The entries on my collection pages reflect, roughly, the order in which I have acquired the first example shown under any given entry; and for this reason I find them interesting to browse by page order. To locate a specific pen by manufacturer and model, click the Index link for the pertinent branch of the collection.

Vintage American Pens	[ Index ]		Other Pens	[ Index ]
My collection focuses primarily, although not exclusively, on vintage American pens. In general, vintage pens are pens that were made many years ago. Exactly how old a pen must be to qualify as “vintage” is a matter of opinion; for arbitrary reasons, I consider pens introduced before about 1960 to be vintage. The arbitrariness of this choice becomes clear if you observe that I consider all versions of the Parker “51” (except the modern 51 SE, which is a completely different pen) to be vintage even though the Mark III version wasn’t introduced until about 1969. It is worth considering that, like wines, a given pen might be considered vintage, not because of its age, but because it is a notable pen, perhaps one of exceptional quality or one whose influence on the pen industry was of more than usual significance. A list of such pens might include the Parker 75, introduced in 1964, and the Sheaffer Connaisseur (aka the Levenger “Seas” series), introduced in 1985. I collect not with the intention of building a massive collection but rather with an eye toward a small number of pens that I find interesting because of certain design features, because they’re classics or type examples, or just because they’re cool.			The United States of America does not hold exclusive rights to manufacture pens that are interesting or of high quality, or both. Although, as a rule, I collect neither pens made in other countries, either vintage or modern, nor modern American pens, I do nevertheless find some of these pens interesting enough that I want to own them. Thus, I do have a few such pens in my collection. As with the term “vintage,” there is no really firm date after which pens suddenly become “modern.” In general, however, it might be said that modern pens are those made after the fountain pen fell out of general use in society, or about 1960. (This, you will note, is the arbitrary date before which I consider pens to be vintage.) To a limited extent, the use of the cartridge/converter filling system is an identifying feature of modern pens; but cartridges came into popular use in the 1950s, so here again there is a certain amount of imprecision. The Imperial series that Sheaffer made in the 1960s accept cartridges only and might by this criterion be classed as vintage; while the Parker 45, introduced in 1960, accepts both cartridges and converters, by which quality it might be termed modern. You will have to decide for yourself what your final criteria are to be.

© 2008 Richard F. Binder

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