Best laid plans: the predicted pens of 2016

On New Years Eve 2015 I made the following prediction of my pens for 2016. It was based upon an already well-established and extensively-researched wishlist, with the idea that it should keep me on the spending straight & narrow and enable planned purchases & saving strategies. The Pilot VP Minamo was already lined up with a good price at a certain retailer of reputed notoriety, and the Franklin-Christoph waitlisted since September last year, so I really felt quite certain of what I did and did not (rash purchases doomed for resale) want in my collection.

So, listed in anticipated order (and decreasing likelihood!) of acquisition, these pens were:

1. Pilot Vanishing Point Raden Minamo.
2. Franklin-Christoph Marietta 20 in Antique Glass.
3. Pilot Custom 823s in Smoke & Clear, with FA & F nibs.
4. Visconti Homo Sapiens Maxi in Bronze.
5. Visconti Homo Sapiens Florentine Hills. 

By mere days later, this list was already hopelessly off-point. 

I have been buying & selling online in fashion goods for over a decade now, and every time holiday season rolls around I always mean to make good use of the buyer's market that always arises when sellers are desperate for cash, but everyone is spending theirs on alms for the visiting in-laws and enough alcohol to endure said visits. Buyers are watching their accounts, not auctions, and whilst the world carefully limps through from Christmas Day to payday thousands of auctions close at ridiculous lows.

Historically I too have been claimed by this exact fate, wistfully watching the epic deals pass me by whilst eating leftover twiglets and vowing that Next Year Will Be Different. This year, however.. it actually was! This year I was ready, crouched and poised to strike snipe, such that when I espied a rare and beautiful NOS Visconti Titanium Skeleton lingering forlornly on a post-Christmas classified I snagged it for a song, and thusly entered 2016 with my very first Visconti. Well okay, there was a wee fire sale of my beloved 823 FA to assist my pre-prepared fiscal preparedness, but dangit I'm still claiming that as a seasonal shopping win!

Artist's impression; mine hath not yet arrived.

So that was a lovely surprise, thought I, but the rest of my predictions will hold firm.. but then.. then a beautiful birdie swooped in and carried me away.

I've been curious about Pelikans for a long time and they obviously have a great reputation, but the plain black or striated red / green / blue colourways did little for me (even the x05 silver versions), and so I'd really not at all been tempted. My collection purchases & lustings to date have been based upon the key themes of stealthy black, demonstrator, and raw metals of aluminium, brass, titanium, annealed steel; bling is not my thing, and despite my adoration for the Pilot 823 my unease with the gold trim was what sent me seeking an alternative that lead to the Great Conid Rush of 2015.

Just a few days post V-Day (Visconti Victory Day) however I discovered the newly-released Pelikan M805 Stresemann - silvertone hardware and stealth styling, with anthracite iridescence streaking down the sides and morphing from sombre greyscale to shimmering silver with changing light. Between these ribbons one might peek a glimpse of the ink colour and volume - a stealthy, sleek, titanium-toned demonstrator-ish birdie, just perfect for me!

Now normally the next step in pen lusting is to realise the cost and shy away in terror, but a rather rare occurrence, well, occurred: the pen was far, far cheaper to purchase within Australia than to import from the US or Europe! This to me is staggering, as I have never experienced this in buying luxury imported goods, not even when our dollar was on parity with the Greenback. Not just cheaper by conversion, but even in that the whole number of Australian dollars required was far lower than that asked of US buyers. Unbelievable. Obviously, I bought it (cue another fire sale of a beautiful leather briefcase I've had laying around), and with a lot of help from a wonderful friend within trudging distance of the store in question I even managed to secure one with an EF nib! 

Whoops.

So there we go. Hello 2016, and goodbye any naive aspirations of ever predicting my fountain pen future again. I shall thusly convert my Predicted Purchase List to a General Wishlist, continue watching the market and sale threads like usual, and simply snag what may come my way. Just like usual.