Photo: Suzanne and John’s Mom.
Writing desk and pen of Moses Webster, born 1781. The red pen is new, a Beiluner.
Today’s story shows that love for the old ways can rise up unexpectedly in young people, maybe even start a trend.
Tara Bahrampour writes at the Washington Post, “The enormous patina-green fountain pen juts over the sidewalk on F Street, two blocks from the White House, its gold nib pointing down at the front doors like a command.
“ ‘Fahrney’s Pens,’ the sign in calligraphy reads. Inside, the narrow space with 28-foot ceilings is a cathedral to its acolytes, its objects of worship gleaming under glass counters. Ball or fountain. Plastic or rose gold. Steel or acrylic resin, redwood or ebony, matte or shiny.
“ ‘Allow me to dip it,’ store manager Phuntsok Namgyal says softly. He bathes a nib in a bottle of blue-black ink and hands a fountain pen to a customer, who dashes off his signature. …
“In its 94 years, Fahrney’s has outlasted the advent of mass-produced ballpoints, the rise of email and text messages, and a pandemic that decimated newer downtown businesses all around it. Its staying power can be attributed to a base of loyal customers, along with a new generation raised on the digital but enchanted by the mechanical. …
“[Solomon Dennis, 79] leaning on a copper-colored walking stick, recalled the first pen he bought at Fahrney’s, in 1974: a Montblanc Diplomat. ‘It was a hundred and fifty dollars then; I think it’s a thousand and fifty now,’ he said. When he lost it, he cried for a week.
“Pens at Fahrney’s range from $20 to nearly $5,000 and from themes like Harry Potter to King Tut. Some have historical connections, like the Fisher Apollo, a ballpoint pen that traveled to the moon and contains gas that allows it to work underwater, upside down, in freezing temperatures and at zero gravity. A National Zoo pen features pandas.
“Once, Fahrney’s sold a $130,000 pen ‘completely covered in diamonds,’ store owner Chris Sullivan said. …
“Choosing a pen is personal. How do you tend to hold it? Is your lettering large and loopy? Do you close your L’s? Do you prefer the feel of a light pen or a heavy one? Flashy or subtle? Fine tip or broad? ‘It shows their individuality,’ Sullivan said.
“Sullivan’s parents bought the store in 1972 from founder Earl Fahrney. Sullivan, 62, worked in the shop growing up and now co-owns it with his sister; his 83-year-old mother is still working, too, in the warehouse in Upper Marlboro. (‘I can’t get her to stop,’ he said.) …
“The store still does repairs, though it is getting harder to find parts. It also sells stationery, journals, inks and calligraphy books, a small bulwark against the drift of a country that long ago dropped handwriting classes from school curriculums.
“And yet the generation that didn’t learn cursive has somehow fallen for fountain pens — and their interest is helping drive demand. The average age of customers at Fahrney’s is 60, but it is dropping, Sullivan said.
“ ‘There’s a lot of young buyers — “young” being people in their 30s — paying $1,200 for a pen,’ said [David Baker, executive director of the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association.] ‘From what I hear, during covid, a lot of collectibles and fine items became significant as people had time to browse and look at these things.’
“Trends like urban sketching and journaling have helped spur interest in fountain pens in particular, said [Jonathan Weinberg, an artist and curator of the Maurice Sendak Foundation in Ridgefield, Conn.] who owns around 250 of them. ‘With a ballpoint pen, your hand tends to get a little cramped,’ he said. ‘Your hand kind of flies across the page with a fountain pen.’ …
“ ‘It’s like a candy store for me,’ [Connor Rosenberger, a 19-year-old music major] said, standing in the middle of Fahrney’s, as if unsure where to turn. ‘A very expensive candy store.’
“For his choir mates, too. Teddy McIntyre, a 21-year-old redhead with a denim jacket and a mustache, said he writes actual letters to relatives. … ‘It gives me an excuse to use my wax seal,’ he said. And Anna Kate Scott, 22, said she writes novels and short stories by pen ‘because I feel more like I’m in it, rather than separated from it by a screen.’ ”
About a year ago, my pal David gave me a fountain pen out of the blue. What a lovely surprise that was!
More at the Post, here.
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