Value is relative. I watched a short the other night about a fountain pen hospital, the lead into which was: "Could you imagine spending $1,500 for a pen? How about $3,000?!" My silent answer was, well yeah, I could. I would, too, if that were my means. It is not a shocking number to me. I get the mindset!
But my pens, the pens I can discuss from experience, cost under a hundred dollars. And the point I want to make is that a person of average means can have a relationship with pens in this price range that satisfies certain personal needs. We will get into all that at some future time. For now, I must at least declare I want to take the next step, and this is the thing.
The hidden agenda of this blog: the author wants to score a Parker Duofold ballpoint pen! This is not a Notso Cheap ballpoint. It's an expensive ballpoint and somehow, some way I will own one! Anyway -
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| I don't own this yet!! |
If I am going to critique pens, it's only fair to state my criteria up front. A pen is really an assembly - an ink holder and an ink supply. In the case of a ballpoint pen, it is a refill holder and a refill.
My subjective criteria in loving or hating a pen evolves on a case by case basis but in a ballpoint pen, certain things are required.
1) No blemishes. I cannot write with a scarred instrument. Well, there are special cases where I force myself to because the scar reminds me of something or because I am just attached to the pen. But really, I hate blemishes and if I purchased a pen that arrived with one it would go back.
2) I will accept either a rotary deployment mechanism or a plunger. If the cartridge is deployed by a plunger, though, I want a spring loaded plunger rather than one that shrinks into the pen.
3) No wobble. I cannot use a pen in which there is any clickiness or wobble when the point is put to paper, picked up, and put back down again.
4) Sturdy materials, please. This is a totally subjective category. For me, precious metals are not required. Even acrylic and plastic are generally acceptable except on pocket clips, whereas I hate chrome for the pen body.
5) Blue ink, please. I do not like gray blues or midnight blues. I like bold, bright blues.
I am not a pen collector. I am a pen user, and my frustrated task is always to write and to write with a fine penmanship I seem to be incapable of by genetic predisposition. So I use my pens every day and I'm not interested in just looking at them. The pens I will discuss need to stand up to everyday use over time, and will be evaluated on that basis.
Enough, then! I want to begin to climb the Duofold mountain!
