Twist Mechanism

I bought this last year at the SF Pen Show. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a year!

I have no idea what I paid for this pen. It’s a ballpoint, so I’m guessing I wasn’t keen on spending too much for it, but I see that it’s listed all over the place for around $200 and that seems like a lot, doesn’t it?

When I got this pen out of its box to take photos, Jeff (the kind, patient, loving man of my dreams – hi, Jeff!) asked, “Hey, isn’t that the pen you gave me?”

Yeah. Right. Me. Give away a pen. Ridiculous! (Actually, I think he might be right – at the time, he was not at all into fountain pens and I wanted him to have something from the show – mostly to assuage my guilt for spending so much!)

This year, Jeff suggested we take cash to the show. “You know, so we don’t overspend.” I looked at him like he had three heads and he didn’t say another word.

Pretty, Pretty

So. The Diplomat Excellence A Guilloch Rhomb Ballpoint Pen (what a mouthful!) is a beauty. But. It’s not without flaws. It feels heavy and poorly balanced in my girly hand. It is also hard and cold – the whole thing is metal – and my hand feels fatigued after writing a bit.

And this: even though everything is well-seated in the pen, it makes a bit of a click-click noise when I’m writing. It’s almost as if the refill is tapping around inside the pen – inside the $200 pen. Unacceptable.

Ballpoints. Love ’em or hate ’em?