Well, the tidal wave of new pens from my suitcase challenge, Fountain Pen Day and Black Friday arrived, and with it has some some change and consolidation in my personal pen collection. I made the hard decision to sell or retire several pens that were duplicates or only in my tray for sentimental reasons. For … Continue reading State of the Collection: December 2021
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State of the collection: October 2021
Gosh, it was May when I last did a SotC post, and here we are nearly hitting November. Naturally, there's been a fair bit of change. Two long-standing, much-loved pens from my main tray back in May have gone: London Fog and Sequoyah. I still feel very positively about these pens, but I wasn’t using … Continue reading State of the collection: October 2021
State of the Collection: May 2021
It's been a while since I've done one of these. And since my last post showed off my new Galen pen trays, now seems like a good time to take a scoot through what's actually in them...! How much change has there been since my last post? Well, here's how the tray looked in January: … Continue reading State of the Collection: May 2021
Cutting the collection in half: January 2021
My last SotC post was in early November — and what a lot of change there has been since! A number of review samples have crossed my desk, and more than a few personal purchases too, but it’s overall been a period of tremendous consolidation for me. In short: more out than in The last … Continue reading Cutting the collection in half: January 2021
State of the Collection: November 2020
A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since I published my last State of the Collection back in, would you believe it, mid August. If you're new to UKFP, these posts mainly give you a tour of my pen tray: what I'm using, what ink pairings I've got going, and what's on my … Continue reading State of the Collection: November 2020
What are your collecting ‘guardrails’?
As I have written many times over the years, I am a man with poor impulse control, little willpower, and questionable financial sense. At times (such as right now) I've owned dozens of pens, keeping pens to review in one case, pocket pens in another, my cheaper 'toy' pens in another... But at the constant … Continue reading What are your collecting ‘guardrails’?
State of the collection: August 2020
Since my last SotC on 12th July, here's what's been cooking. There’s a lot, so apologies in advance for the long post... First, and most importantly, thank you for the donations! More than 20 of you donated, and I appreciate every single one of you who did so, whether you gave a fiver or rather … Continue reading State of the collection: August 2020
State of the collection: June 2020
Pens! Fresh off my last post about small but perfectly formed collections, here's the latest on mine. It's grown, just a little bit. What's in since the last SotC: Pilot Capless LS. I listed this for sale soon after it arrived, because while it's by far my favourite Vanishing Point, I didn't fall in love … Continue reading State of the collection: June 2020
State of the collection: November 2019
Happy Fountain Pen Day, dear reader! I hope today your ink flows smoothly, your nibs run straight and true, and your postman is weighed down with parcels! For me, the last month has been heavy on the sales. I still have quite a few pens in my for-sale case, but I said a proper goodbye … Continue reading State of the collection: November 2019
State of the collection: October 2019. Fit to burst
I didn't do a SotC post in September. It felt like things were changing too much in my collection. And they're still changing, but this is long overdue. So much has changed, in fact, that I'm not going to do my usual what's in/what's out: I'm going to start from scratch. My collection has outgrown … Continue reading State of the collection: October 2019. Fit to burst
UK fountain pens 