My black Waterman Hemisphere is the most expensive fountain pen I own.
Black Waterman Hemisphere
Our second #FountainPenFriday features my most expensive pen, a black Waterman Hemisphere. As mentioned in first installment of this series, I lose pens. I leave them lying around and forget to pick them up. I’ve been known to walk away from dinner at the bar of a restaurant like Marcella’s in Columbus, Ohio, leaving the pen sitting there. It’s why I regularly carry pens that cost less than twenty dollars.
Keeping a good pen
Refillable cartridges allow the writer a wider selection of ink colors.
I belonged to a chapter of Business Network International (BNI) in the early 2000s. Writing occupied my time, both course development for clients and working on the streetcar book. Since attending BNI meetings became part of my regular routine, looking professional was important. A good pen projects a professional appearance. While the risk of losing a pen always dogged me, attending events around New Orleans made it easier to keep track of them. Hanging on to a fountain pen is actually pretty easy. When asked, “May I borrow your pen?” the answer, “All I have is a fountain pen” facilitated a polite way to decline. So, I splurged and bought a hundred-dollar pen.
Waterman
Refilling with basic blue Waterman ink.
Stores like Office Depot offered a decent selection of fountain pens, Waterman’s selected provided me with choices within $100-$200. Paranoia about losing pens ruled the moment. I chose one on the lower end of the price range.
My black Waterman Hemisphere is skinny. Hemispheres fit nicely in a shirt pocket. Ink cartridges served me well at first. After a while, however, desire to change it up more nudged me into bottled ink. I bought a couple of refillable cartridges at the store. Now I could alternate between blue and red. As you saw last week, I’ve branched out beyond Waterman ink, thanks to my friend (and next week’s #FountainPenFriday guest blogger, Jeff Rochlin, host of The Relief Valve Podcast.
My black Waterman Hemisphere sits on my desk these days. That’s a good place for it, since most of the work is via remote now. And I still don’t take it with me out of the house much. I might lose it!
