Where is my fountain pen of yesteryear?

December 5, 2024 9:49 AM

Years ago I lost my favourite fountain pen. I think I know what make it was but I can't see that exact pen. Can you help me identify it and maybe even replace it?

A long time ago in a wonderful old sprawling library not very far away, I must have put down my favourite fountain pen while fetching for myself in the stacks. It was never seen again. I yearn for it! But I can't remember the exact make and model.

I think it was a Diplomat. They have a pen very like it - the Nexus but I bought and lost my pen in the 1990s.

It was black and gold. With its posting cap on, it was a perfect cylinder and flat at the top and bottom. It was lovely cold sleek matte black metal, very like that Nexus but without the window.

I could be wrong about it being a Diplomat but that pen is very like it. It wouldn't have been vastly expensive as I couldn't have afforded then what a Nexus costs now. £100 would have been a lot of money to me, and it was probably £100-£150 though I might have got it heavily discounted in a sale.

Can you work out what it was and where I can get one again? Thanks!

posted by Flitcraft to Writing & Language (8 answers total)

Best answer: Fountain Pen Network is the place to ask this question. For example, here's a thread about vintage 90's Diplomats. Ebay is where you will probably buy one, but also try Fountain Pen Hospital though they skew expensive and fancy, not quotidien.

If this were about Sheaffer or Waterman or anything American and pre-60's I'd be your guy but I don't know from Diplomats particularly, sorry. What I'm seeing on a quick google of the brand makes it seem lovely and I hope you find one!)
posted by blnkfrnk at 10:22 AM on December 5, 2024 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Oh my gosh - I think it's the very first one on the Fountain Pen Network thread you posted - the Triomphe! Thanks so much! I think my memory was making it a more regular cylinder than it is.

Now I just need to find one and a broad nib for it - if anyone knows where to find something like that... I've tried the Pen Hospital link
posted by Flitcraft at 10:46 AM on December 5, 2024 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Forgot to say - I'll try eBay too
posted by Flitcraft at 10:47 AM on December 5, 2024

Response by poster: Though mine had a black metal body but that's very like it.
posted by Flitcraft at 10:59 AM on December 5, 2024

Two more places to check: Mercari, and reddit.com/r/pen_swap
posted by kschang at 6:51 PM on December 5, 2024

Just a heads-up about Mercari. I got scammed by a seller, and the people who run Mercari wouldn't help. Apparently, this is a common occurrence. I did get my money back by doing a charge-back on my credit card, but I believe I'm now banned on Mercari (not that I would use them again).
posted by akk2014 at 8:02 PM on December 5, 2024

Hmmm... I tried to buy a pen on Mercari, the seller never shipped the pen even though status did change to shipped. I waited the proper amount of time, launched a complaint on Mercari, they confirmed the shipping status never changed from "tracking number created" after a whole week, gave me a refund, + $5 for my trouble. So I did get helped. All I can say is... YMMV.
posted by kschang at 10:19 PM on December 5, 2024 [2 favorites]

Here’s one but silver trim and medium nib.
Potentially one on Etsy?
posted by music for skeletons at 2:42 PM on December 6, 2024 [1 favorite]