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Am I A Gold Snob?


Tojusi

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When thinking about new pens, I very strongly tend to gravitate towards gold nibs. In fact, if there is a choise of nibs available, I will generally overlook the steel nib and jump for the gold nib option. This got me thinking, am I a gold snob? Does this really make sense when steel nibs are often very good as well, and at least in some pen price ranges opting for gold means +50% to +100% increase on the overall price.

 

Should I retrain my instincts and start to look seriously at steel nibs?

 

What about you - are you a gold snob, or steel only, or a mixture of both?

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I used to be only interested in gold nibs when I came to fountain pen world, even if in the past I had excellent experience with steel nibs.

 

I think we are a bit influenced in our choices, by what we see here, by the hype, even if a lot of good folks claims here that a steel nib can be as good as a gold nib, which is true.

 

I have a sailor pro gear( with 21k that I tuned ) and I also have acquired a Asa pen with a schmidt steel nib that I also tuned, and guess what ? They write the same.

 

 

I started to tweak, some of my pens, changing some parts etc and I discovored the feed was as important as the nib. A good nib, without a good feed writes very poorly.

 

 

Edited by -Velvet-
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I only consider the nib's material when purchasing the pen; I "expect" a gold nib @ certain price levels. I prefer MANY steel nibs to some gold ones. Sometimes it is merely because the tip size makes the difference; I replaced a Delta gold nib (medium tipping) with a Goulet 1.5 stub because I knew I liked the stub nib, having used it on other pens. The difference in gold wasn't enough to compensate for it's smaller tipping size. My other Delta pen is a gold stub from the factory, yet with the exception of nicer variation, I cannot find the difference to be worth the price.

 

I enjoy the Goulet stubs & have several Online pens that use a 1.4 stub, which are also pleasant writers; I wouldn't want to pay MORE than I did for them, however. The exception is a S T Dupont Defi, which is only made with a steel nib & yet is sold @ a price higher than many pens that offer gold nibs; the finish, style, material & quality of the Dupont is the major difference between it & those pens however. I have a Pilot 823 & it does not feel "exciting" to me in the way the Defi does; both pens have different nib materials, & filling systems, so the comparison is greater than the nib "material," for me.

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A snob would just say steel is inferior, but you just seem to prefer gold when you have the choice. Nothing wrong with that. If you completely ignore pens with a steel nib regardless of all the there characteristics that are desirable to you, then you may have wandered into Snobville.

 

I too prefer gold and the larger the better, but I don't think it is the only way to go or the best way even for most people.

If you want less blah, blah, blah and more pictures, follow me on Instagram!

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For a pleasant appearance I prefer a gold nib, or a two toned gold nib, as it comes. I prefer smaller to larger. For a good writing pen the tipping makes the difference, so I can take a nib gold or steel. Flexibility is of no importance to me, and I prefer extra fine generally.

Edited by pajaro

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

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I prefer gold nibs, and also expect a pen at a certain price range to have a gold nib. However, I have some pens with steel nibs too. :)

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I have pens with steel, Ti and gold nibs, but generally prefer gold when I have the choice.

PAKMAN

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It is not snobbish to enjoy beautiful things, and many gold nibs are beautiful to look at. But if it is writing experience that you enjoy, don't let the look of gold blind you to the wonderful steel nibs out there from some vendors. You' d be cheating yourself.

ron

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I have a couple of gold nibs, both in Parker 45's. But pretty much everything thing else is steel. In my case, it's a matter of not many in the price ranges I have bought offered gold.

Brad

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind" - Rudyard Kipling
"None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try." - Mark Twain

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A nails a nail, be it gold or steel. I can't see any 'softness' in a nail....even in a semi-nail.

 

I chase old cheap....vintage German \50-60s pens, and at first was a gold snob...until later I found out I'd missed out on cheaper buys in both Geha and Osmia where the steel nibs are just as grand as the gold. Those were semi-flex and maxi-semi-flex nibs.

 

For modern nibs I like the springy 'true' regular flex of the Pelikan 200 be it plain steel or gold plated, much better than the modern Pelikan 400/600 semi-nail.

 

I do like the semi=vintage and vintage 'true' regular flex nibs....something I learned to like much more, in for a while I was a semi-flex snob. :rolleyes:

 

There are few pen companies that make the old springy 'true' regular flex nibs any more because of Ham Fisted Ball Point Barbarians bending them. So many companies went over to harder to bend semi-nail and nails only.

 

A gold nib on a 'silver' trimmed pen, looks a bit gauche. :unsure:

 

If other than for bling....a good steel nib is as good as a good gold nib. Accent on good. It is after all the tipping that one writes on....and a good nib has good tipping; 'Iridium' not gold.

