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 haybales, corn mazes and autumn leaves, and I might even have a pumpkin spice latte now and then. Fall is my favorite season.
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. The Pilot capless is one I’ve had a couple of years. The one pen that has no orange, the Platinum Century with 14k Music nib (the pen purposefully askew to prove I’m totally over my perfectionism) is one I had in a box of stuff for a while. These two are of some value. Beyond that, only the Benu Talisman Foxglove and the Waldmann Honeycomb set are what you’d call collectible.
The Boo Listing
- Conklin Herringbone Signature Orange
- Conklin Duragraph “Orange Nights”
- Conklin Stylograph “Mosaic” Black & Orange
- Conklin Endura Deco Crest Gunmetal Filigree
- Jinhao 5000 Dragon Filigree Orange
- Jinhao 100 Orange
- Jinhao 250 Black & Orange
- Gullor by Jinhao Orange Celluloid
- Platinum Prefoute Vermilion Orange
- Platinum Century 3776 Black w/Gold
- Monteverde People of the World “Dogon”
- Benu Talisman Foxglove
- 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 (not pictured)
- Wordworth & Bläck Crest Rosewood (not pictured)
- Waldmann Sterling Honeycomb Orange
There are two bonus items there — the Waldmann Sterling Honeycomb ball point and the orange Rhodia book I use to sample inks. My current favorite inks are the Noodler’s Ink Southwest Sunset and the Platinum Sepia Black. And yes, all of these pens are inked in variations of Black & Orange!