Go outside, they said

Have a nice trip, they said. Visit some pleasant village, just one hour outside your current location, they said.

See something different from pencils and collections, they said. Blend into the real world, they said. Breathe some fresh air, go to an arts & crafts fair with your lovely wife, they said.

They also said that, indeed, that there is a small stationery shop in the village. But it even sells toys and jigsaw puzzles, it’s one of those “bazars” full of a bit of everything. It’s not even worth a visit, they said. Leave the lead behind for once, they said.

[I mean, it’s a small shop in a remote village in the northern part of Italy, and it almost surely sold out all its juicy stuff long ago — because it’s old, and also, probably, family-owned. «How many leftover items do you expect to find there?» they said.]

Well, turns out Italy is weird when it comes to writing and drafting tools, and even weirder when it comes to physical shops. One enters an unassuming door with a nice display, and one hour later, this had happened.

A 2.00 mm clutch leadholder 5209 by Bohemia Works, my first two-in-one BP+MP (Zebra Sharbo TX-2), the pen by Shaeffer with a crazy small pocket clip (for soldiers’ pockets, the shop owner said), a trio of white Lamy (Gel Roller + knock PB + MP), the strangest Wörther Shorty I’ve seen so far (in 0.5mm), a Pilot H-555-R, two coloured “The Shaker” H-305, a Pilot Clicker (2nd in my collection, probably will have to go), an unusual Mitsu-Bishi Dermatograph pencil with light blue colour, a “brush nib” twistaction plunger demonstrator, another Staedtler Micromatic (whose nose cone looks like the one from a 777-25, even though the model is a 777-15) — plus all the colour variations for the 1.3 Metallic colours by Pentel (C-213) I could get.

The fair was nice, the dinner outside was great; the stationery shop was exquisite.

Moral of the story: always check for possibly interesting shops to visit when you go out for a trip.

You won’t be disappointed, they said. :smiley:

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Congratulations…

I’ll pay you DOUBLE th amount you paid for the steadtler…. Plus shipping….

…and I’m only offering that amount because you just went on vacation. Happy to help :sweat_smile::innocent::grin::call_me_hand:

Well, the seller was ridiculously unaware of the current market prices, or he would have never brought the item out of his drawers. His nonchalance totally gave it away that a good bargain was there for me, that evening. :smiley:

Not that the whole lot resulted in a painless transaction for my wallet, but in the end, it was an interesting chat with the guy — and he hinted at a secret stock of old drafting tools that sooner or later I’ll have to check…

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Soooo, is that a “yes” :flushed:

Please allow me to be open on this topic, as I don’t want to generate any misunderstanding: the Micromatic is currently on hold for a person with whom there is an ongoing transaction — not one based on price points; it is a matter of trading pieces, with value as a down-the-line element.

If the item is unlocked and not taken by the other person (a conclusion of the story on which I don’t know anything yet), I may be interested in letting it go, but once again, only as a “fair-trade piece”: I’m not planning to get rich by selling pencils, as long as I can directly get more interesting stuff while others get my spares or other things ready to leave my drawers.

If you are willing to wait for this situation to settle (won’t take long, I assume, but can’t tell right now, and don’t want to mislead you with false hopes), and you are willing to negotiate a swap, rest assured that I know you are the first interested in this Micromatic, and I will be glad to discuss the matter with you first.

Sounds good? :slight_smile:

I was just giving you a hard time :innocent:

But I am actually interested in what you are proposing. I’m happy to take ticket #2 if your first deal doesn’t work out as you hope :grin::call_me_hand:

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