Green Thoughts

Let me just mention that if you are reading this, you should stop for a few seconds. Instead, first read the newest Pen Chalet rhymes in our Most Excellent Pen Giveaway thread. Our blog readers are awesome.

And be sure to post a rhyme or other comment of your own, if you are interested in the Platinum Classic Maki-e.  It’s quite a pen, and quite a generous giveaway by Pen Chalet. Actually, I just found out yesterday that the Classic Maki-e is no longer available with a broad nib, which is sad for me, but that means that whoever gets this pen is doubly lucky. So go click on the Giveaway. No worries; this will wait.

Okay, welcome back. Here are two photos of interesting green pens — not mine. This past weekend the Chicago Pen Club had a green theme for the monthly meeting. Those three pens up there are different green Sheaffer Snorkels.

Vintage pens are interesting. The Snorkel on the bottom of that photo, which I think is a nice, cheerful color, is the very common Pastel Green. The one in the middle, which I also like, is the not-terribly-uncommon Sage Green. The one on top I would pass right on by. It’s not my kind of color.

Except that it’s the really uncommon Fern Green. So, whoops.

Doesn’t it often turn out that the pens no one likes are the ones that down the line are worth more? Because fewer people buy them, fewer are made. And tastes change later. Examples abound, including the Parker 51 in Plum. If only my grandfather had bought his Duofold in the reviled Mandarin Yellow instead of the popular Jade. If only my mother’s Parker 51 had been Nassau Green or Yellowstone. Not that I’d sell them anyway. But in my head, I’d be a pen mogul.

So back to Sheaffer. Here are two green lacquered Sheaffer Targas, also not mine. These are much more recent. I really like them both. The one on the top is the Green Moiré. It’s awesome and wild, and someday, one will be mine. The one on the bottom is the Malachite Ronce. It’s gorgeous.

I hope the fashion for Targas comes back at some point. Although, if it’s alright, could that be after I’ve found a $5 Green Moiré?

The Targas are from the late 1980s and early 1990s. Yesterday, to me. But technically, that was the last century. I point that out because of something that happened last week. My younger daughter looked at me witheringly, in disbelief at something I had said. (A frequent occurrence.) More in pity than in anger, she said, “Mom, things are different now. You were born in the 1900s.”