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It's All In The Hands...And The Heart
PEN WORLD
|August 2017
Greg Minuskin is a different type of nibmaster.
There are numerous talented nib masters who hang out their shingles on the web and at pen shows, working with a perfectly functional fountain pen nib and turning it into a nib with a user-specified custom grind. Or they rebuild damaged nibs that have danced a little downward tango to the tile floor or rattled through a rough spin in the washing machine’s heavy cycle.
Greg Minuskin does grinds and reconstructions. But his preference, his expertise, and his talents are devoted to building a nib tip. He begins with an existing nib, whether damaged or intact, and constructs a perfectly wonderful nib tip, some of which have not been seen in a manufacturer’s catalog for a century or more. A nib by Minuskin may be described as extra-broad or extra-fine, but it’s wholly different from a factory-produced nib. Quite simply, he builds the greatest contemporary fountain pen nibs available.
WATCHES OR WRITING INSTRUMENTS?
As a child, Minuskin loved building things, especially models and Legos. After finishing college with a degree in commercial real estate accounting, he felt constrained by the day-to-day business.
Watch repair had been a pleasure and a passion for years. His friendship with a watch repairman led to his enrollment in the prestigious WOSTEP (Watchmakers of Switzerland, Training and Education Program) school in Neufchatel, Switzerland, in 1993—the only American accepted into his class of students from around the world. Following graduation and certification, Minuskin remained an independent repairman before becoming supervisor of the West Coast (Beverly Hills) repair facility for Rolex USA.
This story is from the August 2017 edition of PEN WORLD.
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