Mont Blanc Pilot Pen

Posted on July 14, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

For those who like the feel of writing with rollerballs, you don’t have to buy a $300 Mont Blanc rollerball pen to write with MB ink and an MB roller. Several years ago, someone found out that Mont Blanc rollerball refills (somewhat pricey in their own right at about $12 for a pack of two) very nearly fit in the Pilot G-2 Pro pens that you can buy anywhere for about $5. The MB refills are just slightly too long, but they are easily modified by cutting a little bit of the plastic off the top (Mont Blanc helpfully provides a ridge on the plastic at the exact right point). Open up the Pilot, stick in the shortened refill and you’re good to go. Much less snob appeal, no white star on the end; but you won’t worry about losing it.

Affordability: 9                                Luxury: 6

Available from Amazon – Pilot pens here and Mont Blanc refills here.

Want more luxury? Buy a real Mont Blanc. But try not to lose it.

Affordability: 2                                Luxury: 9

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Kikkerland Wind-Up Toys

Posted on July 14, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

Who doesn’t love toys? Brazilian Chico Bicalho’s work on many levels: they’re inexpensive and rugged enough to be real children’s toys, yet their whimsical design and lively open clockwork mechanism makes them fascinating to adults. They’re politically correct; Bicalho is committed to funding reforestation projects. Having one on your desk gives you a light-hearted object to admire at rest and an ice-breaker and conversation piece when you take a moment to wind it up and show someone the lifelike way it skitters unpredictably around. They are all equally affordable and each one has its own personality. You can get one or more, or go ahead and get the whole set. This is a toy for all ages that someone had to invent.

Affordability: 8                    Luxury: 7

Available from Amazon

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Raleigh 3 Speed Bicycle

Posted on July 13, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

If you want an inexpensive bicycle as daily transportation, and there are not a lot of hills where you live, you can’t beat the old Raleigh 3 speeds. Made of Britain’s finest steel in Nottingham, England for over half a century, the Raleigh is a reliable and practical way to get from Point A to Point B. It has fenders, internal gearing and a chain guard so you can ride it it in normal clothes. I even went out of my way to get a girl’s step-through frame, so it was that much easier to get on and off. It is a reasonable facsimile of the Dutch bikes that the New York sophisticates are being seen on, frequently available on eBay or Craigslist at a tiny fraction of their price. It’s not an ultralightweight mountain bike or road bike, but then again, it’s not trying to be. You either will like its looks or you won’t. It gets less respect from bike thieves as well.

Affordability (used): 9                    Luxury: 5

Want more luxury? I mentioned the Dutch bikes above, but no one has a problem finding an expensive bike they would like to buy.

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Rowenta Steam Irons

Posted on July 13, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

For me, wearing pressed clothes is an affordable luxury all by itself. The few minutes it takes to do a touch-up press and maybe add a shot of heavy-duty starch to garments made of wrinkly natural fibers makes me feel as though I am much better put together. Casual clothes that are machine-laundered at home may need quite a bit of pressing to look their best. The German-made Rowenta irons have the features I appreciate in an iron: they are heavy, which I think irons should be, they have an auto shut-off feature so you won’t burn the house down if you forget them and the burst of steam feature is fun to shoot through stubborn areas of your clothes. My DW 8080, discounted to under $95, seems to hit the price/performance sweet spot and should last for the long haul.

Affordability: 4                                Luxury: 8

Available from Amazon

Want more luxury? If Rowenta makes the Mercedes-Benz of irons, costing about 3 times as much as most other irons, then Delonghi makes the Ferrari. The Stiromeglio Compact PRO 300 to some people is worth it for the design alone, although it is a great steam iron.

Affordability: 3                                Luxury: 9

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Pioneer PL-990 Turntable

Posted on July 12, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

I love turntables and have loved them since the 1970s, when I got my first Dual. I can’t remember where that one ended up, but the one that replaced it, my Dutch-made Philips 212 is also over 30 years old and it is still around. It is sitting right on my desk, plugged into the soundcard of my computer so I can digitize vinyl records directly into iP0d-ready MP3s with no fuss. If you don’t have a turntable and like new things, you can pick up a Pioneer PL-990 for under $120. There are a lot of turntables in that price range; you can look for one that you like. The Pioneer has two useful features: it has built-in RIAA equalization, so you don’t need a separate pre-amp, and it plays 45s as well as regular 33 1/3 rpm records. You can plug it in, and record the discs to a program like Audacity for Windows and save as MP3s. You only need to play the discs once. Or hook the turntable up to a receiver and play them directly. It’s up to you.

Affordability: 8                            Luxury: 7

Available from Amazon

Want more luxury? As with most audio, the sky’s the limit. If you want to forget about the affordable part, take a look at these.

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Dualit Lite 2-Slice Toaster

Posted on July 10, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

When my toaster oven finally came to the end of its service life, I looked around for a replacement. I decided that since I already had an oven, I would try getting a dedicated toaster. The cheap ones at K-Mart were so very cheap-looking that they weren’t worth buying. The Dualit Lite 2-slice toaster, produced by the toast-loving British, is something else entirely. It has a beautiful, timeless design and it’s fully functional, too. It has pop-up lever you can manually raise up to get a grip on the English muffin, wide slots, an easily removable crumb tray, a bagel setting, a frozen setting, and of course, a frozen bagel setting. It is screwed together and replacement parts are available, so you can count on keeping it forever; you will get you money’s worth out of your $79.99 investment. Overall, it’s an easy way to add some luxury to your routine every morning.

