I'm an avid collector of fountain pens. Collectors usually have a "Grail Pen," a pen that is highly desirable yet ultimately unobtainable because of cost, scarcity, or other factors. In general terms, a "Grail" is the highest thing one could aspire to obtain or accomplish in any hobby or goal. This item, ability, or status might seem ridiculous to other people, but for enthusiasts, it's incredibly valuable.
So, Hubski, virtually everyone here has an obscure hobby/goal. What's your grail? How do you know that you've become the best you can possibly be?
If you don't feel like answering this post, you still might enjoy this article!
- For almost anyone else in the world, this pen is absolutely not worth the money: if you are looking for the supreme pen, you will probably be happier spending your money on something else. But for me, the Hemingway is no longer a grail pen in the sense of being unobtainable; instead it is a grail in that it is the ultimate pen, the final one.
(Also, check out Namiki Pens to see some seriously beautiful craftsmanship. I hope to own one some day, if I'm ever rich enough!)
100 years ago before the internet was a thing, I used to scour record stores for one thing... The Ferris Bueller's Day Off Soundtrack. Specifically the instrumental version of Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want. Don't ask me why. I can't tell you. All I know is - when I first saw the film... the museum montage moved me profoundly and I don't know why. The song has been a bit of a personal hymn ever since... and I wanted it. I didn't know it was The Dream Academy. A few years later I bought a Smiths tape and was pleased to find the song on there. But it wasn't the version that meant something to me. I wanted that song from the film. I'm not saying I looked at one or two record stores a few times. I'm not suggesting I looked a dozen times. I imagine I've spent hundreds of hours scouring record stores/flea markets/thrift stores just hoping against hope to find that bastard. No record store employee knew anything about it. They could never figure out a way to order it out of their gigantic CATALOG BOOKS. They would call their suppliers. None of them even seemed to know the song I was referring to. Just years of nothing. Nothing. Back then there was no magical google box for me or anyone else to ask. It wasn't until years later... like 2007 or something... that I realized the Ferris Bueller Soundtrack was never released. I read a blog post a few years ago that Cameron Crowe released a limited pressing of a hand assembled soundtrack from the film (because he was a fan or something) but I can't find the reference. Round about 2000 when Napster came along I stole the song... but that only stole some of the magic.
Mine isn't a specific object, its a library. I've got bookshelves in a corner right now. The holy grail for me would be a library with big windows, one of those spiral staircases, and books all along the walls. There'd be big cozy chairs to read in, and a small table for drinks and snacks. Bottom shelf would be lined with all the books I loved when I was young for my kids to discover. I collect fantasy maps right now because I love seeing how people visualize these worlds. So I'd have big map displays in between book sections with those maps. I go to lots of author events so I'd have little book stands with my signed books or books that are otherwise meaningful to me. And I'd decorate with little tchotchkes I've picked up from traveling. Basically this: http://archive.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-10/ff_walker
Hey, that's mine! I also have bookshelves in a corner. They are currently overflowing; one of them collapsed under the weight last month. Hmm. I need to upgrade into an old manor house, like Mr. Norrell's. I want to install shelves affixed to the walls -- my parents did that themselves to their bedroom when I was a kid. It was surprisingly not so hard. I also like the idea of framing some of the more interesting fantasy maps. Good post.
I had never heard of Gongshi before. Those are awesome. I enjoyed learning about that. Then Wired threw up a screen whinging about my adblocker and told me to whitelist them or give them a buck. I almost ranted to their support email. Fuck you, Wired. You're a wholly-owned subsidiary of Conde Nast.
Those Namiki pens are sick. They didn't list a price, but a quick google check gave me a quaint range of $500 to $150,000. Neat. As a pianist, my holy grail is a Steinway & Sons grand piano. The Model D is an absolute masterpiece of engineering, integrity, detail, and beauty. I can go on for a long time about what it takes to obtain the Steinway sound, and how much unmatched care is taken by the company to produce each one. I've had a few opportunities to play on a Model D, most notably at Carnegie Hall. The last thing that I was worried about was how it sounded to the audience. Listening to that thing with the acoustics of a performance hall was seriously a near-religious experience. Goes for about $80,000 new, priceless used.
