Sorry about the late reply, been staying away from GH lately to avoid tempting myself on spending on more keyboard stuff!
Wow the venerable Nakaya pens. Are they really nice to write with? How much did you pay for them? Last of all, out of the entire bunch, which is your favorite writing pen?
It's all hand-lacquered so it's very soft and warm in the hand. Very pleasing to hold, and has an almost supple quality to the texture. And of course it's very pretty, in an elegant and understated manner.
The Nakayas are really all about the body, as the nibs are the same as Platinum's (completely interchangeable with each other). So if you would like to have an idea of how a Nakaya would write, get a Platinum 3776. Same nib, same-ish body, but for a fraction of the price. However, Nakayas do have a tendency to have a wider choice of nibs. Platinum also has "soft" nibs, the nicer ones being chosen to be used in Nakayas, but don't count on them flexing - they're just kinda springy at best.
I personally don't own one yet, but you can expect to pay around 500 USD + S&H and such for the most basic Nakaya (a black Piccolo). Typical models are somewhere from 600~800 USD, while the fancy ones cost upwards of 1000 USD.
Of the bunch, I think I enjoyed the Long Piccolo the most. The cursive italic grind I did turned out really well, and the pen is a good size. Somewhat oversize in length, but standard thickness for a pen. Sadly, I had to give it back to its owner. It will be missed! I have other pens that I very much enjoy using though, my most recent being this Omas Ogiva in the Autunno celluloid:
Omas Ogiva Autunno by
@Zeroblade, on Flickr
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Oh I almost forgot! I bought a Pentel Metropolitan medium nib and it branches like crazy with their ink. I'm going to get a fine nib soon, but are there any inks that are thick or that doesn't go super fuzzy around the edges?
Pelikan (both 4001 and Edelstein series), Mont Blanc, and Lamy are all fairly dry-writing inks, but I highly suggest getting nicer paper instead. It vastly improves the writing experience, and allows the qualities of the ink to shine through better, especially with shading and sheen, like here:
(sailor tokiwa matsu)
Or perhaps you could use an extra-fine nib, such as a Pilot Metropolitan with a fine nib, but inks will still probably feather on those.
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I also took a little time to check out the Mont Blanc Boutique, Cartier, Hermes, and Louis Vuitton in NYC to see what fountain pens they had to offer. Here's some pictures of my favorite. The Hermes Nautilus. Oh and some pictures of one of the Hermes exclusive inks.
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The announcement of the LV pen really amused us in the local fountain pen group since it was basically nothing but a glorified Pilot Vanishing Point. Even the cartridges and everything are the same LOL. But hey, I suppose if people have money to burn, no one's stopping then from spending it the way they want to. I have to admit, it is kind of pretty, at least.
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- I'm a left-hander (so I guess I need a fine nib and some ink that can dry up quicker so that I don't wipe it along the paper with my hand)
- I searched a bit and it seems a Pilot Metropolitan Fine Nib would be good and not too expensive.
- I dont want to go over 50€. If it is to be below that and I still can get a good pen, I'd go for that instead as I want to minimize my investment if the fountain pens are not meant to be for me besides the one I had in my childhood (Unfortunately I'm kinda picky regarding certain things).
- As I'm residing in Germany I'd like to minimize shipping cost as much as possible. I found some fountain pens via eBay but the shipping cost were sometimes almost the smae what the pen would cost.
Sorry if I'm kind of repeating stuff already mentioned in the earlier posts; writing too much stuff that I've already lost track of what's been said here.
The
Pilot Metropolitan pretty much hits the nail on the head for what you need. If you prefer to buy things locally, then Germany should have a good selection of models as it is: as mentioned, the
Lamy Safari is one of the most commonly recommended pens around, but it costs around twice as much as the Metropolitan does.
German pens also have a tendency of writing wet and wide, while Japanese pens are one size down from Western pens (Japanese Medium = Western Fine, etc.), and also have a more modest ink flow. Both Kaweco and Lamy pens use cartridge/converter systems, and I highly recommend you use a converter since it costs much less to buy ink by the bottle. Then just carry around cartridges just in case.
If you're willing to spend some more (around maybe 70 to 80 EUR) then there is also the
Pelikan M200, which is quite durable, and has good ink capacity. It only fills from a bottle however. It doesn't bother typical fountain pen enthusiasts, but it may be a consideration for you. Also around this price level are the
Lamy 2000,
Pilot Vanishing Point and
Custom 74, the
Platinum 3776, and the
Sailor 1911M, all of which are leftie-friendly thin writers, except for the Lamy 2000. All of these pens are what most consider gateway pens to "nice pens", since they are all very reliable, write well, and have good value, hovering around the 100~150 USD range.
[] I also wanted to know if the fountain pens are very sensible if I travel with them in my bag? Do I need to take care of them or is it alright to put them in a case and put the case into my bag?
I think that many of us here carry our pens in a pen case or pen wrap; this is what mine is like right now:
Fountain pens are kind of like nice keyboards, fancy writing instruments, so I think you should treat them as such.
Other people use harder, leather pen cases (I carry one alongside the pen case when I want to bring more pens), others use pen wraps that have pockets for each individual pen, etc. There are lots of cases and wraps out there that can probably suit your tastes and needs.
The engravings looked a little bit like this I found while browsing the net.
A lot of filigree pens back in the 1900s to 1940s were made by Waterman and Wahl, so those are the most likely brands. There were a lot of one-offs and bespoke makes though, so it's hard to say definitively unless we had the specimen on hand. A shame it was thrown out as there are tens, if not hundreds of people who can repair and restore pens (currently learning how to myself).
Hope that covers everything for now, I guess!