Krysta Chauncey, Ridley Kessler, Marie Clapsaddle, Silviu and Jeff Peirce
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Krysta
Chauncey
Hello
to everybody who foolishly chooses to read this! I'm a new
member of the Snail List and a new poster here. So, lessee.
A bio to make people want to write letters to me. I'm a linguistics
major at Duke University, trying to get into neurolinguistics--I'm
currently taking a couple of neuro classes and starting an
independent study in a neurolinguistics lab, possibly dealing
with the phonological mismatch negativity. Very, very exciting!
I'm also trying to learn German as best I can, so I can convince
Duke to send me to German for any length of time at all, and
be a decently bilingual linguist, so I don't say silly things
like Stephen Pinker about other languages' expressive capabilities.
(Pet peeve, there; ignore if you're not a linguist, or like
Stephen Pinker, or are Stephen Pinker.)
I was born
in Olney, MA (but I usually say DC because people actually recognize
that), and have lived in North Carolina for most of my life.
Not married, no kids, no quarter-century work history. Boy.
An undergraduate's bio sure is boring!
As to collecting,
I recently defined my collection as Diamond Points, black-and-gold/bronze
materials, and classics (this so I can keep things like my Pelikan
400 and azure two-jewel flexible-stub-nibbed Vac). I also collect
inks more or less incidentally--I guess I have around fifteen,
maybe a little more.
Ridley
Kessler
My name
is Ridley Kessler and I am a native and life long resident
of North Carolina. I was born in Hendersonville, N. C. just
before the out break of WW II. Hendersonville is in the mountains
about 25 miles from Asheville. We grow great apples and excellent
corn liquor (if you know who to go to)!! I am a reference
librarian at Davis Library at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill. I am the assistant head of the Reference Department
(which means that I get to go to meetings that my boss doesn't
want to mess with) and I am in charge of government documents.
I have worked here since September of 1970. I have three degrees
from this University which I always tell people aren't worth
a bucket of warm spit!! (that is monetarily).
I have used
fountain pens all of my life and remember very distinctly when
we switched to them in grammer school!! My penmanship was horrible
even then and fountain pens seemed to magnify that trait. I
did not know until a year ago that people actually collected
pens!! What a revelation that was!! I actually got into this
because of my two conference roommates. We have library conferences
several times a year and lots of librarians split the costs
of these meetings by sharing rooms with colleagues. Many develop
friendships that have lasted many years so that my two buddies
and I have been doing this for almost 15 years. At anyrate one
of these guys is from Harvard and he came to a meeting about
two years ago with a Montblanc ("the blob pen"). This very expensive
pen so impressed my other roommate that he appeared at the next
meeting with one of these babes! So the two of them spent a
lot of time ragging me about my Parker Vector Roller ball.
Since this
is a fairly expensive investment I decided to do some research
(a librarian's weakness). I ended up finding the "Pens 101:
Home Page" which was a God send!! From there I eventually found
IkonPen which has been a really great help to me in my purchases.
I am astounded about the friendliness of the pen people and
their willingness to give beginners advice and suggestions.
My biggest purchase was a Parker Duofold (Jasper Red). I love
red pens!!!!! My first real pen was a Waterman Phileas--which
still writes better than anything else I own. I have also bought
a Lamy Safari, a Auroro Ipsolon (sp), Namiki Vanishing Point.
My two newest ones are a Hero 329 and a Sheaffer Triumph both
of which I love exceedingly! I do love the low end pens. I would
like to own a Pelikan some day. I am in the process of buying
a Parker 51 and am interested in other vinage pens but don't
know very much about them at present. I have made some wonderful
friends and hope to make many more. My next project is to gather
some books on this and catch up with everyone.
My wife and
I have 5 West Highland White Terriers which means that our household
is in a constant state of turmoil. I also like to read and watch
old movies! I have a 24 year old daughter who lives in North
Carolina but in another city (this is good). I also like classical
music but don't know much more about that than I do pens. I
try to put aside some mad money each month for pens and cds
but my wants often develop faster than that nest egg!!!! I want
to own a Sheaffer Balance both old and new at some point.
Sorry to
have taken up so much space but couldn't shut up once I got
started.
Marie
Clapsaddle
I'm Marie
Clapsaddle, an English teacher (EFL) working at a junior college
in Japan for the past 13 years. I grew up on a dairy farm
near Rochester, New York. In spite of all those great opportunities
to become a tomboy and hang out with the cows, I always preferred
indoor pursuits like reading (almost every book offered by
the Weekly Reader's Book Club), writing (Ever make those little
books from folded notebook paper when you were a kid?), and
drawing (voted "best artist" in high school). During my childhood,
I often saw my mother writing to family and friends with a
Waterman fountain pen. By the time I was old enough to be
trusted with a pen, cartridge ink pens were becoming popular.
In high school and college I started getting interested in
italic writing and bought one of those pen sets with the calligraphy
nibs.
During my
college days, I got the urge to buy myself one nice fountain
pen--a silver Parker 75. Some years later I started slowly acquiring
others--a Targa, a Sonnet, etc. That was before the "bug" bit.
In December 1999, I decided I wanted to buy one special pen.
The research that led to that purchase (a Waterman Serenite)
infected me with "pen fever" and I have not yet recovered. I
don't know where it will all end, but I sure am enjoying myself.
I don't make
a huge salary and, as everyone knows, the cost of living in
Japan is one of the highest in the world. I guess the reason
I'm able to support my "pen habit" is because it's my only vice.
Well, except for unusual inks, interesting stationery, exotic
nibs...but those don't count, right?
