Fulfill a childhood craving for this specific fountain pen
December 3, 2013 11:11 PM Subscribe
I'm looking for a specific fountain pen that was very common in German schools in the mid-90s. Can you help?
I went to elementary/middle school in Germany in the mid-to-late 90s, and we all used cartridge fountain pens for school. I always had pretty standard cartridge pens like these, but I remember being very envious of my friends who had these gorgeous long tapered fountain pens. Now I'm wondering if those fountain pens are available on eBay or something, to satisfy a childhood craving, but I can't figure out how to search for them.
The fountain pens were definitely longer than regular pens, maybe by two inches...like the old writing-desk fountain pens, except for school kids. They had a completely round body that bulged a little bit around the place where you grip it to write, and it curved (a bit pear-shaped) off and tapered to a flat cylindrical tip that was probably no more than 5mm in diameter. They look a little like these pens, but none of them are quite it. They were incredibly common - at least half my class (most of the girls) had one.
Other specs:
- I'm almost certain it was Stabilo or Pelikan, though it could be Lamy or Schaeffer or someone else
- It used one of the longer ink cartridges (I think the 4001s) rather than having two short cartridges pushed up against each other back to back
- I'm pretty sure the body was either dark blue or black, with no prominent logos or designs on the pen shaft
- There was no window in the pen shaft to indicate the level of ink left in the cartridge
- The nib was a calligraphy-ish nib, maybe 3mm across
- The pen cap definitely had a clip
- They would have retailed for around $30 DMark around 1998 or so
- I was living in Baden-Württemberg, if that matters
Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated!
I went to elementary/middle school in Germany in the mid-to-late 90s, and we all used cartridge fountain pens for school. I always had pretty standard cartridge pens like these, but I remember being very envious of my friends who had these gorgeous long tapered fountain pens. Now I'm wondering if those fountain pens are available on eBay or something, to satisfy a childhood craving, but I can't figure out how to search for them.
The fountain pens were definitely longer than regular pens, maybe by two inches...like the old writing-desk fountain pens, except for school kids. They had a completely round body that bulged a little bit around the place where you grip it to write, and it curved (a bit pear-shaped) off and tapered to a flat cylindrical tip that was probably no more than 5mm in diameter. They look a little like these pens, but none of them are quite it. They were incredibly common - at least half my class (most of the girls) had one.
Other specs:
- I'm almost certain it was Stabilo or Pelikan, though it could be Lamy or Schaeffer or someone else
- It used one of the longer ink cartridges (I think the 4001s) rather than having two short cartridges pushed up against each other back to back
- I'm pretty sure the body was either dark blue or black, with no prominent logos or designs on the pen shaft
- There was no window in the pen shaft to indicate the level of ink left in the cartridge
- The nib was a calligraphy-ish nib, maybe 3mm across
- The pen cap definitely had a clip
- They would have retailed for around $30 DMark around 1998 or so
- I was living in Baden-Württemberg, if that matters
Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated!
Might it possibly be this Parker pen? (last image on page)
posted by Kaleidoscope at 12:44 AM on December 4, 2013
posted by Kaleidoscope at 12:44 AM on December 4, 2013
This is the classic school pen for primary school Germany and this is one step up - in secondary school. I think I know which one you mean though, it looks a bit like the second except that it's longer. It's almost certainly Lamy.
posted by mathiu at 1:29 AM on December 4, 2013
posted by mathiu at 1:29 AM on December 4, 2013
I think this is it. The "LAMY joy Schönschreibfüller". If you search Google there's pictures of older models too.
posted by mathiu at 1:33 AM on December 4, 2013
posted by mathiu at 1:33 AM on December 4, 2013
Was it the Pelikan Script? Sadly discontinued.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 1:40 AM on December 4, 2013
posted by Elementary Penguin at 1:40 AM on December 4, 2013
Longshot: these long-bodied Platignum fountain-pens with calligraphic nibs were quite ubiquitous in British schools for a few decades.
posted by Hogshead at 3:51 AM on December 4, 2013
posted by Hogshead at 3:51 AM on December 4, 2013
Same place, same time, I had the Rotring Artpen mentioned above - not a good fountain pen IMHO. I also had another pen of the same long/pointy format in a teal color. That one had a very wide quill and wrote beautifully...I wish I could remember the brand. I am sure it was not Lamy.
posted by The Toad at 3:57 AM on December 4, 2013
posted by The Toad at 3:57 AM on December 4, 2013
Response by poster: The Pelikan Script is the closest thing so far, I think, especially the Pelikan P50. I might try to find one of those if I can't find anything closer.
I remember the LAMY Joy being pretty common, but those weren't it. The tip if the pen wasn't flattened, and there was no ink window. I also don't think it was the Rotring Artpen, there were no colour highlights on the ends/cap of the pen or around the ring and the body doesn't look quite right. And not the parker, the body is too short / stubby and the nib was free-mounted, not hooded. Thanks for the suggestions though!
posted by Phire at 7:00 AM on December 4, 2013
I remember the LAMY Joy being pretty common, but those weren't it. The tip if the pen wasn't flattened, and there was no ink window. I also don't think it was the Rotring Artpen, there were no colour highlights on the ends/cap of the pen or around the ring and the body doesn't look quite right. And not the parker, the body is too short / stubby and the nib was free-mounted, not hooded. Thanks for the suggestions though!
posted by Phire at 7:00 AM on December 4, 2013
You might ask about this at http://www.munchkinwrangler.com/. Marko is a fountain pen user/collector and grew up in Germany, although his school years were somewhat earlier than yours.
posted by Bruce H. at 9:05 AM on December 4, 2013
posted by Bruce H. at 9:05 AM on December 4, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by C^3 at 12:19 AM on December 4, 2013