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I've been asked to buy a gift for a family friend who is retiring. Obviously I know of Mont Blanc brand but are there any others that people would recommend?
Budget of around £100 to £200.
I think that Classic rather than trendy would be best in this case.
BB
Mont Blanc = oooh, look at me! I'm a w anchor
Buy a Cross or a classic Conway Stewart or Parker.
Waterman
bic now thats a classic pen ! Does the same job and you wont mind if it gets lost
Go vintage.
For wow factor Graf von Faber-Castell, Cross, Porsche or go vintage.
If it's actually to be used to write with regularly I'd personally go top end Pilot or Lamy.
slainte 🙂 rob
I have a very nice Shaeffer I had had for 25 years, Cross used to make some nice pens as did Waterman and, I have always had a soft spot for Pelikans. Mont Blanc are used a lot as presents, I have four non fountain pens, but something different shows a bit more thought - but they make very nice pens.
waterman here too
Saw your budget, which suggests 'fancy pen', which is cool...
But as had been mentioned -lamy safari for 11 quid is the best pen I've written with by far (I've had waterman, cross pens that were upwards of £50!)
DrP
have a very nice parker fountain pen that I use all day every day. like it a lot
Cross
DrP - Member
Saw your budget, which suggests 'fancy pen', which is cool...
But as had been mentioned -lamy safari for 11 quid is the best pen I've written with by far (I've had waterman, cross pens that were upwards of £50!)
DrP
Top end Lamy (like the Dialog) are well in the £100-£200 bracket but use the same basic nib shapes as the Safari and others.
Bit of an obseesive 'affordable' pen geek here - got maybe 30 fountain pens between £5 and £50. Best to write with regularly are my Pilot Prera and my Lamy Studio.
There is a nice Palladium version of the Studio for about 90 quid which is below the budget range here but maybe it could be engraved for that personal touch? The Lamy 2000 is a classic too.
slainte 🙂 rob
Fountain pen?
Pelikan Souveran - classic understated German engineering, pure and simple.
Cross are made in China these days.
Just saying like.
derek_starship - Member
Cross are made in China these days.Just saying like.
Nice one, cheaper.
First, I assume you're buying a fountain pen, rather than a ball point.
Today, I'm using my Cross Century, although I do have my glorious (and way out of your budget) Dunhill Sidecar with me. Next buy will be a Conway Stewart LE.
For that budget, head to any of these places - all fantastic shops with great service.
[url= http://www.cultpens.com/ ]Cult Pens[/url]
[url= http://www.thewritingdesk.co.uk/ ]The Writing Desk[/url]
[url= http://www.andys-pens.co.uk/index.shtml ]Andy's Pens[/url]
If I had £100+ to spend on a writing implement, I'd probably be getting [url= http://www.daskeyboard.com/model-s-professional/ ]this[/url]. I doubt it'd make a good retirement present though.
Oh, I forget, maybe [url= http://www.penisland.net/ ]Penis land[/url] may be what you're after...?
DrP
I'm a bit of a pen fetishist and have owned most of the brands discussed here. Best fountain pen I ever had was a cheap Shaeffer that I lost at school about 40 years ago. Second best is my Mont Blanc. Not sure if saying that has any reflection on my frequency of masturbation, but it just works better than the others I have used - writes smoothly with no floods, doesn't block if I don't use it for a while. Though I like the "modern industrial" look of Lamy, I find that they just don't write as nicely.