A fountain pen is a small mechanical piece. The nib is often the price, the body is what you see. Dried-in ink eats into the system, and a lost original box turns a documented pen into a used pen. In the overview Security for collectors, it sits with the small things that belong in a cabinet once the price warrants it.

How it walks off

A tray on the desk is an invitation, and so is a drawer. Pens are light and look everyday, until someone knows the brand. You do not leave the whole collection visible when tradespeople or guests walk through the room. The pieces with a name and a proof sit in the anchored cabinet.

What time does to it

Ink dries in, hard rubber discolors in the light, celluloid can age and, in a bad case, outgas. You store them cleaned, without ink, in the dark, not in an airtight tin together with the one pen that already smells. You set that one aside and ask someone who knows celluloid, before it contaminates the others.

The papers

Box, guarantee, invoice, a photo of the nib with the engraving. The box stays with the pen, the invoice somewhere else. The list has brand, model, nib size, and the year of purchase.