Some Cool Pens

January 7, 2012 10:32 PM

Just some really awesome pens.
posted by SpacemanStix (57 comments total)

And just like that I want a Mont Blanc pen that looks like C-3PO's arm.
posted by furtive at 10:36 PM on January 7, 2012

In case you were wondering.
posted by eugenen at 10:40 PM on January 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

My dad got a mont blanc pen for his 25th anniversary of working for his company or something. Childhood me took it apart and lost some pieces. Childhood me was a prick.
posted by nathancaswell at 10:41 PM on January 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

I still wake up some nights screaming, haunted by nightmares of that Stallone pen website.
posted by mannequito at 10:46 PM on January 7, 2012 [4 favorites]

Better pens that humans can afford: http://www.jetpens.com/
posted by rjc3000 at 11:01 PM on January 7, 2012 [8 favorites]

pilot hi-tec-c ftw

not that I'm stockpiling these or anything
posted by zennish at 11:08 PM on January 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Great for initiating global economic meltdown, not so much.
posted by Meatafoecure at 11:11 PM on January 7, 2012

In case you were wondering.

Buy it now: $88,888.88
Seller rating: 95.7%
posted by zippy at 11:17 PM on January 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

In case you were wondering.

I really think if I was going to buy a pen for $88,888, I'd want to buy it from someone who didn't write in ALL CAPS.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:34 PM on January 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Pens for the 1%.

For $89,000 I would be glad to stand by your side for a full year and write anything you want.
posted by charlie don't surf at 11:35 PM on January 7, 2012 [16 favorites]

I think Dave Barry did a column about expensive watches along that line -- for the price of some ridiculously expensive watch, you could just get a guy to follow you around and tell you the time.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:37 PM on January 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

Man, those are some seriously ugly pens.
posted by koeselitz at 11:49 PM on January 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'd want to buy it from someone who didn't write in ALL CAPS

DO YOUR PENS LACK CAPS? WE SELL A PEN CAPS LOCK
posted by zippy at 11:49 PM on January 7, 2012 [7 favorites]

If you can afford pens like this, you really need to hire a guy to use them to write little notes to you that say, "remember Caesar, thou art mortal."
posted by charlie don't surf at 11:54 PM on January 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

Man, those are some seriously ugly pens.

That's OK. They're gonna be getting owned and used by some seriously ugly people.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:08 AM on January 8, 2012 [3 favorites]

I still wake up some nights screaming, haunted by nightmares of that Stallone pen website.

Damn your eyes to hell.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:13 AM on January 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

Also in case you were wondering.
posted by hypersloth at 12:20 AM on January 8, 2012

GAH, I should read comments once in a while. I'll see myself out.
posted by hypersloth at 12:21 AM on January 8, 2012

I didn't realize rich people were so fond of steampunk.
posted by Pyry at 12:24 AM on January 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

I think these are nice pens. It's possible to admire them without being in the market to purchase.

It's also possible to think they are hideous pens in aesthetics and concept, and that's okay because how the fuck do these pens cost $90,000.
posted by jabberjaw at 2:15 AM on January 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

http://www7.ocn.ne.jp/~glasspen/ is way more satisfying. Hand-made glass inkwell pens that go for way ridiculously longer than the standard metal-nib variety? Sign me up
posted by DoctorFedora at 2:54 AM on January 8, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDpTK_Ax0T8 is a demonstration video of a glass pen writing a whole page on a single dip into ink. MIND-BLOWING YOU GUYS
posted by DoctorFedora at 2:56 AM on January 8, 2012

"Everything I learned about people, I learned from pens. If they don't work, you shake 'em! If they still don't work, you throw 'em away! Bin 'em!"
posted by Katemonkey at 3:06 AM on January 8, 2012 [2 favorites]

I prefer to buy my pens at penisland.
posted by Philosopher Dirtbike at 3:10 AM on January 8, 2012 [2 favorites]

All of that glass pen stuff is in Japanese =[
I want one though.
posted by meows at 4:29 AM on January 8, 2012

Ridiculously expensive hand-machined steampunk pens
posted by Jeanne at 4:56 AM on January 8, 2012

Pen Type-A: a minimal pen.
posted by tracert at 5:02 AM on January 8, 2012 [7 favorites]

This post would be drastically different with the addition of a single letter: "i".
posted by Fizz at 5:21 AM on January 8, 2012

Here's a short list of pros and cons of different pen types if you're curious.

