Great thread.
My first fountain pen was given to me (or I inherited it, who can remember?) by my father, who had it in school, so it's at least 70 years old. Parker 51 I believe, and I was so impressed with Parker because even when it was a mere 40-ish years old, they replaced the reservoir for me at no charge. I don't use it often as it's a broad nib. I've not fixed the dented cap on purpose, as it's part of its charm and history, yada, yada, yada.
One of the few pens that I still have (I went through a phase...) is a Richard Binder tuned Pelican 200 (?) that is just so fabulous to write with... it set the bar pretty high.
My only other remaining fountain pen is a gorgeous Aurora. It's beautiful and writes wonderfully.
So much of the fountain pen enjoyment is dependent on fine paper and ink, which is just another expensive rabbit hole.
Recently I've bought a few of these "bolt action" pens, made in Texas (I'm big on made in America, where possible) by a company called Tactile Turn, which use either a Schmidt or Pilot rollerball refill, although I much prefer the former. They are made out of titanium, beautifully finished, with a great action. Also available in aluminum (limited runs) and copper and brass, and Zirconium, which is on my list but right now is too expensive to justify a purchase.
And someone asked about "Pen Chalet" on page 1 or 2. I've had good luck with them, I think I bought my Aurora from them and it came with the wrong nib, they fixed it and paid for shipping both ways. I'm also afraid that they may have gone out of business now.
Update: So, I just had a WebEx call with my team. For reasons not worth getting into here, I asked everyone to write down a name and show it in front of their camera. A couple of folks did not. I asked why they didn't participate, and one said that he literally did not have a pen anywhere in their apartment. No need for one. The other one had a pen, but no paper. Both of them are around 30 years old.
