Of late, as well as my new pen holder (a work of art) I’ve been using my Swan SF230/60 for correspondence. It is an ideal pen – for me at least. I hold it just above the taper of the section and it is the perfect size for my arthritic hand – except when I have a flare-up and then no pen will do. There will be no writing.

It’s a moderately long pen so takes a long sac, holding a lot of ink. That’s a benefit to be sure. Less visits to the ink bottle and less inky fingers. The real gem of this pen is the nib. It’s a medium Swan No 2 with very good ink delivery and the nib is smooth but not glassy. There is the tiniest bit of feedback that helps me form the letters the way I want. There’s even quite noticeable flexibility, should I wish to invoke it though I rarely do.

In all this is my perfect pen. Why should I need another? To answer my own question, from a practical point of view I have little need of any other pen. Perhaps one or two for other colours and a fine nib for my diary. That’s what it comes down to but I have a drawerful of other pens and they tempt me. I need variety. It isn’t logical to use some other pen that isn’t quite as good (though very good in its own way) but logic isn’t necessarily the way we look at and enjoy our pens.

Anyway, there will be few months in the year when the SF230 isn’t inked up and in use. It’s a handsome pen that shows its age a little. The gold plate is worn in places and the black hard rubber isn’t quite as black as it used to be but that’s part of what makes it dear to me.