In article ,
"Norman M. Schwartz" wrote:

Long ago I was informed that in order not to mar a 'pricey' pen, it
shouldn't be posted and that the cap should be placed open side down on the
surface of your desk. Haven't you noticed circular 'ethchings' on pen's
barrel caused by continued posting? All this is irrelevant to all but 'anal'
collectors concerned about maintaing a costly pen's new pristene appearance.

Yes--if I had a very expensive pen, I would not post it if that would
mar the finish, although I don't think I would go as far as setting the
cap down in a special way. (If a pen was that delicate, I wouldn't use
it at all, but just keep it in a case.)

This pen, however, which cost $180 in 2002, is not a particularly exotic
model and far from an "art pen." Even though it wasn't cheap, I bought
it for daily general business use in a variety of situations, most of
them away from my desk. (Otherwise I would have bought a fountain pen.)

One Pelikan rollerball I have, now about 15 years old, does show some
dulling where the cap has been posted, but even greater dulling in the
area below where the cap is screwed onto the barrel--certainly not
something that can be avoided. Neither of these is apparent except upon
close observation, however, nor are they offensive to me; these are the
wear marks that come from normal use of a functional tool.

The barrel of this Montblanc is very slim and the pen is just under
4-11/16" long without the cap. This makes the pen feel unbalanced and
uncomfortable to write with. I think you would have to have fairly small
hands to use it with ease.

Among other pen manufacturers, Nakaya, at least, implies that most pens
are designed to be posted when they say, in describing their original
Cigar model, "This model is very long and is supposed to be used without
posting the cap when writing" http://www.nakaya.org/eproduct3.html.

None of this helps me very much, though. I am still looking for a
solution--other than not posting--if anyone has one.

Someone suggested surfwax--has anyone tried this or anything similar?
Any other ideas?

David