It’s the last weekday of the year, which means it’s time for another installment of my end-of-year pen collection stats posts. As always, you can click any of the images below to view them larger.
I’m sorry to anyone who needs or wants an accessible version of the graphics below. This year, I just didn’t have time to create the text-only version. However, I’ve made certain to include all of the information in data tables or lists that can be expanded or in the main text of the post.
Collection Overview
Here’s a quick overview of my current fountain pen collection.
I currently own 214 pens.
- 185 of them are my “active collection”
- 164 are in active use
- 6 are in review to possibly sell
- 12 are retired, but kept for sentimental or collectability reasons
- 1 in “on break” and will probably be retired
- 1 is decommissioned
- 1 is my “vacation” pen, only used for travel
- 29 of them are not in my possession or on their way out
- 4 are with Jim
- 25 are for sale
- 4 additional pens are pending
- 2 not yet arrived
- 1 commissioned, still in progress
- 1 “commission” experiment in the works
NOTE: The infographics below are based on the 185 pens that make up my "active collection".
Company Type
I tend to think of my pens as coming from one of three types of companies: indie — see my Small Indie Pen Makers page for my definition — mainstream — any brand that doesn’t fit into the indie classification — and vintage — for pens made before 1970.
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, it should come as no surprise to you that my indie brand purchases have trended up over the years. 2019 was an odd exception, where my indie purchases dropped drastically. However, this year, for the first time, I purchased more from indie brands than from mainstream ones.
View data table for the company type infographic
| Indie | Mainstream | Vintage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.0% | 100.0% | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 0.0% | 100.0% | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 32.4% | 59.5% | 8.10% |
| 2019 | 8.5% | 85.1% | 6.40% |
| 2020 | 28.9% | 71.1% | 0.00% |
| 2021 | 48.8% | 51.2% | 0.00% |
| 2022 | 41.3% | 58.7% | 0.00% |
| 2023 | 45.0% | 55.0% | 0.00% |
| 2024 | 43.5% | 52.2% | 4.30% |
| 2025 | 48.3% | 44.8% | 6.90% |
Pen Retention
I always find my pen retention interesting. Have I kept pens, or sold them? “In use” is self-explanatory, as is “to sell.” “Not in use” pens are retired or on break. “Gone” pens were sold, gifted, traded, donated, etc. — basically, removed from my collection in some way.
It makes perfect sense that I’d still have, and use, more pens from recent years than from years further back. But, when you consider the sharp drop in pens sold/to sell from 2019 to 2020, I feel confident saying that at least part of it is my goal to buy pens I’ll be happy to own long-term, rather than pens I’m happy to buy for a dopamine hit.
View the data table for the pen retention infographic
| In Use | Not In Use | Gone | To Sell | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2017 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 0 |
| 2018 | 11 | 2 | 24 | 0 |
| 2019 | 13 | 3 | 30 | 1 |
| 2020 | 17 | 3 | 16 | 2 |
| 2021 | 21 | 2 | 13 | 5 |
| 2022 | 26 | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| 2023 | 27 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| 2024 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 2025 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Pen Origin
Where are the companies I purchased from based? This year, I broke this down by company type. I considered doing this one as percentages, but I think the actual numbers tell a better story here.
I’m surprised that I have so many Asian pens; I didn’t think the gap was that wide. I keep hoping I’ll find a South American brand. There are several Australian brands now, and I’d like to order from one or more of them. That’s going to hurt when it comes to shipping, though.
View the data tables for the pen origin infographic
North America: 50 pens
| Country | Indie | Mainstream | Vintage |
|---|---|---|---|
| USA | 39 | 7 | 3 |
| Canada | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Europe: 53 pens
| Country | Indie | Mainstream | Vintage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armenia | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Germany | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Italy | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| Russia | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| England | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Poland | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Wales | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| France | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Africa: 17 pens
| Country | Indie | Mainstream | Vintage |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 17 | 0 | 0 |
Asia: 65 pens
| Country | Indie | Mainstream | Vintage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | 0 | 37 | 1 |
| Taiwan | 0 | 27 | 0 |
Top Brands
A couple of years ago, I took a look at the brands from which I owned the most pens. I wanted to revisit those metrics and see how much they’ve changed.
I’m rather consistent in my brand preferences. While the actual numbers have changed, the brands are the same as they were in 2023. Stanford Pen Studio is now my top brand at 17 pens owned. Iron Feather Creative — 6 pens owned — 18111, and ARTUS — 4 pens owned from each — round out my top indie brands. Platinum and TWSBI are tied at 16 pens each, closely followed by Benu at 15.
Pen Age
I readily acknowledge that I’m not particularly into older pens, that said, it’s still interesting to “date” my collection.
I have one pen that could have been made anywhere between the late 1990s and the mid 2010s, but the rest are easy to date. Given that I didn’t buy my first fountain pen until 2016, it makes sense that most of my pens are from the 2010s and 2020s. For modern pens that are in continuous production, I assumed that the pen had been made within a 365-day span before purchase. So, it’s possible that some of the 2020s pens were actually manufactured in the 2010s.
View the text version of the pen age infographic
- Antique (pens made before 1930): 1
- Vintage (pens made between 1930 and 1969): 4
- Classic (pens made between 1970 and 1999): 2
- Contemporary (pens made in the 2000s): 177
- 2000s: 3
- 2010s: 48
- 2020s: 126
- Unknown: 1
What did you think of the stats I included this year? Is there anything you wish I’d included? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for reading to the end, I hope you enjoyed my post. Make sure to subscribe to my blog or follow me on Instagram so you don’t miss any posts. I generally post at least once a week.
