Fountain pen use in Mexico

[Rudy Vey]

Last week I was on business in Mexico. In three different meetings, in different companies and cities, there was always one person who used a fountain pen for taking notes!! All these pens were the Lamy Safari.
I had never seen so far anyone here in the States, Canada or Mexico (except myself) using a fountain pen. Ethnic background break-down: one Mexican, one Canadian and one Mexican-German and all liked their Safari's!! Interesting - there is maybe a change to FP's at last.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

You see that a lot over on the Fountain Pen Network. There is a lot of use outside of the USA.

However, that is good... More people to convert! [}]

 

[mrcook4570]

Outside of pen shows, I have only once seen someone carry and use a fountain pen. This person was a student in one of my classes - a foreign exchange student from Germany.

I wish more people used them. I absolutely love them.

 

[Stevej72]

I've only seen one person use a fountain pen, it was on a sales call with my boss so I couldn't talk pens very much. It turned out that guy was a pen collector and the FP he was using was about $500. I plan to see if I can buy him lunch someday in exchange for looking at my pens.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

I do have one body shop that I deal with who has an "office manager" who uses them from time to time, but as others, I don't think I have seen someone else. I have recieved many e-mails about my photos as I use my pen as a pointer on close ups.

 

[holmqer]

I worked in Derby England for 6 months back in 2004, and in every meeting there was someone who used an FP. The most common were Watermans. I would estimate that around 20% of the engineers at Rolls Royce used an FP as their everyday pen.

 

[alamocdc]

We are currently hosting a foreign exchange student from Chile and she told me that her father collects and uses fountain pens. This past weekend she had a foreign exchange student from Austria sleep over. Some of recently completed FPs were on my computer desk and she got all excited. The first pen she wrote with was a FP and she loves them. Apparently FP use is much more common outside the US.

 

[avbill]

I just finished my first fountain pen a Sedona titanium black with tulip wood my wife and I were in a retail store and I got out the FP to sign the CC. The employee looked at the pen as if she never saw a FP. Her comment was "wow that's beautiful! "

we have to use them first before we can sale them. Second we nee to have them in stock!

Bill Daniels

 

[potter]

i don't sell FPs for a long time, but i noticed, that customers by more FP than Rollerballs.
Harry

 

[Firefyter-emt]

I get most of my sales of FP's by me using one daily.. My problem is that I just got into vintage pens. Heck, I am up to four of them now, but they are sooo nice to write with. I don't know if the gold nibs we have access to write anything like my old pens, but my Montblanc is so soft and light to touch it floats over the paper.

 

[edman2]

Funny this should come up. A few weeks ago I was talking to an age 40's customer and asking if he wanted a roller ball or a fountain pen and his response was "what do you mean - a fountain pen?" Younger folks sure have been deprived!!

 

[Jim in Oakville]

Funny....

I work for an aerospace engineering company west of Toronto. We have about 400 engineers on staff, 5 I know who use FP's on a daily basis, 3 of which are customers of mine, still working on the other two....and I use one now, but I don't count...

Two El Toro's, one Emp.....

 

[alamocdc]

Originally posted by Firefyter-emt

I get most of my sales of FP's by me using one daily.. My problem is that I just got into vintage pens. Heck, I am up to four of them now, but they are sooo nice to write with. I don't know if the gold nibs we have access to write anything like my old pens, but my Montblanc is so soft and light to touch it floats over the paper.

Lee, this is exactly why I now carry two... one I made and one of my vintage FPs. I still have a half dozen or so (vintage) I haven't inked yet so I'm still looking for my favorite. And this doesn't take into consideration the 10 new contemporary or NOS pens I've acquired. [:0]

 

[Firefyter-emt]

I know, I know.... I might have to carry a special pen in a leather case in my briefcase. A little birdie might just be sending a blank my way soon.

Oh, and by the way... I am up to four vintage ones now, the Montblanc, two Sheaffer Jr.s and I just got nice fern green Esterbrook in the mail today.

 

[Rudy Vey]

As a child in Germany, we were not allowed using anything else than a fountain pen from 2nd or 3rd grade on!! Pencil was an absolute no,no - only for drawings. Later then it loosened up a bit and ball points were allowed. There were, at least to my time, two main makers of pupils pens: Geha and Pelikan. The latter one is the famous pen company. I believe Geha is only a local German company, at least I never saw it outside Germany. I remember these FP's costing some 4-5 Deutsche Mark in the early-mid sixties, was then maybe a buck and a half. Later, when I had my own money I bought a Parker, forgot the model, but I still have it, and a matching ball point and 0.5 mm pencil.
In second grade we had to do "penmanship" exercises in the old German hand writing, Suetterlin. We used special nibs in nib holders. This exercise did most of us not help to create a nice handwriting, more like the opposite, at least in my case and some of my friends. What a waste of talents....
I have some links to the German Handwriting right here:

http://www.suetterlinschrift.de/Englisch/Sutterlin.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sütterlin