A Narwhal Origional in Hippocampus Purple

No, I didn't forget how to spell original, the Origional is what Narwhal calls their pen. I know, because it was on the box so kindly sent to me by Goldspot Pens. Up until now, I have to admit that Narwhal had always meant Monodon monoceros to me. That is, a small to medium-sized arctic whale, …

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A Soft-Fine Pilot Falcon, and a Custom 74: Contrasting Similarities (aka Liam Neeson Didn’t Steal My Pen)

I have had a few Pilot pens in my collection over the years, including a much loved Custom 823. Tragically, the 823 was stolen during the after-hours of an academic conference some years ago, whilst I was attempting to prove the hypothesis that a yard of Young's Winter Warmer could indeed be consumed in less …

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The Laban 325: Won’t Stop a Rhino

The last pen post I made, mentioned something about understated style and elegance, well, let's, er, forget about that today shall we? Last year, I took a stroll (about six hours worth, but still a stroll), through Scriptus the Toronto Pen Show. Amongst the highlights of the day was bumping into the lovely Ana Reinert …

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A Vintage Montblanc… or Two

I have made no secret of my traditionalist taste in fountain pens. I may go off the rails occasionally and ogle something earthy with a bit of gold marbling, or even go completely crazy and pick something up in burgundy and gold with a touch of translucence about the barrel. But if you were to …

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The Pen Addict vs. Lamy Shootout—Brad’s on Fire!

At around about the same time this year, three new products and one that was older than me, caught my eye. The first was a bursting orange from The Pen Addict's Brad Dowdy and the Australian manufacturer Robert Oster, with the nicely tongue-in-cheek name of Fire on Fire. This coincided with the delivery of a …

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Return of the Lackluster Lamy

Well, it kind of serves me right if nobody actually reads this it's been so long since I last posted; and before you read any further, you might want to check out an older post, in which this Lamy 2000 first appeared. Are you back? Good, then let's begin. It was actually months ago that …

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Is there Anything New to Say About the Pilot Metropolitan?

Well, it may all have been said before, but not by me, so I'm going to say it anyway; and besides, what's old news for some of us, can still be useful to others. The Pilot Metropolitan seems to have been around forever. Anyone who has ever commented on fountain pens, has had something to …

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Nothing wrong there is, in being small and green: The Pilot 78G

Recently, I have had a number of small parcels wing their way to me from the only Ontario-based, online fountain pen and stationery specialists, the Wonder-People in Toronto (soon to be relocating, but staying in Toronto)... Jon and Liz 250 Carlaw Avenue Unit 105 Toronto, ON M4M 3L1 Tel. 1 416 799 5935 General Email: …

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The Pilot Prera and Diamine Lilac Satin—A Guest Post

My thirteen-year-old daughter will be the first to tell you that she is not the world's hardest working student; but about a year ago, she decided that she would put some extra effort in to improve her grades before entering high school. She came home the other night with a school report that had excellent written, …

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