My job involves
a lot of administrative responsibilities as well as teaching,
so I don't have much time for hobbies. When I do get a spare
moment, I usually find myself studying Japanese (gotta keep
up with all those school memos and student reports), playing
my guitar (nothing fancy--relaxation only), and spending time
at my computer (I'm a Mac fan). I'm enjoying correspondence
with Snail List friends who share my interest in pens and hope
my work schedule will permit me to continue writing.
Silviu
Hello
My name is
Silviu. I'm from Israel and live in a city near Tel-Aviv. I
am a Software Project Manager for the EDS-Israel company. I
used pens since college for about 15 years. But I did not collect
(or accumulate), just used one FP on a daily basis and occasionaly
when the pen was damaged or lost, bought a new one (I used low-mid
priced pens: Elysee, Parker 45 etc. so this meant no heavy spending).About
4 years ago I met a friend who had 10 user FP he rotated on
a daily basis. He also showed me some web sites with pen info.
This started my interest in FP and their history and this led
to the beginning of my FP collecting habit.
I started
with modern production FP, but since last year and a half I
shifted completely to vintage. I sold (almost) all my modern
FP: Waterman le Man 100, Pelikan 800, Pelikan 730, Waterman
Phileas, Parker Rialto, Sheaffer Fashion, and retained only
my Aurora Optima, that is such a smooth well balanced FP that
I could not part with.Before and while collecting vintage FP
I bought three books which helped me a lot: the "blue book",
Lambrou's "FP of the World" and "A passion for pens" by P. Haurry.My
vintage collections is not focused, but I'm happy (and try)
to collect FP of various manufacturers from various countries,
filling systems, various materials etc.
My collection
includes about 25 pens (most of them I'm using everyday on a
rotation basis):Conklin 30 crescent filler with wide floral
cap band. It has the most flexible nib I encountered so far.MHR
Swan with 2 gold bands on barrel.2 Conway Stewarts: 475 and
a blue herringbone 60L. Conway Stewarts are very colourful reliable
pens (most of them lever fillers), and ussualy their prices
are more than reasonable - around 60$ - 100$, hope they stay
that way.Parker: 75 (Sterling cisele), 51 aerometric, Vacumatic
standard Grey pearl, red Duofold streamline Jr., Moderne (Thrift
time) set Bronze and blue (very nice with a flexible stub nib).Waterman:
Gothic 0552 overlay, Smooth overlay 0512 ED, 94 mahogany set.Moore:
safety BCHR.Sheaffer: Balance Black & pearl oversize set
and Snorkel burgundy sentinel set.France: Edacoto safety bought
at Paris at Andre Mora shop - reccomended place if you get there.Germany:
Pelikan 400 tortoise shell (1955), Kaweco Dia 85 black &
pearl (1949), Montblanc 246 black (1948).Japan: Pilot Mu-Rex
(great unitary nib - section design) - some say it preceded
the Parker T1, and a no-name (but rare) Maki-e (Kamakura - bori)
black eyedropper.
I am begining
to develop an interest in Japanese pens (especially moderated
priced maki-e's ) but I don't know yet where to get them, as
I don't encounter them often, and I dont know of any Japanese
web site that sells them .
jeff
peirce
I am a
former health care administrator, who became a junior high
school history teacher 14 years ago. Both occupations have
been a good place to see changes in society, I suppose, and
both have been interesting.
I have been
a fountain pen user since 1962 when friend showed up at school
with a Wearever cartridge fountain pen. We went to a store after
school, and I bought a Sheaffer cartridge student pen. I was
taken with it immediatly, and never could get myself to like
a ballpoint again.
My first
"good" fountain pen was a Parker 45, followed by a Parker 75,
for which I paid $25. A very large sum to spend on a pen, and
my friends were horrified at the waste of money (though they
all wanted to try the pen).
I confess
I wanted a Montblanc 149, and dreamed of one for a long time.
I finally ended up with two, paying $85 for the first one. It
was scandalous.The pen has actually worked fairly well over
the years. The second 149 gave me a great deal of trouble, but
I still use them both once or twice a year.
I started
getting vintage pens in the late 1980s, and learned to find
them in antique shops and do my own repairs. I have had some
very good finds over the years, and still come up with one or
two each year. I have found a Wahl Eversharp Doric, a Gold Seal,
and a Skyline 64 with a solid gold cap for $25.I have also found
an oversized ebonized pearl Sheaffer balance, and several other
balance and flat-topped Sheaffers. During the past 12 months,
I have found several Vacumatics, a PFM, and , most recently,
a mint condition Conklin Nozac.I have noticed prices keep going
up, and many antique shop owners seem to want to charge much
more than many pens are worth. It didn't used to be that way.
I like current
pens as well, and seem to be collecting mostly Italian , due
to the fact the Italians have taken over the market with their
beautiful pens.I would love to see Sheaffer and Parker make
a comeback, and I still have hopes they will find a way to do
it.
I also like
reading, and I buy books whenever I can. It seems that Pentrace
is the ideal website for both pens and books, and I feel very
fortunate it is available.
Hello
to everybody who foolishly chooses to read this! I'm a new
member of the Snail List and a new poster here. So, lessee.
A bio to make people want to write letters to me. I'm a linguistics
major at Duke University, trying to get into neurolinguistics--I'm
currently taking a couple of neuro classes and starting an
independent study in a neurolinguistics lab, possibly dealing
with the phonological mismatch negativity. Very, very exciting!
I'm also trying to learn German as best I can, so I can convince
Duke to send me to German for any length of time at all, and
be a decently bilingual linguist, so I don't say silly things
like Stephen Pinker about other languages' expressive capabilities.
(Pet peeve, there; ignore if you're not a linguist, or like
Stephen Pinker, or are Stephen Pinker.)