The lost pens

Ugh. Losing pens stinks. But to paraphrase the saying, "If you haven't lost a pen...then you probably haven't been collecting long enough!" The challenge is that they are small items that are used, not just stored, and when you're out and about sometimes the worst can happen.

I've been fortunate to have lost only a few, but I still mourn their loss.  Later in life, in moments of weakness (and if the deal is right), I may try and restore them to my pen stable.

Parker 88 in matte navy
A late '80's, early '90's brass tube with a gold-plated, stainless steel nib. It looks like a souped up Vector, and while it wouldn't be something I would be attracted to if it were released now by a pen company, I thought it was pretty special when I was a student. I believe it may have been obtained at the Buy and Sell Shop in Madison, WI.

This pen was lost, I believe, when it was left behind in a university classroom in Houston in the late '90's. 

The next two pens were lost together in the early 2000's. They were in a pen case in my bag that didn't get zipped up all of the way. I was running late to a meeting and moving at a jogging pace and the bounce of my pace knocked the pens out. What I wouldn't give to have skipped that, now, meaningless meeting!

Montblanc 144 
A pivotal pen in my life. It was given to me by The Love of My Life as a Christmas present after we had dated only a few months. While I already knew that she was The One, this pen made this even more abundantly clear.

This pen is a little different than the Montblanc norm. It's a little smaller, it has slip on cap, and it uses a cartridge/converter, but it was a sweet little pen!

Waterman Preface in Blue
Another lacquer over brass tube, but with a nicer (than the Parker 88) nib made of 18k gold. This pen was purchased on June 21, 1999 at Le Stylo D'Or (62 Avenue des temes) in Paris on our honeymoon.


Finally, my grandmother gave me a fountain pen from her writing desk in the mid '80's. As a teenager, I was already fascinated by these writing instruments, but was, unfortunately, ignorant of how they worked. I brought the pen home, promptly filled it with the ink I had at hand, couldn't get it to work, thought it was broken, and threw it away. It ended up that I filled it with India ink and clogged it up myself. My grandmother lived until she was 99 years old (about thirty years after she gifted me this pen) and I wish that she would have waited a few more years before giving me this piece of history. I don't even know what it was--a Sheaffer Balance? A Parker Challenger? I wish I knew! 


I sometimes wonder where all of these pens ended up. Are they still be used and enjoyed? Although I wish I had never lost them (and can't believe I actually threw one away!), I certainly hope so!