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Does your High Dollar FP Stay home?

Whether your at work or on the road do you leave your pride and joy at home and use a lesser valued pen? I would be afraid to leave the house with a high dollar pen given my horrid track record of misplacing pens when things get chaotic at work or elsewhere.
 
I've been working my way up to taking the pricier pens out. I started taking just a Jinhao and a Hero (about $3 each) out to work and running around. If they disappeared, no worries. Then I worked up to the Metro, Kakuno, and Safari. None of them wandered off. I'm up to my TWSBIs and Vanishing Points. I think that's where I'm drawing the line. I've noticed that while building up to bringing the nice stuff out and about, I've become far more hyper-aware of where any of my pens are at all times, even if it's just a Pilot G2 at work. I'm worried far less about someone walking off with my pen because I rarely let people use them, and they stay in my pen case in my pocket when not in use. Still, I'm in no way comfortable with bringing the Mont Blanc out of the house. I think I'll be ok leaving that one for home use only.
 
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I take my favorite pens to work all the time. That's where I do the majority of my writing. When a really good pen is in my pocket it is paired with a pen more suitable for sharing. That way if someone wants to try out a fountain pen they get to hear "sure, try this one, just barely let the tip touch the paper...the paper will suck the ink right out of the pen...no pressure is needed..."
 
I don't have very expensive pens but I make sure to bring the ones that write best

In my case it's usually a Sheaffer Snorkel Autograph and a Parker '51 Vacumatic.

As to lending out pens at work, there's usually a pen or two from the depot lying around they can play with ;-)
 
Whether your at work or on the road do you leave your pride and joy at home and use a lesser valued pen? I would be afraid to leave the house with a high dollar pen given my horrid track record of misplacing pens when things get chaotic at work or elsewhere.

I take my I-phone out and it costs more than all of my pens combined, but not taking the pens out. My phone is bigger and more visible and I can call my phone when I forget where I laid it. Can't do that with a pen.
 
No. Had one sprout legs and walk off years ago. Church yes, work no. Currently $30 is all I'm willing to lose, but normally $20 pen goes to work.
 
Nah, I just take mine with me. My colleagues bought me a Pelikan M101N lizard so that tends be in rotation and travels very well actually.
 

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
I've noticed that while building up to bringing the nice stuff out and about, I've become far more hyper-aware of where any of my pens are at all times ...

I think this nails it ... once we get "into" pens, we slowly develop a higher sense of pen awareness, so that carrying around an expensive pen becomes "safe".
 
I've no reserve about taking out my (modern) Conway Stewart or MB 149 or my Pilot M90. I have it always on my person - in my hand or inner suit jacket pocket. My FPs simply NEVER leave my person nor do I lend them out. It is a matter of course to my colleagues and staff for me to have a (fountain) pen in hand.

So far I've not lost any of my FPs over the last 30 years in my working life. But there is always a first time...but, hey why worry it's only a pen, unless the pen has sentimental value.
 
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I keep some older vintage pens at home, not because of the price, but because they're a bit more delicate and finicky. My most expensive modern pens are more than $150 but less than $200, and yes, I take them with me to work or just out and about generally. I don't lay them down carelessly where someone might pick them up and don't lend them to anybody. This can occasionally annoy people, but then, I'm annoyed by people who can't be bothered to carry their own pens.:001_rolle

I have no plans to pay more than I already have for a single pen, but if I did, I can't see getting a pen that I didn't mean to use. And although some of my cheaper fountain pens still get used from time to time, it would be a shame to restrict myself to nothing else when I'm out of the house.
 
My Visconti Opera Crystal Demonstrator is my daily driver, work or home. Bought it to use it. My wife's grandfather's Sheaffer that he gifted me to help start my fountain pen journey never leaves the house. That one is irreplaceable. The Visconti, while expensive, can be replaced. For me the value isn't in what I spent on an object, it is the object's sentimental value which makes it "expensive" in my books.

Cheers,

M.
 

nortac

"Can't Raise an Eyebrow"
The majority of my pens are less than $100 and usually the $15- $70 go to work work with me. I usually carry a few in my pocket and several in my bag. Once I cross that $100 threshold, they might make a brief appearance to show them off to my fellow FP geeks, but would not be used at work on a regular basis. Nothing fragile goes to work in any price range, to much stooping and opportunities to fall on a hard floor. I keep a handful of give away promotional ball points or gell pens for loaners in my bag.
 
No, all the pens that are fit for travel go with me to work. Some of my vintage pens do not travel well, especially during air travel. So these are "home pens". But I do not travel with low to medium priced pens only; I want to enjoy them all.
 
I was taking mine to the office, but keeping it hidden in a secondary pocket in my bag. The only time I left it on the desk, someone took it and started abusing it (scribbling upside down, trying to push it through the desk, all but banging it to get ink out - all within like 20 seconds before I could try to stop them). After that point, I didn't have ANYTHING on my desk that a human hand could feasibly take without effort. After a while, if someone asked for a pen - I would take my Safari out of my desk - explain "This is a fountain pen, it is all I have.. do you still need it?" and explain how to use it.

I was never worried about the pen being stolen, just thrashed about like an ogre swings a club.
 
I was taking mine to the office, but keeping it hidden in a secondary pocket in my bag. The only time I left it on the desk, someone took it and started abusing it (scribbling upside down, trying to push it through the desk, all but banging it to get ink out - all within like 20 seconds before I could try to stop them). After that point, I didn't have ANYTHING on my desk that a human hand could feasibly take without effort. After a while, if someone asked for a pen - I would take my Safari out of my desk - explain "This is a fountain pen, it is all I have.. do you still need it?" and explain how to use it.

I was never worried about the pen being stolen, just thrashed about like an ogre swings a club.
Thats an interesting tale, I myself probably would have gone ballistic. LOL
 
I hate to say it, but the only person who grabbed a pen from my office desk without my approval, and yanked the cap off with brute force (of a vintage Sheaffer Balance :sad: ) was an American visitor. I do not know if she was just bad mannered, or if she had too much on her mind to be polite (being abroad and all), but it was a painful experience for myself and the Sheaffer pen. She did not even apologize ...

Btw, yes she was an American woman indeed, but I am 100% sure that she was an exception to the rule, and that her behaviour would not be seen as acceptable in the USA as well!!
 
I hate to say it, but the only person who grabbed a pen from my office desk without my approval, and yanked the cap off with brute force (of a vintage Sheaffer Balance :sad: ) was an American visitor. I do not know if she was just bad mannered, or if she had too much on her mind to be polite (being abroad and all), but it was a painful experience for myself and the Sheaffer pen. She did not even apologize ...

Btw, yes she was an American woman indeed, but I am 100% sure that she was an exception to the rule, and that her behaviour would not be seen as acceptable in the USA as well!!

I certainly hope the was the exception, as I for one would not grab someone else's obviously old and valuable pen, without their permission. I would most definitely not start yanking on it to open if it was a brand with which I was not familiar. On the other hand I am into fountain pens, vintage and new, one of my preferred brands being Soennecken. I do not leave my pens lying around for any one to pick up, and I do work in an environment where general access to my work area is very restricted so there is not much traffic. I do on some days carry some of my very expensive pens, other days not so expensive, but difficult to replace models, and I never lend them out and will only let someone try one after first explaining how to handle a fountain pen, so many of the younger folks have never seen much less held one. The other day a cashier at the grocery store commented on how unusual my pen was.
 
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