Attorney Gifts | For the Analog Attorney in Your Life

I’ve looked at a lot of cool analog products this year, but none of them made it onto this gift guide because this year is all about fountain pens. Fountain pens are a classy gift. Many people have a low-key longing for a fountain pen but won’t buy one for themselves because it’s (I believe I’m reading this right) too expensive or self-esteem issues.

Attorney Gifts for the Analog Attorney in Your Life

A Fountain Pen is a Perfect Gift

It doesn’t matter if you’re getting one for your nephew who just got accepted into Princeton or your niece who made partner. A nice pen works. To the new collegiate, it implies a future of beautifully written words full of sincerity and promise. It is a token of maturity — you’re not gonna doodle emojis with this instrument. To the new partner, it signifies a milestone. It is a badge of experience and an emblem of new status. It is the perfect attorney gift.

Five Fountain Pens for Every Budget Point 

Pilot Metropolitan Fountain Pen ($20)

We’ve discussed Pilot’s brilliant introductory pen, the Metropolitan. It’s a perfect pen. Every aspect, from its balance to the nib to the very heft of this writing instrument is flawless. Pilot could easily ask for more than a Jackson for them, but somehow they keep this pen in the easily affordable range. Yet, because of its design and craftsmanship, it remains an elegant gift. The fountain pen newbie will be rendered speechless. Hopefully, they can scribble a shaky, emotional “thank you” on a piece of paper.

Waterman Hemisphere Deluxe Fountain Pen ($80)

This beautiful pen is the next level for the enthusiast. It’s a great gift for a new partner, or for that person in your circle who just accomplished something worthy. Where the Metropolitan is a stripped-down perfect representation of a fountain pen, the Waterman  Hemisphere Deluxe exhibits sophistication. Its slim lacquer barrel is trimmed in cracked chrome and gold. No one needs this adornment. It doesn’t affect the writing experience. But it definitely enhances the pointless luxury experience, which is what such a gift should do.

Pilot Vanishing Point Gold Nib Pen ($160)

Most Vanishing Points aren’t quite this close to two-hundred bucks, but this Vanishing Point has a gold nib. It’s hard to describe the difference between a regular nib (usually stainless steel) and this pen’s black-coated gold point. There’s a lushness to the way it lays ink on the paper, to the way it presses into the surface, and its flex. It’s already a masterpiece of a fountain pen (my everyday carry for four years running), but the gold nib pops it up to a new level of fountain penmanship.

Visconti Opera Master Polynesia ($973)

In the same way, the Vanishing Point takes the fountain pen enthusiast to the middle-ground of price points, the Visconti Opera Master series takes them to the first level of holy crap, seriously? price points.

The Opera Masters are hand milled in Florence by (I’m guessing here) time-traveling Italian craftsmen trained by Michelangelo.

It’s hand polished inside and out, has a double reservoir system, a hook safe lock, a white gold nib and … just look at it. It looks like the ocean in Seychelles. As a proud owner of a luxury Visconti, I can tell you the writing experience is as deeply gratifying as the design. These are world-class pens, collectibles, and will knock a pen freak to their knees in gratitude.

Sailor Kirikane Fountain Pen ($2,200)

Now we’re talking corporate gifts for name partners, and Sailor’s Kirikane fills that slot perfectly. It’s more than a pen; it is a literal work of art. Kirikane is a technique developed for decorating Buddhist statues and artifacts. Here’s how Sailor describes this technique:

The Kirikane technique involves cutting thin gold leaf into hair-thin strips and making patterns (lines, diamond, or triangle shapes) with them. Two pieces of gold leaf are heated over an ash banked fire and bonded together. An additional bonding is then made to strengthen the leaf and to add thickness. The bonded gold leaf is then cut with a bamboo knife on a deer skin covered table and then affixed with a special seaweed glue (funori).

From the Sailor website

Each pen is handcrafted by Kasen Otsuka, a venerated Japanese Kirikane artist. No two are the same, and each one embodies this centuries-old art form in a gift that cannot be duplicated. Such a gift speaks to remarkable skill and craftsmanship, but above all, to a status in one’s profession that is unimpeachable. Giving a Sailor Kirikame recognizes a partner’s status while elevating that recognition of their immeasurable value in the company and the industry.

A Special Discount for Analog Attorney Readers: The Steam Writer

A luthier by trade, Spencer Hamann spends his days in his workshop creating timeless and bespoke masterpieces from exotic materials and restoring fine instruments and antique tools. He also makes really, really gorgeous pens. Full disclosure, I know Harmann in real life, and let me tell you, this man is obsessed with antique tools. I can tell you his pens were turned using a 1946 Logan machine lathe he bought from a retired airplane mechanic, and on his grandfather’s Austrian Unimat lathe from the 1970s. His craftsmanship is the kind of old-world ‘I’ve never even seen a cellphone’ meticulous zen millimeter-by-millimeter work we all dream about in our handcrafted fountain pens. As a special gift to you, Harmann is offering free shipping on anything in his shop, not just the pens) through the end of January if you plug in ANALOG for your discount code.  You’re welcome.

Bonus “We Won the Lottery” Peggy Guggenheim Fountain Pen ($10,300)

I just want to point out, right here at the top, that when you buy a Mont Blanc Peggy Guggenheim Pen, shipping is complimentary. So, savings. This pen is designed with art deco elements drawn from the collection at the famous Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art in Venice, Italy. It has a strong Art Deco symmetry in the straight barrel and the decoration. The cap ring is decorated with lions emblematic of Guggenheim’s estate, and if you look closely at the nib, it has paw prints reminiscent of those from Guggenheim’s 14 Lhasa Apsos, to which she was devoted.

The pattern on the barrel is rendered in a rare transitional metal, Ruthenium. The metal elements and the nib are all rose gold. The familiar Mont Blanc emblem on the cap is made from white marble. This pen is deeply luxurious, rare and way, way, over the top.