Vintage fountain pens bring a lot of baggage with them. There's a stigma that they're overly temperamental, prone to leaking, likely to fall apart in the hand, costly to maintain, and the list goes on and on and on. As with almost anything, there is a kernel of truth in all of these assumptions. They can be expensive. They can be finicky to keep clean. Some are made of materials that are prone to degradation. They can be leaky. But the reality is that almost all of that is true of modern fountain pens. Sure, modern fountain pens benefit from being made with more robust, modern materials. There are also a lot of inexpensive modern options. But modern fountain pens can leak too. They can be a pain to clean depending on the filling system. They can be extremely expensive, and many of the most expensive are writing tools and more art to be admired and not used. So what's the deal with vintage pens, and why do I bring it up as often as I do?
I wouldn't be in this career if it weren't for vintage fountain pens. I cut my teeth on vintage fountain pen repair for several years before joining Karas. My appreciation for vintage fountain pen style and function impact how I look at modern pens, and in a very small scope, my input on pen design. The fountain pen is largely unchanged since the 1940s/1950s when cartridge systems began to creep into more and more companies. There has been relatively few fountain pen advancements since then outside of material improvements and manufacturing capacities. As we see a resurgence of interest in a relatively niche market, there should be an eye to the past as we move into the future. And in reality, I think that every fountain pen owner should own at least one vintage fountain pen. Even if it rarely gets used, there is something special about holding that kind of history in your hand. Who knows what kind of important messages that pen helped craft? How many other owners used that pen to write down their dreams and desires? A good vintage fountain pen can be just as good or better than a modern pen, you just need to know where to look and what to look for.
I guess the rest of this is going to focus more on general vintage fountain pen advice and my own personal preferences, rather than an explanation about further benefits of vintage fountain pens. I get asked frequently enough about this topic for me to revisit it from time to time, and I prefer to write my current thoughts and attitudes rather than refer people to something I've written years ago that might not reflect my current mindset on this topic. So here we go, let's go through a short-ish primer on how to navigate the vintage fountain pen world when thinking about adding one to your collection.
My first piece of advice is to avoid eBay like the plague unless you know what you're getting into. Take it form me, you'll likely end up with numerous "broken" pens that you'll need to sink time and money in before you get any pleasure out of them. Or you'll end up like me, and start repairing them as a side hustle and to keep yourself in the habit of buying more and more of them. eBay and sites like that are great once you have a little more knowledge and experience because you can find some GEMS on there if you sift through the posts. But sites like eBay are not a good place to start.
My first two suggestions are kind of a 1A and 1B piece of advice. If you're lucky enough to live in a state with an active pen meet up, that's my first suggestion. Even if it's a few hours drive, it will be worth it to attend one because there will likely be some vintage fountain pens present. You'll likely end up writing with a ton of new pens, and probably leave with a HUGE list of wants, but it's an opportunity to try new pens on for size. It's the pen equivalent of a "test drive". My second suggestion would be to attend a pen show. I know there aren't many, but there are enough that you might be able to take a weekend trip or quick flight to attend one that is near-ish your location. This can afford you not only the opportunity to try a TON of modern and vintage pens, but also facilitate the purchase of your first pen. Many of the recommendations you'll find below on places to purchase a vintage fountain pen will be in attendance at these pen shows. You can find great deals, and a lot of smaller hobbyist repairers/sellers will be present. You'll also be exposed to a massive and mostly caring community that will be excited to see a new face join the ranks of the pen nerds, and you might pick up a pen pal or two. Generally, pen shows are great for the experience, but they can be hell on the wallet.
It can be difficult to navigate the "where" to purchase quality repaired vintage fountain pens outside of a pen show. Many of the vendors at the shows have very stripped down websites, if they have a website at all. So much of the repaired vintage pen stock can be tricky to locate online, and even if you do locate repaired pens for sale; there comes a risk of being taken advantage of. The vintage pen community isn't without problems and one of them is repairers who have a tendency of keeping pens sent in for repair, another is sellers with product that doesn't meet the descriptions provided. Here are some of the places I would recommend for quality and service.
- Peyton Street Pens is a writing instrument manufacturer, retailer, and repair shop known for HIGH quality. Their prices can be higher than other places, but you'll be hard pressed to find better repair work or near mint/excellent condition vintage pens.
- Indy-Pen-Dance is another highly reputable repair and retail shop. They also have one of the best known nib grinders in the fountain pen community, Linda Kennedy.
- Tbickiii is a name you'll see the further you get into the online vintage pen community. It's present on Fountain Pen Network forum, eBay, fountain pen Facebook groups, and numerous other places. Repairer and seller of very nice and often eclectic vintage fountain pens.
