I don’t normally buy blingy pens, but when I do, it’s the Sailor Pro Gear Regency Stripe.
I first saw this pen at the 2013 Atlanta Pen Show. Mike Masuyama, who rarely sells pens, had this one sitting on his table. I picked it up, becasue, well, it’s gorgeous, and loved the feel of it. It was my first pen show, and there weren’t many Sailor’s available to purchase, so I asked Mike the price.
“$400.”
I put the pen right back down. Not today, but not forgotten.
I didn’t even know what the name of this particular Sailor pen was, but the design was distinctive and stuck with me. It was shiny, yes, but in a sublte way. And it had a nice heft to it, unlike the Pro Gear Slim (aka Sapporo), which was the extent of my Sailor experience up to that point.
Fast forward to May of this year. I was scrolling through the Fountain Pen Network Classifieds (bad idea for your wallet!) and ran across a Sailor pen I had seen before. And it had a name: The Sailor Pro Gear Regency Stripe. It looked to be in great shape, the price was fair ($350), and I had it on the way nearly as quickly as I found it. I wasn’t passing it up for the second time.
The standout feature of the Regency Stripe is the rhodium stripe and barley corn pattern that adorns the barrel. It is as stunning to look at as it is to hold. There is some weight to it as I mentioned earlier, but it’s not too much. It gives it that “just right” feel when writing with it.
Mine came with a broad nib, which wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I never have an issue getting the pen I want and worrying about the nib later. The broad was ok as-is, but I shipped it off to my friend Dan Smith at The Nibsmith to give it a little cursive italic love to fit my writing style better. Dan delivered a sharp, juicy nib that is a pleasure to write with.
Would I have purchased this pen without the opportunity to have held it in Atlanta several years ago? I think the odds are very low that I would have. That’s a lot of money to shell out sight unseen. This is why pen shows are great. You learn more than you buy, and that is valuable when it comes to making purchasing decisions in the future. This was a decision I was very happy with, and I’m not the only one.
