I have a Sailor Lecoule. It’s a wholly delightful little pen, one of my favourites. I’ve had it around two years, possibly more. Though this is an inexpensive pen, what some would call entry-level, it has the wonderful Sailor nib, which is what makes it so good.

The other day I began writing with it and Hey Presto! I had ink on my fingers. I had a look through a loupe and there it was, a curving crack in the section. I hadn’t dropped the pen. It had no incident of any kind.

I’ve had it too long to return it. In any case I have no idea where it came from. I considered attempting to repair it but, really, that’s a waste of time. I’ve been telling people for ages that cracked sections cannot be repaired; I need to listen to myself.

The main job of a section is to retain the wedged-in nib and feed. Sections are under constant outward pressure. Usually that is not a problem. Most section are made with the strength to contain that pressure and a lot more.

I did a little research online and found that the cracked section of the Lecoule is a well known fault. I saw photos of Lecoule sections cracked in the same way as mine. What I didn’t see was any indication that Sailor are aware of the failure or are doing anything about it. Lecoules are still on sale.

Much as I loved my Lecoule all I can do is scrap it and retain the nib which may find a purpose one day. It would be foolishness to buy another without an acknowledgment of the problem by Sailor and an assurance that they have fixed it. I will be bereft without a Sailor but their other models are too expensive. Maybe I will set up a search in eBay. Sailor’s eighties and nineties models were a bit more robust.