Ink is still king at Fountain Pen Hospital

Derrick Yarborough can't forget the one that got away - the one he left alone on a Friday night, to be swept up by someone else by the time Yarborough realized he'd made a mistake.

Now, Yarborough gazes forlornly at potential replacements, each stylish and lovely but none matching the one he lost earlier this month. After all, they'd been together for years: Yarborough and his Waterman pen.

"It's tough. I'd had it a long time," he said as he lingered in front of a display case last week at the Fountain Pen Hospital, a Manhattan institution that is accustomed to visitors like Yarborough. They stream in from the street, pen nerds in search of nibs, rollerballs, and ballpoints and willing to spend sometimes thousands of dollars to repair or buy the cigar-size item that promises the perfect scrawl.

At a time when traditionalists lament the loss of elegant penmanship amid clacking of keyboards, the Fountain Pen Hospital is proof that ink remains king for many - and not just those old enough to remember when there was no alternative.

Yarborough, for instance, is only 38, but he's willing to spend $99 for an everyday pen. "I like the way they write, the way they feel," he said as shopkeepers scrambled to keep pace with the holiday rush. Phones jangled nonstop as Steve Wiederlight, who with his brother Terry runs the business, prepared boxes for shipment around the world.

"I'm getting more orders every year," Steve Wiederlight said, explaining the appeal of specialty pens. "It's like a status symbol. It's like a piece of jewelry for a man."

The business' simple sign and unadorned entrance on a bustling block near City Hall offer little hint of the buzz and bling inside. Shoppers and looky-loos browse among glass cases lining the vast showroom, where pens lie like gems beneath lights designed to highlight their golden nibs, pearly finishes, and hand-painted designs.

Sure, there are plastic Bics for $1.98 near the front door, but the real draws are the exotic makes like Namiki, Visconti, Montegrappa, Michael's Fat Boy, and Pelikan, which sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars.

The Wiederlights' grandfather and father opened the Fountain Pen Hospital in 1946, when the hospital part of the business was far busier than it is today. Now, the showroom and online sales provide the bulk of business, and most repairs are done at home by the staff.

But the "hospital," a collection of tiny subterranean rooms invisible from the shiny showroom, retains its vintage flavor, from the ink-stained work tables to the tiny drawers holding thousands of nibs, springs, cartridges, and other parts for vintage pens dating back to the 1920s.

Upstairs in the showroom, Dick Krane, a distributor with Kenro Industries, was sorting through neat rows of pens in every color of the rainbow that he had brought in to add to the store's inventory.

"Writing is a form of expression. Sitting at a computer is not a form of expression," Krane said. The right nib can give a signature the impressive flourish needed to round out an important document; a good rollerball sends the script gliding like silk across the page; the Space Pen by Fisher works upside down and in freezing temperatures.

"If you give someone a pen, it's a lasting gift. Each time they use it, they'll think of you," Krane said.

If there were any doubts about the passion some people have for pens, consider Pen World magazine, whose editor in chief, Laura Chandler, has a Google alert for "fountain pen" and whose glossy pages covered in high-resolution, colorful pictures are the equivalent of pen porn. Just as foodies have created gourmet goods from everyday items - think artisan cheese - pen lovers are doing the same thing with writing instruments, said Chandler.

"This whole cottage industry has sprung up around pen-making," Chandler said, mentioning some pen-manufacturers-cum-artists that Bic users probably won't know: the father-son team of Mark and Brian Gisi; Dan Symonds; Brian Gray.

"Some are really offering some competition to major brands. They can't match them for quantity, but they make very nice handmade pens," said Chandler, who notes that the Internet has helped the pen business. Those who once struggled to find parts for unique pens now find them online.

Over the years, celebrity pen-lovers such as Bill Cosby and O.J. Simpson prosecutor Christopher Darden have graced Pen World's cover. The October issue featured Sylvester Stallone, grinning and balancing a thick, ornately crafted fountain pen between thumb and index finger.

A skull, serpents, and sword wrap around the colorful exterior of the limited-edition pen, which Stallone - a pen collector - designed for the Italian manufacturer Montegrappa. The artwork is white-gold, as is the nib, giving this hefty pen - named Chaos - a $6,000 price tag. It's a bit less if you opt for the rollerball version.

That's nothing compared to the $30,000 solid gold Omas pen that Terry Wiederlight, the Fountain Pen Hospital's co-owner, was waiting to be delivered.

"People just have this fetish," Wiederlight said, but he admits the industry has taken a hit as young people lose interest in pens. Years ago, pens selling for $1,000 or $2,000 "used to go out the door the way $50 pens do now," said Wiederlight, who has turned to - what else? - the Internet to rev up sales. "We're just constantly trying different things."