Gimme a rundown on a Steinway D vs a Boesendorfer 290. 'cuz both of them are way cooler than I'll ever roll but I've had a love affair with Boesendorfer ever since I heard Tori Amos bragging about hers. Also, the music department at my undergrad had all Steinway. My high school had a Steinway. My elementary school had a Steinway. Prolly not Model D's, sure... but there's one dealer in the Pacific Northwest that has Boesendorfer and on a good day, he's got two.
It's the brand and its roots that make the difference, not the individual models. Steinway is American, it dominates the American market and thats why most music schools and colleges will have deals with the company to have all of their pianos supplied. The factory is in NYC (and its so worth a visit), and the "Steinway sound" is produced there, mainly by wrapping a single piece of (birch?)wood around the entire soundboard. It's bright and warm at the same time, its deep, harmonically broad and often referred to as a complex sound. Boesendorfer is Austrian. Its frame is built in (maple?) pieces, vertically right out of the soundboard. It feels a little easier to the touch, has a reliable and loud sound, but its very classical and simple build means you can grasp none of the range, intensity, and complexity that you can achieve with a Steinway. edit: in other words, nobody is gonna get caught playing jazz on a 'dorfer, but nobodys gonna complain about it before they start a Mozart sonata. in my opinion
To fix my edit: nobody is gonna get caught playing jazz on a 'Dorfer unless you're the second coming of Jazz Jesus.
for some reason i commented the same thing 4 times #bugski ._.
I actually called up four local PDs after the panic. Three of them told me they had them in custody, all of them told me they wouldn't be releasing "bombs" to the public. They occasionally show up on eBay. I watched an Err with a couple bad LEDs start at $550 and climb to $850. There may be a time when I'm willing to throw a couple large bills at commemorating the absolute nadir of Bush-era American paranoia and stupidity, but that time has not yet come.
The Moog Modular System 55 synthesizer: They go for $35,000
Not as simple as all that. A lot of the chips were proprietary and not documented. Reverse-engineering the circuits isn't impossible but in many cases it's far easier if the original manufacturers cooperate. And yes, I realize those are all software emulations. Thing is, the desire for hardware is extremely limited and there aren't any real economies. It still helps when you're a big company. Aside from all the Curtis chips (I had a Chroma Polaris that someone bought off me just to resurrect an errant PPG 2.3) in later years there were a lot of ASICs, particularly by Roland and Yamaha. Cooking those chips actually killed Alesis.
Back in the late 80's or very early 90's, I was in an antique shop in San Francisco with my then-wife, and almost purchased a set of "Bottoms-up Glasses" that were from the early 1920's. A "Bottoms Up" glass is basically a shot glass with no base. You have to down it, and then set the glass down upside down on the table, because the bottom of the glass is a naked woman's rounded bottom, and the glass will fall over if you set it down on it's "bottom". The set was probably $150, at the time, and after much debate, my wife and I decided not to purchase them. And I have regretted that decision to this very day. (She and I still talk about the Bottoms Up Glasses that got away!) Every couple of years I search for a set that meets the idealized mental image I have of that set... and I always come up short. I will find a set one day that meets my exacting criteria. But until then, it is my Holy Grail.
I have this pre-publication galley of a Stephen King book, which is pretty rare in and of itself, and my Holy Grail goal is to get it signed. I talked about it here and posted that to Hubski here. So far, no dice. I think that is my most Holy-Grail type thing. There are some record albums I would like but I don't actually think they are rare so much as out of my price range.
