Fountain pens

anno thanks it is

ga thank you I will check out Lamey.

When I was 15, I had a beautiful Conway Stewart fountain pen bought me, but only used it at home, didn`t want to lose it at school, so used the old one there. Then one day a friend? asked me if I could lend her a pen, I lent her the lovely new one, and never saw it again. AND I got it in the neck from my auntie for losing it!

I was given a Parker 51 when I started at the High School and loved it. I too used turquoise ink, brown ink but we had to use Quink Royal Blue washable. When I was at university though I used black!! (rebel)
A few years ago I went to that lovely vintage pen shop in Kendal (is it still there? ) and decided to treat myself to another Parker 51 to replace the one I had been given 50 years before as I prefer the slughtly chunky barrel. The only one he had was in maroon - just as mine had been and I was super-chuffed with it!
When I came home - guess what I found lurking in the back of a desk drawer?? Yes, my original pen!
The man in the shop wouldn't recommend Quink however as he said it is not good for fountain pens and I had to buy something else (the name of which I have now totally forgotten)
All of which reminds me of dip pens and nibs. My Granny had a paper and stationery shop in the Borders and I can remember little tins of nibs with the inscription on the lid:
"They come as a boon and a blessing to men, the Pickwick, the Owl and the Waverley pen"

The Pen Shop is 14 Stramongate, Kendal and the man's name is Alan Lloyd. I think he trades as A.B.C.Lloyd and you will easily find him on Google!!

I used a Parker Duofold until I lost it a few years back. I went to John Lewis in order to source another and procrastinated as to whether to buy another or a rollerball, too much choice on offer. Some months later I decided on another Duofold and returned to John Lewis only to be told they sold all their Duofolds off at around £60 each so had to do without. I have since bought another Parker fountain pen however and a Cross Thompson Gold/Chrome rollerball which I tend to use more and more as the new Parker is just not the same as my old, well used Duofold.
I do remember my father presenting me with a Watermans fountain pen when I first went to 'big boys' School. Sadly I had lost that within the first few months.

I desperately wanted a Conway Stewart fountain pen when I was at school, but they were way out of our league. I made do with a succession of cheap ones from the newsagent (deprived child emoticon) The other must have was a 9 carat gold nib, which I also never managed.
If I'm in a department store nowadays I always have a quick look at the Mont Blancs.

Conway Stewart and Watermans were the pens to have when I was a teenager. I wonder what happened to the ones I managed not to lose.

As a left hander, when I first used a fountain pen, my hand would smudge whatever I had written. I had to develop a whole new way of writing.

Thank you so much everyone for your suggestions. I'd never heard of a Lamy before but looking on the web they seem quite popular. I'll certainly be investigating further. So pleased my request also gave ideas for a present! I do fancy purple ink - perhaps in my 'prime' I've become (more?) pretentious .

I too remember ink wells and blotting paper at school - and being 'ink monitor'. I've still got a couple of my exercise books complete with splodges.

I was thrilled with a purple ball point I bought in France a few years ago. I spent some happy months writing in purple until it ran out. I've never managed to find one here. (Pretentious? Moi?)

annodomini Hoover used to employ someone – and probably still does – to check all published references to Hoover to ensure that its trademark has a capital H and does not degenerate into a generic term.

do they still exist absent? Hoover damaged themselves irreparably when they did that holiday offer in which they got it wildly wrong and getting expensive holidays that exceeded the value of the product they bought. Possibly the single biggest marketing cock up of all time. And then Dyson came on the scene...

True JessM but trademarking is expensive and no one wants others passing off their products as their own. And nobody says "I've got to Dyson the stairs" do they?

Well yes. Even today there are many people who would prefer fountain pens over any other pens just because of its clarity

Having read all this thread...... I now badly want a fountain pen! Haven't used one since school though, so maybe not a good idea after all.