The dividing lines among custom, vintage and collectible fountain pens often get blurred. A vintage pen can be customized and added to a collection. Collectible fountain pens may include vintage, custom-made and customized vintage pens. Any fountain pen, new or vintage, customized or ordinary, qualifies for collection if it appeals to the fountain pen collector. A simple and plain look, a gaudy design or an ancient technique can enthuse a pen collector. There is no limit to the criteria for a fountain pen collection. The reasons could be as varying as the number of fountain pens. Costs do not deter fountain pen lovers from possessing their objects of desire.

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The history of fountain pens is very fascinating and can be traced back to the 18th century. Even though, Lewis Waterman was the first man to patent the very first practical fountain pen in 1884, writing instruments designed to carry their own supply of ink had existed for over a 100 years. The oldest known fountain pen which has survived to this date was designed by a Frenchmen named M. Bion around 1702. Peregrin Williamson was the first American to receive the patent for fountain pens in 1809. It was John Jacob Parker who patented the first self-filling fountain pen in 1831. The main problem with the early fountain pen models was that they were plagued by ink spills and other such failures that impaired their sales.

A fountain pen is a pen that has a reservoir of water-based ink. The ink is usually fed to the nib of the pen through a tube and uses a combination of gravity and capillary action.