Surprisingly, I ran out of ink for most of my pens this week. I think that was because I responded to three pen-pal letters over a weekend. Anyway, this is good news because I get to play with new pens!
So I ended up inking a new set of three pens, of which I call the “Royal Highness” trio, as they are the most expensive ones in my collection right now.
Sailor Profit 21, Black - Naginata Togi, N-MF nib
An old fashioned, understated cigar-shaped fountain pen. In black, no less. Not a pen that I would have bought for myself, but what’s special about it is the specialty nib that it sports: the 長刀研ぎ (naginata togi). To be honest, this nib was on my would-like-to-have list but then I came across one for sale at a fairly reasonable price. Since Sailor has temporarily stop taking orders for it, I figured there was no better time than now to pick it up.
The company calls this nib the ideal nib for writing everyday Japanese characters with its refined, flowing, graceful strokes (these are adjectives used by their marketing team). The design of the nib is so that you would hold it almost like a brush, the nib near perpendicular to the paper where the inked lines (produced at the tip of nib) would be thin but since your palm will be resting on the paper (which it shouldn’t be when you write with a brush), and a thicker line is produced when writing a stroke at a lower angle to the paper. In reality, the line variations aren’t all that distinct as the nib is fashioned to function as a general use pen as well. Sailor does have more specialty nibs that are designed solely for Japanese calligraphy and its writing style variance. This nib isn’t it.
Obviously I do not write Japanese but more recently, I’ve been praticing my Chinese writing so it’s nice to be able to use a fancy pen for it. Very fancy, I might say.
Sailor Professional Gear Cocktail Series No. 7, Apres Ski - MF nib
I’m in love with this pen. Period.
It was my first 21K nib fountain pen and also the only full-sized Professional Gear in my collection right now. It’s also a limited edition pen (out of a run of 800 pens), the seventh entry of the Sailor Cocktail series.
When it was released in October, I was unable to obtain one due to its popularity (and availability only in Japan) and was quite disappointed. So I started scouring Yahoo Auctions for over a month looking for it. Eventually, I found one for sale (there has been several others listed since) but ended up paying almost twice the original list price for it. Urk. You can imagine my desperation to acquire it.
Immediately after I won the auction, I experienced a period of buyer’s regret because I’d been basing my interest on a photo that may have been photoshopped to perfection. Fortunately, when I finally held it my hands, I was immediately smitten by it. So no, I did not regret paying that extremely unreasonable price to acquire it at all.
The barrel is a refreshing minty green colour and accented on both ends with a clear edge. Granted, it’s a muted “bright” green that is a shade darker than pastel green. The clear finial is just perfect because it looks like glass, matching the “cocktail” theme, with the Sailor’s logo embossed in gold and red making it the perfect accent to the entire pen.
Sailor really did an amazing job with this pen and I know it will always remain a favourite in my collection.
Pelikan M800 Special Edition, Renaissance Brown - EF nib
I certainly did not wait long to acquire this pen. Anyone who knows me would know that once I obsess about something, I will eventually own it.
There’s a backstory to this pen of which I’ve detailed in my post about Scriptus Toronto that was held during the month of October. The short summary is that I first saw this pen listed online and wanted to buy it but it was very expensive purchase for a new fountain pen user. Then I saw and held it in person while at Scriptus and knew I wanted to own one. However, it didn’t work out because I wasn’t interested in the broad nib that came with that pen sold at the show.
Then Fountain Pen Day happened in November and Appelboom had a 17% discount coupon available. I immediately took advantage of it and picked one up from their store for a steal. So it eventually joined my collection after all and mhmm, do I adore it. The barrel looks like it was fashioned out of marble, until you lift it up and realize it’s just really expensive plastic. Heh.
I’ll admit it’s a little large for my hands (I knew this before I bought it) but I’m starting to understand the appeal of writing with a large nib because it does feel more comfortable when writing with it. Pelikan nibs are notorious for producing fat and wet lines, while I tend to prefer thin strokes that is more characteristic of a Japanese-made nib, so I generally use this for writing in my journal rather than regular note taking.
Regardless, this pen is like the grand daddy of all my pens. Definitely the largest one in my collection, and um, the most expensive. Ahem.