High End Chinese Pens

[Stu L]

I know there have been some Chinese pens that are clones or homages to high end pens. I'm thinking of the Jinhao/ MB149 especially and the Kaigelu 316/ Duofold, lots of Parker sonnets.

 

Two questions spring to mind:

Do you think we'll ever see the equivalent of something like a Pelikan 400-1000

 

And what's then cream of the cream for non 'inspired' pens?

[OCArt]

We now have Chinese piston-filler pens and a copy of a TWSBI so anything is possible.

[Ian the Jock]

I know there have been some Chinese pens that are clones or homages to high end pens. I'm thinking of the Jinhao/ MB149 especially and the Kaigelu 316/ Duofold, lots of Parker sonnets.

 

Two questions spring to mind:

Do you think we'll ever see the equivalent of something like a Pelikan 400-1000

I think we will, but certainly not at the same price.

 

The Hero 2065 is pretty high end, although there are others that cost away more.

 

Ian

[Mech-for-i]

well, depends, high end is a rather vague term .. one had to remember that quite a large part of Asia still see the fountain pen simply as a writing tool, admit a premium one, its still a writing tool. China in particular so. And one do not made such tool too inaccessible so to speak. High end might mean complex / unique pen mechanism, might be luxury materials, custom hand craftsmanship, or just plain expensive branding ( Montblanc 147 say ).

 

The other part is market driven. Well for sure Chinese Mfrs can made some very high end pens but can they sell that in a volume that warrant the effort and investment ; and subjectively will the market buy such product. You just had to check around this forum ( other than this particular section ) , many , even those who should be in the know, and some simply subjectively, still view anything from China, India, or for the matter not from Japan nor Germany / Italy alike are not worth it no matter what and question like " why get a Chinese / Indian / ( fill in your own ) pen " is not uncommon. Is that not a mentality reflecting a large part of the fountain pen user community world wide ( China included ). If its just a waste effort trying to made some high end pen that function great but will not sell, might be then its better to made some good pens that function well and sell. And good does not need to be expensive or high end.

 

Just like the rest of the world, China had a number of individual workshops chucking out custom pens; and one sure could term them high end. Hero had many premium priced ( compare to their others ) that are certainly their own; and the Mfr still continue to market high end pen of their own, its just that they do not even bother to offer it to the export market. Models like the whole 2XXX series, or the whole 1XX range ( Hero 100 is not the only 1XX range model ). Brands like Picasso , Duke and others had in the past made effort to market high end ( aka luxury and expensive ) pens but ultimately they fail so they either fold or turn to market more market savvy products.

 

Then there are the other High End pens, pens that are made to be quality PEN ; instead of fashion / luxury accessories. The Lorelei, New Moon, Type 226, Ego 2 Solid Color, Hero H703 etc all push the envelope of pen making and this is a trend starting way back in the 90's .. in a fashion we had a range of high end pens of the sort ..

[DrDebG]

Has anyone done a review on the Hero 2065 or other "gold nib" Chinese pen?

[Mech-for-i]

Plenty of them online .. but I fear most of the review are somewhat all skewed

[Seele]

There was a Chinese maker Lanbo with high aspirations, and in some ways succeeded, applying some of the twenty-something international design patents to their pens, such as built-in slit flossing mechanism and such. However, beyond a certain price point, customers - especially Chinese customers - would rather go for a big-name import, which led to the firm's demise.

 

As long as there is that cultural cringe regarding Chinese products - and painting them all as "copies" with a huge brush uncritically - it could well be some time before that could happen.