Pictured above are the nibs of three fountain pens. Clockwise from the top right they are a Diplomat, a Waterman and an Ohto Tasche. For those of you who don’t know, I happen to love a good fountain pen. It’s mostly due to the amount of writing I still do with pen and paper — it gets a lot easier when the tools are both durable and comfortable.

I purchased the Diplomat for myself back in the early 90s, while the other two were birthday gifts. Incidentally, the two that were gifts have performed consistently better than the one on which I spent my own money. I figure that’s worth mentioning, given the occasion — which could be any or all of the following:

• the 233rd anniversary of the first signing of the Declaration of Independence. I know people generally believe this to have happened on the fourth, but the initial signing actually did happen on the second.
• the exact midpoint of any non-leap year.
• my birthday.