Giving Chinese Pens More Respect And A Poll

[Maurizio]

Hi Maurizio,

 

You may also want to look into the Jinhao 992 as well... they also have the screw caps and can be had in solid opaque or transparent demonstrator colors.

 

ENJOY LIFE!

 

- Anthony

 

Thanks Anthony I'll take a looksee.

[Cordovian]

What, no love for Baoer? The 3035 can stand up against some much higher price point pens. I bought and sold quite a few Chinese fountain pens and it's the only one I still own.

[ParkerDuofold]

What, no love for Baoer? The 3035 can stand up against some much higher price point pens. I bought and sold quite a few Chinese fountain pens and it's the only one I still own.

Hi Cordovian,

 

Actually, I got a little love for Baoer; I like their 388... I keep it filled with Document ink for addressing envelopes, etc. It'll go 2-3 weeks w/o use and not dry out... now if only my Jinhao's could do that!

 

(Actually, I'm hoping those new 992's with the screw on cap will).

 

- Anthony

[ParkerDuofold]

 

Thanks Anthony I'll take a looksee.

Thumbs up! (I can't find the emoticon on my mobile ).

 

Here's a link and I've dealt with this guy before... he's good. You can get six for $15 or fifteen for $27... you can also "make an offer."

 

http://m.ebay.com/itm/One-Pack-15-Jinhao-992-Transparent-Demonstrator-Fountain-Pens-Screw-Cap-Fine-Nib-/332172934295?hash=item4d570cbc97%3Ag%3A-8AAAOSwE0JY%7EY5K&_trkparms=pageci%253Aea33a7b1-2922-11e7-96cc-74dbd18031b8%257Cparentrq%253Aa16763cf15b0abc32055c5cdffff0991%257Ciid%253A4

 

- Anthony

Edited April 24, 2017 by ParkerDuofold

[AL01]

A lot of people like the Duofold. I would like a Harry Potter Sonnet, but not to write with. Maybe I should change avatars.

 

If I could find a Super Mario fountain pen.... Well, a man can dream, can he?

 

WAIT. That's real?? Does the pen act as a writing wand?

Edited April 24, 2017 by AL01

[ISW_Kaputnik]

I'm not sure I can make sense of the original question. If they were better pens I'd reevaluate them, certainly. If the prices were higher, then they'd have to beat out other makes that I currently prefer (actually that's true anyway). At this point in my collection and use of fountain pens, I'm not looking for more low end modern pens, and I've already given as many gifts of them as I intend to for now. And the ones I did give as gifts were Pilots and Lamys. Don't want to scare people away from fountain pens.

 

One of my earliest pens was a Kaigelu 316, which is made from a very attractive plastic, but is a complete dud. The feed starts to come out of the section if you put the converter in a little too tight; the nib had the gold plating flaking off both sides, clogging the feed as I later found out. But interestingly, I've seen a lot of positive comments about this model, so I have to conclude that it's just inconsistent QC. I could wish that mine were a better pen, but I wouldn't risk repeating the experience. Oh, and it doesn't post, which is no doubt intentional, but a big negative for me.

 

I have some cheap Chinese pens which are relatively problem free, but none would tempt me away from my modern Pilots or various vintage types. There's also a Haolilai 801F which is actually an excellent pen, nice 14k nib, a good size, attractive looking. It would get used more except that the nib is a little broader than I generally want. It cost about $57, so less expensive than Pilots in the same class, but not one of your Hero or Jinhao cheapies.

[TSherbs]

159 for $3.07 headed here.

[JayHomeBody]

I'm looking for a Hero 616, but there are so many fakes out there that I can't tell the difference. Plus, with isellpens out of business, I can't just go there and know that I'm getting a real one. Anyone know where I can find a real one? Somewhere that isn't ebay or amazon or wish, please. well... unless you know a seller that actually has real ones.

[ParkerDuofold]

I'm looking for a Hero 616, but there are so many fakes out there that I can't tell the difference. Plus, with isellpens out of business, I can't just go there and know that I'm getting a real one. Anyone know where I can find a real one? Somewhere that isn't ebay or amazon or wish, please. well... unless you know a seller that actually has real ones.

Hi Adriel,

 

Go to jewelrymathematics... you'll find a link to his e-bay listings in one of my posts above... I've bought several pens from him... he sells the 616 and he's legit.

