KEEPERS OF MEMORY

Maybe because of the name I chose for it, longtime followers of this column which I began more than 25 years ago will associate me with collecting vintage fountain pens, and they'd be rightpartly.

- penman BUTCH DALISAY

Some silver spoons from the collection of Butch Dalisay The silver pen awarded to Jose Rizal, from the collection of

That's because while I continue to collect pens with a passion, I've since branched out in half a dozen other directions, including typewriters, blotters, antiquarian books, midcentury paintings, canes, and even silver spoons.It's the kind of behavior that drives collectors' wives crazy (although I'll have more to say about the gender issue later), and I can only be thankful that my wife Beng has indulged me all these years. Beng collects bottles, tin cans and pens herself, but nowhere near the intensity with which I check out eBay three times a day, scour the FB Marketplace, converse in geek-speak with fellow collectors, and subject my collections to never-ending cataloguing.

Seventeen years ago, some 20 people who must have thought they were the only ones interested in fountain pens met in our front yard in UP to form the Fountain Pen Network-Philippines. Those 20 have since grown to over 15,000 members on our FPN-P Facebook page. Unusually among hobbyist groups, and despite its explosive growth, FPN-P has remained one of the Internet's friendliest and safest spaces, thanks to strict moderation and its openness to all kinds of pens and members, whether they come in with P100 pens from Temu or six-figure Montblancs (yes, there are Rolexes in pendom, although pens are far more pocket-friendly than watches).

One natural offshoot of FPN-P's expansion has been the emergence of sub-interest groups, among which is the "PlumaLuma" group, which began as one devoted to vintage pens and desk accessories, but which soon evolved into "Pluma Luma Atbp." as it became clear that pens weren't our only obsession.