Luxury: 7                            Affordability: 6

Available from Amazon

Want more luxury? Although believe it or not, there are some very expensive toasters out there (mostly designed for restaurant use), if cost were no object I would want the 4-slice Dualit toaster for $320. It would look right at home on the kitchen counter at Buckingham Palace, but I don’t usually need to do 4 slices at a time.

Luxury: 9                             Affordability: 3

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Boston Ranger 55 Pencil Sharpener

Posted on July 9, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

Boston Ranger 55We all remember these pencil sharpeners from seeing them screwed to the wall in all of our elementary school classrooms. They are solid, as if machined from a single block of metal, and they all seemed to stand up to all the abuse class after class of grade school kids can possibly dish out over the years. The design is classic, and the top comes off for ease of emptying.

If you want one of these new from the store, you should probably order it soon, and make sure you are getting a genuine made-in-USA Boston Ranger. Blick may still have the old ones. If you are not careful, you will end up with an X-ACTO Ranger that was made in China. The old kind are getting more and more scarce in the stores, although there were always be eBay. The new ones look and work pretty much the same, and are easy to find, but the old ones will become collector’s items.

Luxury: 6        Affordability: 8

Want more luxury? Once again, the Spanish made El Casco line rules the high end of office supplies. The former gunmaker makes pencil sharpeners (and many other office supplies) to die for, at a price to die for. Try their $388 grey and chrome pencil sharpener.

Luxury: 9        Affordability: 2

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California Republic Palomino Pencil

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

Yes, have no fear: even the lowly pencil can be a luxury item. Helix Oxford Premium Grade #2 pencils from England have their fans, having a certain Harry Potter boarding school charm. The Staedtlers from Germany and Tombows from Japan are also popular with pencil snobs. If you just wanted to pick a country, you could do it that way. Even if you did, the Palomino would win just for the name, although they are actually manufactured in Japan for an American company. Question: what makes a pencil luxurious? Answer: the inside, middle and the outside. The inside is the lead, which writes a very dark line for the HB softness. You have to try it. The middle is the best part. It’s California cedar wood, which smells fresh and fragrant, especially after you sharpen it. The outside is a thick, smooth and flawless coat of blue paint. All in all, a lot of perfection in a box of 6 for about $5.

Luxury: 8                    Affordability: 9

Want more luxury? The legendary Blackwing 602, the best pencil ever made (and since discontinued). Expect to pay about $35 for just one if you can find it on eBay. Try not to feel guilty if you actually write with it.

Luxury: 1o                Affordability: 2

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Swingline Chrome 747 Stapler

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

Swingline StaplerThe classic shiny Swingline is an object that you just have to love, and they are discounted to around $15. The heavy metal construction, the beautiful finish and the retro design combine to make it well worth the space it takes up. Mine always reminds me of a tiny vintage 1930s Airstream trailer parked on my desk. As an added attraction, it’s a great stapler – solid, dependable (virtually jamproof) and rated to shoot through 20 sheets, although it can do more than that. The real limiting factor is just the length of the staples, not the power of the stapler. It holds 210 staples and has a nice long overhang for reaching down on the page. Since the 1999 movie “Office Space,” Swingline has brought back the red 747 to resemble the one in the film; you can also get them in beige or black, but I like the timeless beauty of the chrome one.

Luxury: 6        Affordability: 9

Available from Amazon

Want more luxury? The Spanish made El Casco line is the Rolls-Royce of office supplies. The former gunmaker makes staplers (and pencil sharpeners, etc.) to die for, at a price to die for. Try their $123 black and chrome stapler, also available in 23 carat gold.

Luxury: 9        Affordability: 2

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Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

Posted on June 30, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

Had to start with Jamaican Blue Mountain. JBM coffee has to be one of the first affordable luxuries for me to mention. The first time I drank it was on vacation in Jamaica in the early 1980s, and when I got back home I wanted that taste of the tropical paradise to remind me of the great time. To my dismay, it costs $40 – $50 per pound, and it was sometimes hard to find, as over 80% of it is exported to Japan. I decided it was worth it for one of the best coffees in the world. Now, of course, it is always available online.

The little-known secret to making good coffee is to brew it fresh with beans that are high quality and taste good to you. The JBM beans make a smooth cup of coffee with no trace of bitterness; it may seem deceptively mild for coffee achievers used to espresso, French roast or any of the bold coffees they think they are supposed to like. It’s all about the beans, not whether the coffee comes from Starbucks or even a good local roaster. With some JBM beans and a grinder, you can make better coffee that you can get in any coffee shop, hotel or restaurant. Try it; if you don’t like it there are plenty of fine imported coffees for anyone’s taste.

Luxury: 8        Affordability: 4

Available from Amazon

Want more luxury? Try Kopi Luwak, the famous “cat poop” coffee from Sumatra that passes through the digestive tract of the civet, a relative steal at only $349.99 a pound. You can get small 200 gram bags to try here.

Luxury: 9        Affordability: 2

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