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.

Collecting new pens is easier, just like buying coke from the supermarket. Vintage pen collecting is a bit like hunting. Estate sales and flea markets are the places frequented by fountain collectors. Old jewelers and stationers come up with collectible fountain pens sometimes. The best way to buy collectible fountain pens is from a pen show, where hobbyists and collectors buy and sell pens to each other. These shows started as a place to swap pens. But now these shows are complete conventions with advertisements, sales and auctions. And, of course, one can buy collectible fountain pens on the Internet.

An online auction is a way of buying collectible fountain pens. This is different from the regular auction. In online auctions, a third person might come from nowhere and take away the object of desire. The chances of the same thing happening are also present regular auctions, but there its a little more predictable. Buying collectible fountain pens online can be distressing as some facts or features of the pen may be misrepresented, and in the absence of testing, it may be difficult to vouchsafe the quality. Buying a collectible fountain pen from a dealer is the safest way.