 

- Anthony

[JayHomeBody]

Hi Adriel,

 

Go to jewelrymathematics... you'll find a link to his e-bay listings in one of my posts above... I've bought several pens from him... he sells the 616 and he's legit.

 

- Anthony

Thanks ParkerDuofold! I'll definitely take a look.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

Thumbs up! (I can't find the emoticon on my mobile ).

 

Here's a link and I've dealt with this guy before... he's good. You can get six for $15 or fifteen for $27... you can also "make an offer."

 

http://m.ebay.com/itm/One-Pack-15-Jinhao-992-Transparent-Demonstrator-Fountain-Pens-Screw-Cap-Fine-Nib-/332172934295?hash=item4d570cbc97%3Ag%3A-8AAAOSwE0JY%7EY5K&_trkparms=pageci%253Aea33a7b1-2922-11e7-96cc-74dbd18031b8%257Cparentrq%253Aa16763cf15b0abc32055c5cdffff0991%257Ciid%253A4

 

Oh! Temptation! At $1.80 per pen I am sorely tempted. But I have more than enough fountain pens at this time.

 

Now I'm going to go back and forth on this all day .

http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp360/Ink_Stained_Wretch/Street_cleaning_equipment_St._Louis.png

Am I going to fall off the wagon again?

[Djehuty]

I have quite a few Chinese pens, but I won't vote to make any of them more expensive. It may not have occurred to you, but sometimes people can't afford more expensive things.

 

My pen collection is as large as varied as it is because of Chinese pens. I can't afford to buy $50 pens, let alone $500 ones. For me, the $50-$100 range is something I get to enter once every couple of years.

 

Remembering writing with a fountain pen my father once owned prompted me to find this forum and buy my first pen. Discovering cheap Chinese pens made me a collector. My second pen was a $6.00 Kaigelu. Some of my favorites have cost $2.00 or less. Without them, I'd have one pen, and as that first one was expensive and is dear to me, I wouldn't carry or use it much.

 

So I'm not in favor of increasing the price of Chinese pens, and making them unobtainable for those of us who lack wealth. Especially not since the logic that selling 2,000 expensive pens is better than selling 25,000 cheap ones means killing the actual Chinese market for Chinese pens, which seems fairly insensitive to say the least.

 

Now, if we were talking about improving conditions and salary for the pen-factory workers, that would be a different story. But that wouldn't require a massive price increase and drop in sales to appeal to more upscale markets.

[Maurizio]

Blatherscribe - I'm sorry you interpreted my post the way you did. It was certainly not my intent to say "let's pay $50. or $100. or more for Chinese pens" but if that was the message you received I guess I didn't express myself clearly enough which I'll do now below. But, did you see the part where I wrote:

 

"Chinese pens deserve praise because they provide us with an incredible amount of sheer fountain pen joy at accessible prices . . . . I . . . mean to praise Chinese pens for providing a gateway to the joy of fountain pens to more people without the necessity of a bank account capable of buying ebonite, 18k gold, urushi, maki-e and other fountain pen delights."

 

I love my Jinhao 159 exactly because it let's me experience a big, fat, quite nicely writing pen, and not just at an affordable price, but at a price almost everyone pays for a cup of coffee every day. I'd love to pay a little more for it for a bump up in quality.

 

I wasn't explicit about price in my post because I felt the post implied it, but I'll be explicit about it now. I sure as heck do not want to pay $100. for an improved Chinese pen, but, I am quite willing to pay about the same price as I paid for my Pilot Metropolitan and my Kaweco Sport, or roughly the same price as a Platinum Plasir. I am willing to pay that price for a stepped up pen as I described it in my OP.

Yes I did also say I'd like an option of choosing a 14k nib, I assume that would be something that may or may not happen sometime in the future, but my general point is that I'm willing now to pay a reasonably fair world market price for a few select Chinese pens.

 

 

Please keep the votes coming.

 

I realize now that the poll responses are NOT anonymous and that I can see responders' screen names when I click on them so it'll be easy to write each responder's name on a slip of paper for my prize drawing.

 

Thanks for reading.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Maurizio

[Djehuty]

Sorry, I saw $45.00 specified in one post and went URK! Noooooo, I'll have no pens!