- Pentiques is a place where you can sometimes find repaired pens for sale, but if you didn't take my advice on eBay and ended up with vintage pen that needs repair, this is one of the first places I'd send my pen to. You can opt for the first two options on this list, but Aaron specializes in just repair and restoration. He's REALLY good, and pretty fast in terms of turnaround time. I would personally send pens to him if I didn't have the time or tools to repair them myself.
Now that we've got some of that out of the way, let's move on to what will probably be the most controversial section of this blog post: recommendations. I'm going to attempt to be a little more broad in what I recommend than specifically calling out certain pens, because that gets really subjective. Outside of recommending some pens that are considered vintage pen staples, I'll more be focusing on brands and highlighting what I think are the best first pen options from those brands. Let's jump in.
Vintage Sheaffer pens are my number one recommendation simply because I've had fewer problems with Sheaffer pens than any other brand. They seem to be made of better material, they hold up quite a bit more to abuse than some of their counterparts. Outside of the Snorkel (which I love) they're fairly straightforward without the oddities some other brands put into their pens. They have enough variety in terms of style almost anyone can find a pen that suits them. Most important, their nibs are fantastic, UNLESS you're looking for flex. While flex Sheaffer nibs exist, they're much rarer than other brands and can be pretty spendy. But if you want nice firm nibs with good flow and great feel, Sheaffer is my go-to. Personally I prefer the pens from the 1950s, the Touchdown and Snorkel pens, as well as their older Balance pens. But their catalog is big enough that you can find almost anything: flat tops, striated, military clip, vacuum filler; you name it there's a lot to choose from.
Parker is a CLOSE second to Sheaffer in terms of every aspect. Their pens are of superior quality and design as many other brands on the market. I had a few more Parker pens with material issues than I did Sheaffer pens, but I also repaired a LOT more Parker pens. I had more nib issues in terms of tipping breaking off when disassembling or reassembling pens. I've noticed that the older Parker pens had very thin gold nibs, which are prone to being easily damaged. But their 1940's and 1950s models don't suffer as much from this. In terms of what pens I recommend, I'm a fan of the Parker 51, Vacuumatic, Challenger, and even the Parker 45. Much like Sheaffer, their catalog is so vast there's something for everyone.
Here's where my first staple comes in to play, and that's with Esterbrook. I'm NOT the biggest Estie fan, but I understand the importance of the brand and especially the pens: the Dollar pen, J, SJ, and LJ mostly. There's a reason these pens are so widely recommended when it comes to vintage pens. They were one of the first brands to have swappable nibs, the quality of the pens is fantastic, and they were (and for the most part still are) relatively inexpensive. I don't really like the style of any of the pens, but with this pen that's almost an afterthought. Anyone that decides to get further involved in vintage fountain pens MUST own an Esterbrook. I know that sounds weird, but it's almost a prerequisite.
I'm gonna lump Waterman and Wahl-Eversharp into the same category. I love both of these brands. I've found more flex nibs on Waterman and W-E pens than on any other brands out there. At one point in time, I was snagging a flex nib on every other pen I bought on eBay from these two brands. But they both suffer from material construction problems. Waterman has several pens that literally fall apart over time. One of their most beautiful pens, the 100 Year Pen, suffers from the end of the barrel crumbling and breaking off, and cap lips snapping. Similarly, the W-E Skyline (a personal favorite) suffers from the resin cracking at the section threads, the "finials" stripping out, inner caps coming dislodged, and other issues that make owning and using own a nightmare. While there are plenty of great pens from these brands, just beware that they tend to be more expensive than some of the other options and they can be easily damaged.
Lastly, some of the minor pen brands out there that don't get a lot of love but have solid offerings include Mabie Todd, Conklin, Aiken Lambert, Moore, and Rexall. You can find solid options, sometimes at a fraction of the price of a similarly looking pen from one of the brands listed above. These second tier brands have some hidden gems, especially in the flex department, but also in terms of their design. They often "looked" enough like a top tier pen like the Waterman 52 or Sheaffer Flat Top but because they didn't have the name recognition they don't have "as many miles" on them as their bigger brand siblings.
Lastly, if you need more advice on this topic I wholly recommend getting an account on the Fountain Pen Network. This forum is a wealth of information, and for the most part, extremely helpful members. It's a huge community that covers everything from pen turning to nib repair to vintage pens to modern pencils. There's a lot going on there, but if you have a question, chances are it's been asked and answered over their at least once. And if not, there's a huge community of people with the knowledge to get you the answer.
Hopefully this helps a little bit if you've been considering venturing into vintage fountain pen territory. I can only write so much on it before I start to lose people, and this seems like a good place to end. If you've questions, you can always comment below or go back to our site and complete a contact form request. Thanks for you time, happy vintage fountain pen hunting!
