The Boo Pens
When I said I was going to collect black and orange fountain pens, one of my followers said, “Oh, Hallowe’en colors. You could call it The Boo Collection.” Sure, I could. But in my world, Hallowe’en isn’t really a thing. Don’t get me wrong, I like pumpkins (my mother’s favorite were the white ones) and hay bales, corn mazes and autumn leaves, and I might even have a pumpkin spice latte now and then. Fall is my favorite season. November is delightful.
But this collection is really about my enjoyment of contrast and bright colors. I’ve always liked black and white together, and when young I discovered the beauty of black and gold together (yes, long before Smokey and the Bandit). Being from New England and living so many years in Maine, I found I missed the colorful Autumn season once I moved away. So when I started seeing glossy black lacquer paired with bright orange resin in fountain pens (cue the Piguet Geneve Suisse L’Orange), I knew that would be the collection to pique my interest every day.
There are some truly collectible pens I’d like to add to this collection some day, like the Delta Dolce Vita and the Piguet above, but for now I’ve populated the collection box with pretty things that are fun to look at. Most combine black and orange both, to some degree. Several have no black, which is balanced by a few that are all black (with gold trim). I’ve found I don’t prefer the wild over the classic. The BENU pens are lovely, but the Sheaffer No Nonsense is such a classic workhorse that I find I really want to write with it.
The Boo Listing
- Conklin Herringbone Signature Orange ~ Conklin Steel Nib “M”
- Conklin Duragraph “Orange Nights” ~ Conklin Steel Nib “B”
- Conklin Stylograph “Mosaic” Black & Orange ~ Conklin Steel Nib “OmniFlex”
- Conklin Endura Deco Crest Gunmetal Filigree ~ Conklin Steel Nib “Stub 1.1”
- Jinhao 5000 Dragon Filigree Orange ~ Jinhao Steel Fude Nib
- Jinhao 100 Dark Orange ~ Jinhao 18k GP Steel Nib “M”
- Jinhao 250 Black & Orange ~ Jinhao 18k GP Steel Fude Nib
- Jinhao 100 Orange “Celluloid” ~ Jinhao 18k GP Steel Nib “F”
- Monteverde People of the World “Dogon” ~ Monteverde Steel Nib “Stub 1.1”
- Kaigelu (Kangaroo) 316 Mini ~ Kaigelu Steel Nib “F”
- BENU Euphoria Hallowed Harvest (LE 379/500) ~ Schmidt Steel #6 Nib “B”
- BENU Talisman Foxglove ~ Schmidt Steel Nib “M”
- Pilot Capless Deep Yellow ~
- Pilot Metropolitan Retro Pop Orange ~
- Monteverde Tool Pen Safety Orange ~
- Lamy Safari Bright Orange ~
- Kaweco Sport Fox ~
- Noodler’s Ink Standard Flex Arizona ~
- Sheaffer CT 2-in-1 No Nonsense Orange ~
- Asvine P20 Amber Resin ~
- Waldmann Sterling Honeycomb Orange ~
- Montblanc Meisterstück 149 ~
- Wordsworth & Bläck Crest Rosewood ~ [not pictured]
- Montblanc Meisterstück 144 Classique
- Platinum Century 3776 Black w/Gold
- Platinum Prefoute Vermilion Orange
- Click Yen Orange Cracked Ice ~ [not pictured]
- Jinhao X159 Orange ~ [not pictured]
- Yiren Caligraphy ~ [not pictured]
- Monteverde Regatta ~ [not pictured]
- Caran D’Ache 849 Fluorescent Orange ~ [not pictured]
- Conklin All American Sunburst Orange ~ [not pictured]
- Majohn P139 ~ #6 Steel “Moon Man” Nib “” [not pictured]
The Bottled Ink Listing
All of these pens are inked in variations of Black & Orange! Including:
- Waterman Encre Noire
- Noodler’s Southwest Sunset
- Lamy Orange
- Private Reserve Sepia
- Platinum Classic Sepia Black
- Diamine Ancient Copper
- Birmingham Firebox
- Pilot iroshizuke yu-yake
- Jacques Herbin Orange Indien
- Parker Quink Black
- Dryden Unforgiving Black
- Thornton Black