The wikipedia entry for pens includes a pen that uses edible ink that can be written on edible paper.

Also, it might be interesting if someone did a fpp on stationary in Asia.

I'm a teacher in Korea and every student has a pencil case, but I'm not talking about any run of the mill pencil cases. I've seen a caterpillar pencil case that you can turn inside-out into a butterfly. I've also seen a chuck taylor pencil case. Another had a game of pinball in it.

Inside of a pencil case you'll always find some sort of eraser, because most wooden pencils dont come with erasers. There will also probably be a few cases of mechanical pencil lead and a drafting pencil. They also have these cool fluorescent highlighter things, but instead of ink they are waxy like a crayon (I searched on google but couldn't come up with anything).

Notebooks are seriously cute. Lots of them have nonsensical English written on them. Nonsensical English, cats, and photos of Europe.

I've tried to figure out why all this school supply stuff is so popular over here. I'm guessing it partly has to do with the emphasis put on education. Lots of kids (even elementary school kids) go to private schools all night after they finish their normal school day. Also, I've read a bit about the four treasures of the study, which to quote the wiki article I just linked to, "is an expression used to denote the brush, ink, paper and ink stone used in Chinese and other East Asian calligraphic traditions." It's interesting to me that aside from Bic, the only other types of pens that I can name off the top of my head are Japanese (Pilot, Jelly-roll (made by Sakura Color Products Corp.), and uni-ball (made by Mitsubishi Pencil Company)(sorry for weird parenthesis)).

This post has gotten away from me, and has possibly exposed my irrational love of Asian stationary.
posted by meows at 5:21 AM on January 8, 2012 [11 favorites]

I've found it's ridiculously easy, among all the other distractions, to divert oneself with pens, ink, and paper rather than words.
posted by adoarns at 5:26 AM on January 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

The FPP pens were hit by the ugly stick, though I love that minimalist pen someone linked above. Personally, I think the best thing about Montblanc is that you can do use their refills in a cheap Pilot pen and get all the nice Montblanc writing for a few dollars.
posted by Forktine at 5:38 AM on January 8, 2012

This post makes me miss Phil Agre, who knew from pens. All the links to his pen essay seem to be broken. Anyone have a good one?
posted by anotherpanacea at 5:43 AM on January 8, 2012

Do they make a pen that emits a piercing alarm and smoke if someone moves it away from your desk for the millionth goddamn time?
posted by orme at 5:46 AM on January 8, 2012 [4 favorites]

This post would be drastically different with the addition of a single letter: "i".

Bloody Apple fanboys always wanting their iPens. I don't see why you have to be such dicks about it.
posted by yoink at 6:09 AM on January 8, 2012 [5 favorites]

This post makes me miss Phil Agre, who knew from pens.

I have never heard the verb "to know from [X]". Does it just mean "to know [X]"? Is it a regionalism?
posted by Philosopher Dirtbike at 6:20 AM on January 8, 2012

I've already decided to sell all my possession and buy that pen. My only problem will be, after I am wearing rags and living under an overpass, how to prevent people from stealing my pen when I am asleep.
posted by Ad hominem at 6:22 AM on January 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

hey can i borrow your pen


just for a minute i'll be right back


hey
posted by louche mustachio at 6:31 AM on January 8, 2012

so people still write with pen and paper?
i need to type something about that!
posted by liza at 7:12 AM on January 8, 2012

Yes, I miss pens.
posted by what's her name at 7:14 AM on January 8, 2012

There are lots of people who buy artwork worth more than $90,000. I don't see the difference. It's not like they're using them to write their grocery lists.
posted by desjardins at 8:02 AM on January 8, 2012

PD: Yes and yes. "A language is a dialect with an army and navy."
posted by anotherpanacea at 8:07 AM on January 8, 2012

Zebra F-701 with the bold ink cartridge. That's my type-A for about ten bucks.
posted by carsonb at 8:37 AM on January 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

The Uniball Vision Micro is my go-to pen, always have one on me. When the stores around here seemed to stop carrying them, I went to eBay and bought a pack from an office supplies liquidation reseller. And that's how I obtained a supply of nearly 150 Uniball Vision Micros. Man, that's a delicious pen.
posted by FatherDagon at 8:56 AM on January 8, 2012

I have never heard the verb "to know from [X]". Does it just mean "to know [X]"? Is it a regionalism?