 

For me it comes down to the flex and width of the nib, and prefer the cleaner writing vintage pens, to the blobby fat modern nibs who must function ....somewhat...when folks insist on holding a fountain pen like a ball point and not like a fountain pen.

One size fits all mentality of the pen companies.

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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Visconti & Diplomat make beautiful steel nibs. Italix pens come with steel nibs that glide beautifully across the page. So, yes there are some really beautiful steel nibs that work well on paper.

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It might be a sub-concious look/appearance thing. A gold nib does look nice.

Like my wife like YELLOW gold, not white gold, or silver, or platinum jewelry. Whereas I prefer white gold or silver.

 

Personally I don't really care; gold or SS, as long as it writes well.

I don't put any pressure on my nib, so any consideration for flex/springiness/etc. is wasted on me.

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

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I have detected no trace of "snobbery" in you. However, "yellow metal prejudice" is not a fault.

The heart wants what the heart wants. Write with joy.

Auf freiem Grund mit freiem Volke stehn.
Zum Augenblicke dürft ich sagen:
Verweile doch, du bist so schön !

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You are probably also a snob that likes to only write with beautiful pens. Tongue and cheek of course, I am pretty new to fountain pens, bu there there is something very nice about a beautiful pen with a nice gold nib, might not be all about performance, just preference for me.

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Last Thanksgiving weekend, driving home from "familial obligations", I talked my husband into swinging down to southeastern PA to a store that was going out of business. We got out of the store early enough in the afternoon to decide to do a bit of exploring and taking the scenic route home. The road west of the store eventually hits US 30, and so we followed that. We stopped at an antiques store east of Chambersburg (okay, well, *I* stopped :rolleyes:). There were several pens in one of the cases in the back of the room, and most were, IMO, a little more expensive for what they were than I wanted to pay. Except for the one pen that *didn't* have a 14K nib.... But it was a Sheaffer Snorkel with a Palladium Silver factory stub. :wub: Honestly, I think the only reason the price was lower was because the nib wasn't gold (the place sort of had a pawn shop vibe to it) -- but it was CLEARLY the best and more desirable nib in the bunch (the other Snorkel -- dark green as opposed to black -- was marked at more than twenty bucks more, but even though it had a gold nib it looked to be a boring F).

That being said, the first semi-vintage pen I ever got was a Parker 45 with a 14K medium nib, and it's an extremely nice writer. And cost me less than $10 US.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Richard Binder claims there's no appreciable difference between an 18K nib and a SS nib...except that an SS nib will last longer. On the other hand, he says 14K nibs are superior and worth paying a premium for because they are softer and wetter and are generally better writers.

 

As previous posters have commented, you have to go with what makes you happy...whether for looks or writing experience. Doesn't make you a "snob" if you prefer gold...just a guy who knows what he likes.

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I have steel and gold nibs, and I'm happy enough to use either, as long as the pen writes well, according to my own particular tastes (wet and smooth). That said, given my 'druthers, I prefer gold nibs. Yellow gold. Not white gold (although I must admit that the white gold nibs on my YOLs look much nicer with the sterling silver pens than yellow gold would). I also prefer flex--the more, the merrier, and yes, I know how to properly use a flex pen nib--and ime with my own collection, at least, the gold nibs seem to be flexy-er than all but my dip pen steel nibs. I have maybe a dozen truly flexy pens--all with gold nibs. I have several with semi-flex nibs, one or two of which are steel. The rest, no matter what material they're made of, are variations on "firm" or "nail". I don't usually care for nails, but if the pen is pretty enough and the nib writes smoothly enough, I'll happily use them :-). I like fine, broad, and stub nibs, as well as cursive and "regular" calligraphy nibs, as well as those odd folded nibs on the Pilot Parallels. They work rather well, actually!

 

Anyway, if you're a "gold snob", then I guess I am, too, as I prefer gold nibs when I can get them, especially if they have some degree of flex. Kind of funny, considering that most of the jewelry that I wear often tends to be either sterling silver or white gold! 'Splain that, Lucy! LOL!

"In the end, only kindness matters."

 

 

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If you ask the question then either you are, or you are confused about the question. If you do not ask the question then you are or are not, but at least you are not confused.

 

My favourite pen for aeons was a steel-nibbed Waterman (Expert). Now, everything I like most has a gold nib, whether 14 or 18 carats although I am still happy to write with the Expert and have also an Esterbrook with a 9788 nib.

 

Also, I prefer gold to silver, cats to dogs, and have no idea on pie vs cake.

 

No doubt this helps :)

X

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Our Italix Parson's Essential, Viper's Strike and English Curate all have the option of an 18k nib. They do not write better than our steel nib versions but they are soft and give more expression. Peter Ford of Italix Pens.

http://mrpen.co.uk/contents/media/flowlittle.png www.mrpen.co.uk

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