Speaking of Parker Pens...

I had and used my Cross gold pen set for years.  Where did they go?
 
My favorite all time pens were/are Parker Ciseles.  I still have them carrying three of my four.  I don't use the fountain pen due to a leaking problem so why do I  carry it?  Thinking like that I should only carry one.  Who here uses a pencil?
 
Wish I could find a roller ball Ciseles.
 
What are your favorite pens?
 
Bics?
 
 
 
 

I have a beautiful set of the Cross in gold.  The previous owner didn't take care of them, so I got them for a song.  

I've found my Cross pens.    I now need to repossess them.

This is what the Cisele looks like:
 

 
Ever have a pen that needed upkeep?  These are sterling silver and they tarnish.
 
I bought the fountain pen for 50¢ at a garage sale.  I was so shocked with the price that I picked up and purchased a whole bunch of other items (read junk) that I didn't need.
 
 

Love those Cross pens, and that's what I keep in my pocket.  The ink cartridges seem to last forever.  For signatures, though, I prefer the Pilot V Razor Point Extra Fine (Black).  I loved Mont Blanc,  but quit using them 20 years ago because replacing stolen ones was impractical.  You're right, Parker is excellent.

Thinking back to the days of filling the fountain pen reservoir from a bottle of ink.... brings back a lot of memories!  Had a gold Cross ball point for some time, but now rely on the cheapies by the dozen. Prefer the black fine-tip Uniball or razor, but will use most anything within reach.
I do very little hand-written communication these days. I'd rather type, even with some errors, and print the results...It is much easier to proof-read and make corrections this way, than to re-write and white-out etc etc.. We gave up the 'art' of handwritten  style for the honest presentation of the printed word!

Not ink Quink. I am 50 years old and was not around when fountain pens were the norm. My Father always had one. He actually did the New York Times crossword with one every Sunday. A task that few people could do. I actually have one framed in my home office. At one time I collected old fountain pens and still have many and use one daily....Russ

The only Cross pens I ever owned was back in the day when my company would hand out a commemorative set to each particpant when we completed a major project or conference. You know, like 240 hours of extra work and the reward is a $12 pen and pencil set. So, Cross pens mostly have a negative connotation for me, plus I was never impressed with them anyway.
 
 

Parker used to be huge in Janesville as evidenced by Parker Place, Parker High School, and Parker CCU (credit union) but after being sold the manufacturing was moved elsewhere.  I remember my grandfather using Parker pens almost exclusively and it was a big deal to receive one as a gift.
 
http://www.wisconsinhisto...ts/archives/002125.asp
 
Brad

I have a Cross pen and pencil set, engraved, that my company gave me when I left. They have never left their box 30 years later. My partner bought me a set of Uniball gel pens, I hate them and instead I use an array of freebie pens from my last employer (cheap disposable).

I remember my first ballpoint pen. It was called a Rocket, and it was a gift from my uncle, Seymour Jupiter Hoffman. He'd bought it at Gimbel's in New York the previous day and stopped at my house in the morning before I left for school to give it to me.
 
He told me it was the first ballpoint pen ever, and that it would write for two years before the ink ran out. He was wrong on both counts. It ran out of ink in about two months, and I later learned that the ballpoint pen had been invented in the '30s, but for some reason hadn't made it to the United States any earlier.
 
Personally, I'd have preferred to stick with what we called ink pens. If not for ink pens I'd never have been able to dip Claire Hummel's long curls into my inkwell in third grade. I didn't like Claire Hummel. She was stuck up, just because her father had a stupid hot dog factory, and their hot dogs weren't half as good as Roessler's.
 
Now thems wuz the days.

Ruined a great corduroy jacket with a leaking Waterman pen.
Lovely yellowy kinda color jacket, with leather elbow patchs.
Freshman in college----darn pen leaked and there was a big
blue/black stain about 3" in diameter on the left side.
And it never came out.  It became my smoking jacket even though
I never smoked.  Damn that Waterman pen.
 
Picture of me in jacket (pre-stain) available on demand---cheap !!!

Great reminders on this thread.
 
I have my mother's Sheaffer's Fountain Pen that she used in high school.  Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles to be exact. I always had some sort of a mechanical facination with the way the end unscrewed to assist filling it up with ink.
 
Mom always had the same bottle of Sheaffer Blue Black Ink in the top drawer in the kitchen.  That bottle had a small glass reservoir at the very top of the bottle that she filled by tipping the bottle.
 
Showed the Sheaffer Pen to my mother a couple of months ago.  No recognition whatsoever.   I bet she threw out that cool bottle of ink.
 
Being bored I took pictures of my pens.  Here are the Ciceles:
 

 
My Parker Desk Set which has a sort of Eames feel:
 
Since using rollerballs it almost feels like work dragging the tip of a ballpoint pen across a sheet of paper. Something about the friction is tiring.
 

I have the Parker Ciceles set of pen and pencil which I don't use much at all.  I used to carry them with me but they kept falling out of the little leather holder and I was afraid I'd lose one. 
 
When I'm working, I just use a cheapie Pilot.

I've never owned a Parker pen, but I remember the ads from way back when where someone churlishly scolded "keep your paws off my Parker."

I used Schaeffer cartridge fountain pens for years, but a decade or two back, I bought a Lamy Safari cartridge fountain pen, with a refillable cartridge if I ever wanted to use bottled ink. Unfortunately, although it is extremely popular in Europe, it's virtually impossible to find the cartridges in the U.S. anymore; I have to order them from Amazon. Essentially, it's a medium priced but high quality and relatively easy to use pen.
 
On the other hand, I have a couple of nice Papermate Powerpoint pens; unfortunately, they don't make the refills for them anymore, and I cannot find any indication of what current, if any, Papermate refills will fit in them. Anybody know?
 
Bart

I received a very nice Parker Latitude pen for Christmas. I was very surprised to see it was made in France. Expected China or something. I have owned several Cross sets and I also remember a nice pen made by Calibre that I probably still have around somewhere.
Being left handed I have a particular problem with "twist the barrel" retractable pens. Something about the way I grip the pen makes it gradually retract as I write.
I still use pens on a daily basis as I have to fill out paper reports in the field.

pilot g2................ about a buck each, last about a month, refills are cheap as dirt, and they write smooth as butta :)

pen story:
Human Jukebox's pen makes way back to girlfriend

I graduated from high school in 1965 & by that time we were using either ink pens with cartridges or ball point pens.
But, my favorite pen was one my dad found on the railroad in the 1950's.  Daddy maintained the crossing signals so he walked the rails every day & he was always coming home with something.  One day he came home with a perfect ladies Parker pen.  It was pink with silver on the lid.  I LOVED that pen.  It was by far the prettiest pen I ever saw & I used it for years.