How pens leave and enter the gathering

There are so many different ways to be in the stationery hobby, which is one of the features I love about it. Some people have large collections, others are minimalists. Many people fall somewhere in-between. A few years ago, Anthony at ukfountainpens.com (now sadly no longer updating) conducted an in-depth fountain pen collecting survey. It’s well worth checking the report out, even though it’s been a good 2.5 years since it was first published.

Anthony asked his readers many interesting questions, among them the obligatory “how many pens do you own.” 37% of respondents reported owning over 20 pens. 17% had more than 50 pens in their collection. On the other end of the bell curve, 37% of respondents had 10 pens or fewer.

When Anthony juxtaposed the number of pens owned with the time in the hobby, he found, perhaps unsurprisingly, that those who had been in the hobby longer have more pens.

It takes seven years of hobbyism for the open-ended ‘more than 50’ answer to become the most popular (although that’s still less than one pen a month, folks — pick up the pace!). And actually it looks like people diverge into two camps as they get more experienced: they either go big (more than 20 pens) or they go small (10 pens or fewer, sometimes even one pen!). A story of refinement versus rampant addiction?!

It’s easy to see how a person who spends years collecting pens ends up owning many of them - even if you only buy a few a year, the numbers begin to add up. For those of us who own under 20 pens, and yet spend time in the hobby, I’m always curious how this happens. For me personally, it’s some combination of restraint, considering exactly what pens I want to add to the gathering, and letting go of pens that do not rhyme with the collection. My records show that I let go of 32 pens over the last three years, either by selling, giving away, and a few returns. I own 17 pens right now (counting the three earmarked for sale and one preorder), and at any given time like to be somewhere between 14-20 pens in my collection. I started my journey as a minimalist - using one pen and one ink for well over a decade - and I no longer wish to be there. But I love a curated collection.

Currently inked: Edison Menlo Fingerpaints, Onoto Keats, Leonardo Momento Magico in Brooks Primary manipulation - all with steel nibs. With Menagerie friends snake candle and wrought iron bird.

I think my first year or so in the hobby were a time of broad curiosity - I wanted to try many things, whether through buying and selling, loans, or trips to pen shops (I have not been to a pen show yet). The more time passed, the more I figured out what I loved, and could become more mindful about collecting the pens I wanted. But - perhaps unfortunately - I did not also become more minimalist. In fact, I think I made more iffy decisions in 2023 than I did in the previous year. I’ll write more about this in my year summary posts. But the gist of this is, even though I followed my pen wishlist and written guidelines for the year, I experimented more, and I’m still mulling on the results of these experiments.

In June or so, Endless Pens had an astonishing preorder discount on Sailor Luminous Shadow. I went for it, even though I knew that Sailor pens are not for me - but I was curious about the big KOP nib and the swirly, Italian-style resin. The pen arrived 1.5 months later. By that time, I was convinced that I would not love it, but in fact, it was gorgeous - big, bold, with an excellent KOP nib and ruthenium trim. It was also… really cylindrical.

Sailor Luminous Shadow Grove.

At some point a few months ago, I contemplated writing a blog post entitled “Firing on all cylint-ers: the new Sailor trend”. This is because cylindrical pens became somewhat of a thing for Sailor new releases with pens like Sailor Sculpture, Sailor Luminous Shadow, Sailor 110th Anniversary, and yes, the Sailor Cylint. Of these, the Sailor Luminous Shadow strikes me as most cylindrical. It resembles a rod of acrylic with some fairly minimal ruthenium trim.

Firing on all cylint-ers: Sailor’s tubular pens

Top to bottom: Sailor Cylint, Sailor Ebonite Sculpture, Sailor 110 Anniversary Kurogane, Sailor Luminous Shadow Fog Gray.

As an Italian pen fan, I love a bit of taper. I’ve since thought a fair amount about this and I don’t even mind cylindrical pens - I have an Onoto that does not taper, and I love my Homo Sapiens Bronze Age. My issue was more complicated - I did not feel it rhymed with the collection.

Sailor Luminous Shadow vs Aurora Optima Viola

Aurora Optima Viola: a sophisticated, intriguing pen. Luminous Shadow: tubular chonk.

Both pens are excellent writers and have high quality construction.

I like my pens to look good next to each other, but the Luminous Shadow did not quite fit. It stood out - not only because it was a cylindrical pen, but because it was a very large, cylindrical pen with ruthenium trim. It did not make me happy to look at it alongside other pens.

The Luminous Shadow is a beautiful pen, but it stood out in my lineup when I carried it next to my other pens — in a way that my Sailor Pro Gear does not.

So after a few months, and only a single inking, I let the Luminous Shadow go. I honestly don’t know if I made the right decision. It was a very good pen.

I loved the darker green aspect of this pen, and felt that this element was missing from the gathering. So to fill the teal/green slot in my lineup, I acquired a Scribo Piuma Impressione with an F 18k nib on FP day. It was basically a trade with the LS, and a good one in principle, but as soon as the pen arrived I was not convinced about it. It rhymes beautifully with the collection. It is also my second Scribo Piuma in a gathering with no other duplicates. Originally I thought that if I loved the Impressione, I would move my Piuma Ratio. However, I dip-tested the nib on the new Impressione, and I am not quite convinced that it writes well - unlike my Piuma Ratio, which is an amazing writer. I am within the window to return or exchange the Impressione, and I will be making that decision over the weekend. If I keep it, this opens the “same model” collecting in my gathering - I can certainly see myself acquiring another Aurora Optima, for example. But I’m not there yet.

Scribo Piuma Impressione with Menagerie friends bear and horned toad (who is perching on a chunk of malachite).

I hope you share your experiences with collecting and curating over on Instagram! I am always interested in other people’s processes. We all do different things, and that’s what makes this hobby fun for me.