 

But the argument still holds. When you increase the price of something tenfold, it becomes impossible for anyone who in any way relied on its previous price to purchase it. Take a $2.00 pen and raise the price to $20.00, and anyone who needed it to be cheap will be priced out of the market. It's the same whether it's $20 or $50 or $100, it's just that more people are priced out at each level.

 

Of course, no amount of cajoling from us will affect the prices of these pens, because the American/European market does not determine those prices. They are determined by the Chinese market, and, most likely, by the Chinese government thanks to the subsidies given the factories. With apologies, I can't seem to find a source for that, and I'm worn out and migraine-y and not up to an in-depth search. If I mention China, subsidies, and pens, to Google, it gives me results dealing in part with a certain French horror. In any case, China subsidizes pretty much all manufacturing, so it's reasonable to assume that the impossibly low pen prices are due to government subsidies as well. And I'm sure many Chinese customers depend on that far more than we do.

 

I did understand your point, even if I conflated someone else's $45.00 price point with your original post. And I understand why you'd like a nicer, more expensive Chinese pen. But I stand by what I said -- taking away the only truly cheap fountain pens wouldn't be a good thing.

[Maurizio]

I'm glad we understand each other across the ether waves. And, I respect your opinion. Thanks for your comments Blatherscribe.

[ParkerDuofold]

Oh! Temptation! At $1.80 per pen I am sorely tempted. But I have more than enough fountain pens at this time.

 

Now I'm going to go back and forth on this all day .

 

 

 

 

http://i427.photobucket.com/albums/pp360/Ink_Stained_Wretch/Street_cleaning_equipment_St._Louis.png

Am I going to fall off the wagon again?

Hi ISW,

 

 

Far be it from me to push a guy off the wagon, but just to let you know, I offered him $25 for the set of 15 & he accepted... that makes it a paltry sum of only $1.67 per pen and that includes shipping! Yeah!!

 

Yes, I know I'm a bit of a stinker, but misery loves company.

 

- Anthony

Edited April 26, 2017 by ParkerDuofold

[pajaro]

 

If I could find a Super Mario fountain pen.... Well, a man can dream, can he?

 

WAIT. That's real?? Does the pen act as a writing wand?

It's a Sonnet. Doesn't probably do jack.

[aeba]

The few times I have been tempted to buy some Chinese pen(s), my problems have been these:

 

• Who are the trustworthy vendors? With (claims of?) fakes, I kind of don't want to pay anything on some random vendor. Apparently Jewelrymathematics is one of the good ones.
  • PayPal is still a no go, due to few personal problems with it.
• Nib choices. I mostly use European B or BB nibs. The pen(s) has to have at least European M.
  • Sure, I could get a Kaigelu 316 and put a Bock nib in it, but eah.
• The quality control.

[EHV]

In the States, Hisnibs is a great vendor and he checks out the nib before he sends a pen out. You'll pay a bit more but it shouldn't be a dud when you get it and Norman is terrific to deal with.

(No affiliation, just a satisfied customer.) :-)

I'm looking for a Hero 616, but there are so many fakes out there that I can't tell the difference. Plus, with isellpens out of business, I can't just go there and know that I'm getting a real one. Anyone know where I can find a real one? Somewhere that isn't ebay or amazon or wish, please. well... unless you know a seller that actually has real ones.

Edited April 26, 2017 by EHV

[Ink Stained Wretch]

Hi ISW,

 

 

Far be it from me to push a guy off the wagon, but just to let you know, I offered him $25 for the set of 15 & he accepted... that makes it a paltry sum of only $1.67 per pen and that includes shipping! Yeah!!

 

Yes, I know I'm a bit of a stinker, but misery loves company.

 

Well, I have fallen off the wagon. I plunked for the offer of 15 pens for $27 . I would have considered trying to get the same thing for $25, but I had such a hard time getting Flea-Bay and PayOpponent to work that it took from yesterday to the middle of this afternoon to get the purchase to happen. After all of that I just wanted to get the transaction done before the vendor ran out of stock. So I guess that I'm paying $2 more than I could have. I hope that the Jinhao 992s are good enough that I will be able to forget the entire buying experience.

 

It turns out that my operating system is so old that my browser just barely supports it, and the browser was failing each time I tried to check out. What a waste of time.

 

I probably need to get a new computer . My current one won't take much in the way of upgrades of the OS.

 

I know that some sites will no longer allow older OSs to access their sites; I hope that FPN doesn't do that any time soon ! That would be an enormous drag.