It means "to know [x]", but with emphasis. I usually hear and use it in the negative - "doesn't know from [x]".
posted by Karmakaze at 9:13 AM on January 8, 2012

Grocery list:

1 dozen Senators
2 dozen Congressmen
2 Supreme Court Justices
6 Mistresses
6 Tiffany's Diamond Tennis Bracelets
Note: Pick up Viagra refill
1 Superyacht upgrade
1 Gulfstream G650
posted by charlie don't surf at 9:43 AM on January 8, 2012 [4 favorites]

I have used Lamy pens for years since I’ve been teaching. I carry a Lamy Pico and a Lamy Scribble wherever I go.
posted by vkxmai at 10:19 AM on January 8, 2012

To know from.

Other than that, I got nothin', except I'm in love with my Pilot Penmanship EF. Eight dollars and twenty-five cents, ridiculously fine point, can be dropper-modded, and once you break it in, it writes like buttah.
posted by BrashTech at 10:22 AM on January 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm a Uniball Vision Fine (blue, never black) fan, myself, and I will be thoroughly distraught if I cannot go buy more of these in the store. My current supply is only going to last another couple of years at best. In all sincerity, I want that pen to be the pen I use for the rest of my life.

I will note that my dad, by no means a 1%er, has a Mont Blanc Meisterstuck Classique (that's a ballpoint, not a fancy one). I had long used it to make grocery lists, though I might refrain now that I know how much it costs.
posted by librarylis at 10:38 AM on January 8, 2012

This was posted on Reddit too. Someone flogging his pen collection?

Anyway, they make my fingers hurt just to look at them. I have a fountain pen collection of many years, but all the really good ones, the ones that I used, got LOST. Or BROKEN. So I have one Pelikan fountain pen (I got it from JetPens) that is not allowed to leave my desk at home, and a whole bunch of rollerballs. The fountain pen collection sits in a glass-covered case.
posted by Peach at 10:59 AM on January 8, 2012

vkxmai, I don't see how anyone can use a pen like the Pico or Scribble, my fingertips would slide right down the barrel.

I personally prefer the Lamy Safari (in matte grey) because of the well designed grip. I use the Safari for personal writing, but for anything that someone else has to look at, I prefer the Lamy Joy which has a broad, flat tip for italic calligraphy. I remember when both of these pens cost about $17.50.
posted by charlie don't surf at 11:15 AM on January 8, 2012

⌘F: gaudy.

Nothing?




Gaudy.
posted by defenestration at 11:35 AM on January 8, 2012

meows: "Asian stationary"

FYI, it's "stationery". "Stationary" is an adjective that means something stays put. Most stationery is not stationary.

I used to work at a stationery store that sold Mont Blanc pens. I was and am something of a pen geek, and I could never understand why people like Mont Blanc. We had drawers full of cracked Mont Blanc cases, from when people had done nothing more violent than accidentally dropping their pens on the sidewalk. Mont Blanc pens are, in my experience, made poorly and hyped well.
posted by jiawen at 11:54 AM on January 8, 2012

Eh much rather have a nib called Principality made by Gillott, or their 303. Heck, give me a Hunt 101 Imperial that glides smoothly across the paper without ever snagging.

Uniball Vision Micro

I've been using Hi-Techpoint for years, tried others by Uniball but I always come back to this one.
posted by squeak at 12:29 PM on January 8, 2012

I received a Montblanc Starwalker ballpoint from a student one year, and it sat in a drawer in my house for years.. because am I really going to use a ~$400 pen to correct papers and such? Then I realized that was stupid, and now I use it to correct papers, and I let my first graders come up to the document camera and write with it. I guess the more logical thing to do would be to sell it, but it's actually really comfortable to write with, and I'll probably never have another stupidly expensive thing in my life, so...
posted by Huck500 at 1:06 PM on January 8, 2012

The Charlie Chaplin one is clever. Montblanc's best was the Hemingway series.
posted by ColdChef at 2:57 PM on January 8, 2012

I thought a couple of them were nice, but looked like they wouldn't be comfortable to write with for long. Then I saw what they cost, and they got ugly real fast.
posted by BlueHorse at 11:09 PM on January 8, 2012

I wanted the 'skeleton' pens to have a human skeleton shape.
posted by _paegan_ at 9:28 AM on January 9, 2012