When I was seventeen my artist father gave me a wooden
Koh-i-noor crow-quill penpoint holder---the No. 106A.
I've always used it with the very flexible Hunt's No. 108 "mapping" pen point. Since that day I've drawn all of my line work with this holder and point. After many years of use, the wooden
handle, dipped into ammonia
innumerable times for cleaning, began to crack. The finish peeled off. Then the metal gizmo that
held the penpoint inside the handle broke. My father was able to fashion a new
gizmo out of a piece of brass. But
I began to fret. How would I possibly draw line work if the handle broke completely? Koh-i-noor was no
longer manufacturing this tool. I
visited art store after art store, hoping that one would have an overlooked penpoint holder in the back room. When the
internet and Google became a reality, I periodically searched for the penpoint holder. No luck. All I could do was hope that
the holder---now a disreputable version of its former self---would struggle through the remainder of my career without falling completely
apart.
A short time ago I idly Googled this penpoint holder once
more. It popped up: someone on Etsy was selling it. That can't be right, I thought. I checked, double checked, triple
checked. Yes, it was my penpoint holder.
It wasn't available anymore in the dark red of my original. But I could buy it in black or natural.
I made my order; and to make up for my previous lack in foresightedness, I
ordered six, 3 of each color. (I had already stocked up on a large supply of the Hunt's No. 108 points, in case those also went out of production.) Based on how long the first holder has held up, I figure I am now
equipped to continue drawing line work for another... oh, 300 years or so.