It'd be nice to own a whole copy of the White Album, instead of: That is the "obvious" album I'd lust after, aka the one that is easy to remember and say. I would also prize things like Sugar Hill Gang's self-titled, any additions to my Rolling Stones collection (but especially coveted: Let it Bleed, Beggar's Banquet - I have Sticky Fingers, Emotional Rescue, Some Girls, and two compilation albums), Rick Astley's Whenever You Need Somebody (for giggles), etc. I don't know. There are a lot of albums I would prize but they are easier to prize when you find them after dedicated looking. However, I have not managed a single decent vinyl score from a thrift store in probably 2 or 3 years. Sometimes I buy special albums when I come across them or can't live without them: that's how I got Some Girls, also Harvest by Neil Young, a few others. You can find most albums in good-to-better condition online or at resale shops but the prices are simply disgusting, especially for someone who is used to paying $.25-$1.00/record. The albums I name are truly nothing special for the rabid record collector and sure, I'm a dilettante by comparison. I don't mind. But I can tell you stories about how I got more of my albums than I can't, and flipping through those albums is like flipping through good memories sometimes, and that's where I find most of the value. I can't even play LPs right now on my record player because it has an open back and my younger cat discovered this and is fascinated with batting at records while they spin. I'll find a solution in time. But the albums mean so much more than what they sound like. Dear God, I can't even tell you what, for instance, the Cars' self-titled signifies to me. First, it's a baller album, but second, a whole inexpressible lot. Or even my Mr. Blue Eyes single.
By the way, fans of writing instruments: I wholeheartedly recommend Palomino Blackwings, the closest rendition of the Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602 you can buy. I've never tried a real Blackwing, but I've been through 2 boxes of Palominos. My writer friends who have received them from me still tell me from time to time that they're the best pencils they've ever used.
You just sent me into a pencil fetish wormhole. I used to really like the Mirado Black Warrior but last time I picked a pack up they didn't seem as good as they used to be. Thanks to the wormhole I realize that's probably because they aren't as good as they used to be. People say the same about the Ticonderoga. I never liked Triconderogas near as much as the Black Warriors. My wife came in and found me browsing pencils.com. She laughed at me and said maybe I can splurge for a pack of Palomino Blackwings with our tax return.
Hmm. My main hobby right now is hiking. I still enjoy vintage hifi. I used to do a lot of travel to see live music. I suppose a holy grail for the music would have been to see a show in all 50 states, all Canadian provinces, each hemisphere, each continent or some other list like that. I count I've seen shows in 27 states so far. I'm not really interested in any of the uber hifi grails. I suppose I'd like to check out a nice single ended tube amp with 300B outputs, especially if I could A/B some vintage Western Electric tubes against some modern ones. But owning something like that? Nah. I'd like to get a nice McIntosh vintage setup like a C22 preamp and a pair of MC75 power amps, but those are bought and sold on eBay all the time. The cost is high but not ludicrous. I just don't feel like spending the money; they aren't worth that much to me. Hiking, there's no way around it. The holy grail is Mount Everest. I don't really have an interest in technical mountaineering, especially high altitude. But it's impossible to hike to the summit of a 5000' mountain and not daydream about climbing a 29,000' one.
The other day I had a thought about a really cool conversation piece that I would like to own. I wonder what happened to Malcolm X's M-1 made famous in the picture of him looking out his window. I think for a collector that would be a pretty important piece of history. I don't collect guns or anything, but that would be a very neat thing to own.
By the way, fans of writing instruments: I wholeheartedly recommend Palomino Blackwings, the closest rendition of the Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602 you can buy. I've never tried a real Blackwing, but I've been through 2 boxes of Palominos. happy room http://happyroomonline.com
Wow, those pens look amazing, the prices are probably my worst nightmare though.
http://www.obsessiontelescopes.com/telescopes/25/ About $30K with the gear I want.
I will almost certainly never buy my holy grail. I can't imagine ever being able to have enough disposable income to reasonably spend $12,000 of a watch. With that being said, I love how the moon commands the face and how much texture you can see on it. It is such a beautiful watch.