Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 280

Happy Fountain Pen Day!

As mentioned in my little Hallowe'en blog post, I'm a huge fan of orange fountain pens...and here's the latest one I added to my collection:

(~please click on photos to enlarge~)

I got this Elliot Landes / Penmakers resin fountain pen on eBay after I stumbled across it completely by accident (while searching for orange fountain pens :D) I'd never heard of the manufacturer before, but I instantly fell in love with its orange and black swirly resin material. The pen had a very low opening bid and reasonable shipping rates from the U.S, so I placed a single low bid on it (the lone bid, it turned out) and won it.

The colour pattern of the material reminds of my beloved Monteverde 'Prima' fountain pen and ballpoint (although the latter have some white streaks in their resin). Being a medium-sized resin fountain pen, it's not heavy--the weight of the pen (without any cartridge/converter in it) is approximately 19 grams, only a couple of grams more than a Lamy 'Safari' fountain pen.

I found some photos of the rollerball version of my fountain pen (in the same material), but it had a different clip. Despite my extensive online searches, I haven't been able to find any other resin fountain pens or rollerballs made by this manufacturer (the company specialized in wooden writing instruments), so I'm wondering if my fountain pen and its rollerball cousin were prototypes ??

Initially, I couldn't find much information about their maker, either (aside from their old website and some info indicating the company was formed in 1975 and went out of business around 2011) as my pen didn't come with any packaging. I eventually found some online images of the pamphlet that came with their wooden pens, though, and it said: "Elliot Landes has been making writing instruments for 20 years. The Penmakers studio is located in Winters, California, a small town on the west edge of the Sacramento Valley. The business includes several craftspeople that share the design and craft work."

You can't see it from this angle, but the back of the section's trim ring has some wear/corrosion to it, something that's not uncommon in fountain pens with plated metal section trim rings (see these two threads on FPN and Reddit). The damage isn't visible while using the pen, of course, but I thought I'd mention it as some pen people I know steer clear of fountain pens with those type of trim rings.

Approximate measurements: the capped length of the pen is 14 cm / 5.5 inches, uncapped it's 12.5 cm / 5.95 inches and posted, it's 14.5 cm / 5.75 inches long. The cap is friction-fit and snaps on with an audible click. It posts well and deeply, so it's well-balanced when posted, and there's no fear of the cap coming off during normal use. The squiggly clip (best seen in the first photo*) is made of metal and painted black, like the cap ring.

(*Tip: to see even better close-ups of the photos, left-click on a photo to enlarge it, then right-click & select "Open image in new tab" (or "View image"), then left-click on the image in the newly-opened tab)

I fully expected the pen to come with an IPG (Iridium Plated Gold) nib, but the nib it came with was made by Reform, a German company! The Reform nib is a two-tone gold-plated steel nib and it writes well, with some feedback (which I like). Its nib width isn't marked, but it writes like a Medium-Fine.

All in all, a fortuitous eBay find of an unusual pen by a small pen manufacturer, and one I'm very happy with!

(~ photos & review by Maja~ )