maybe a Standard Sailor Profit (You can find these a Engeika.com)
but there are a lot of others in that range as well others will speak up as well.

If you look at the three different sites I gave you (Engeika will give you different and better prices if you make an account, and he doesnt spam you ever) you can look through the pens and see which ones you think your Mum would like best. see what the pens cost and where they fall into your budget, then if you find something but you wish to make sure its a great pen you can always ask here, we are pretty quick about giving feedback on stuff like that

Does anyone here make pens?

Also, there are so many options, I have no idea where to start. Why would I give her a ball point vs a fountain pen.

Terence

fountain pens are not for everyone, but they are something extra special, a nice pen and a bottle of ink can make for one heck of a gift. If she is more a ball point kind of person though then no sense trying to convert her unless you think she would appreciate it,.. though many who use a fountain pen do like them for the light pressure needed to make them work, giving less hand fatigue.

She does not have any of the "fancy" pens you guys write with. Just really basic bics or whatnot. She is a retired teacher, so this solely for gift purposes being that she loves to write.

something like this with a bottle of ink is something as a writer i know i would love, Sailor makes great nibs, look like something she would like ? or something you would like to gift ? or two expensive ?
http://www.engeika.com/product/67

If she loves to write, I would get her a fountain pen. There are literally tons of options, and yes, fountain pens aren't for everyone but they're really not that hard to deal with. All you need is a bottle of ink in her favorite color. They're not hard to maintenance either, provided you get her a basic one.

I love steel nibs, but if you go up to the $100-$150 range, a 14k gold nib is wonderful to write with. Steel can absolutely be as smooth as gold, but gold provides a "bounce" or "cushion" when writing...it's awesome.

Sure, there are people that make kit pens, and you can get them in pretty acrylics or woods. The suggestions above that Syngent made are good, as well. It all depends on what you want to spend. But personally, since she's a retired teacher, and a woman, this is the first thing that popped in my head. The Pilot E95S (burgundy and gold version): http://www.gouletpens.com/PN-E95S-Burgundy/p/PN-E95S-Burgundy

It's $136 in the US (from a variety of sellers, including Amazon), which is cheap for a gold nib, but you can get it from Japan via Ebay or another Japanese seller such as Engeika, for under $100.

It's a small pen when capped, that transforms to a full size pen posted. Perfect for the pocket or purse, it's pretty, and fills with a squeeze converter that comes right off, so it's easy to clean. The Fine or Medium nibs are both great. I LOOOOOOVE mine.

But again...plenty of choices available. Just depends on how much you want to spend.

Also, almost forgot: You can get a fully-restored vintage Sheaffer with a 14K nib for $60-$75 on ebay. Speerbob is the seller, and many models are slim and perfect for women. Triumph nibs, with their upturned "snub" noses, just beg to be written with for hours.

That Pilot E95S is a really nice pen. That is surely on the list for consideration. Speaking of vintage, I see pens at various shops all the time when searching for razors but I do not know what I am looking for. How would I find a "good" one?

What about the pens that are "dipped" in the ink bottle?

Just signed up for engeika, browsing it now.

Regarding that Pilot E95s: That's the US name. In Japan, it's called the "Elite 95S" and the cap has "Elite" in gold; the US version just has an "E". So if you're looking for it on Ebay from a Japanese source (to save some money), keep that in mind. The seller e-sell_jp is where I get most of my pens on Ebay. He's awesome. Ships extremely fast and everything arrives perfect.

I get my vintage pens on Ebay from reputable sellers that fully restore them. But if you see one in an antique store, the easiest thing to do is look at it. Unscrew it and look at the innards. Is the rubber sac dried out and cracked or does it appear to be in good shape? Is the nib in good shape? Are there cracks in the barrel? This page gives you a good guide on how to buy a vintage pen you come across: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref/shows/vintage.htm

Dip pens are fun, and the nibs are usually pretty cheap. But unless the nib has an ink reservoir built into it, you'll be dipping after every few letters. I have a basic Brause dip pen set that I use. I'm not an authority on them...others here use them more.

I have a friend travelling to Japan next week, should I request a nice pen as something to bring back to me.

I am going to a few shops this weekend, will take a look and see what I can find. I really appreciate all the knowledge you guys have given me.