S.t. Dupont Chinese Lacquer Scratch Resistance

[desertdingo]

Hi all,

 

I've been admiring the S.T. Dupont fountain pens with Chinese lacquer bodies, and I have 2 questions:

 

1) How resistant is Chinese lacquer to micro scratches. For example, I have several polished stainless steel pens and they are not resistant to scratches at all. (I am aware the answers will be subjective, but let me know your experience)

 

2) Is the "leaf symbol" the only correct and ensuring way to identify if a S.T. Dupont pen has Chinese Lacquer? (Are there cases where the pen is made of Chinese Lacquer and did not have the leaf symbol?)

 

 

[jar]

Maybe an example might help.

 

Here is one of my ST Dupont lighters that spent decades in my pocket with coins and keys. It is a cigar band design with black Laque du Chine and a solid brass body.

 

http://www.fototime.com/10A64D294C60876/standard.jpg

 

Click for a really large picture where you can see all the scratches. Note those in the solid brass to get an idea of what the laque withstood.

 

Forgot to answer the second question.

 

2) Is the "leaf symbol" the only correct and ensuring way to identify if a S.T. Dupont pen has Chinese Lacquer? (Are there cases where the pen is made of Chinese Lacquer and did not have the leaf symbol?)

 

 

The leaf is not an assurance of authenticity since the fakes will also have the symbol. Also, yes, there were ST Dupont pens with Laque du Chine and no leaf symbol. But there the term was also imprinted in the banding and furniture. Remember the fakes are often good enough to fool even those who think they know the brand pretty well.

[desertdingo]

Thanks Jar for the reply!

 

It does look like that the lacquer can take more of a beating than the brass (or at least hides it better)

 

Reading your posts was what got me into looking at Duponts. I remember you once ranked Dupont to be same level as GVFC, did you mean fit & finish quality or nib performance? (or both?)

[jchch1950]

I believe that the chinese lacquer is very resilient to daily carefully use. One of my series one got a nasty scratch but after a certain time -or maybe it is my imagination-it got smaller as if the lacquer has some natural elastic nature. Also you can notice in some of the different colors like turtle shell that the work was done by hand as there are differences from one model to the other.

[jar]

Thanks Jar for the reply!

 

It does look like that the lacquer can take more of a beating than the brass (or at least hides it better)

 

Reading your posts was what got me into looking at Duponts. I remember you once ranked Dupont to be same level as GVFC, did you mean fit & finish quality or nib performance? (or both?)

I definitely consider ST Dupont pens to be at or very near the top when it comes to fountain pens. Their nibs may well be the very smoothest nibs I've had the pleasure of using for widths from XF to BB and across all models from the earliest Classiques to the newest Neo-Classiques. I've never found another company that has a higher standard of fit & finish and only a very few that come close.

 

The one possible area to be aware of might be if you want flex. I have found a few of the nibs found on the early Classiques had some flex and a few later soft nibs but none would be what I consider as flexible.

[FrankB]

destertdingo, S. T. Dupont fp's are mightily expensive, thus I have only two to my name (thus far ). Both write extraordinarily well and are among my favorite fp's. As long as you are not an intentional pen abuser, I think you will find the Laque du Chine will hold up very well. My pens are decades old, and I cannot see any marks on them at all. I give S. T. Dupont fp's my highest recommendation among quality writing instruments. But, as always, you must make your own decision.

[Pen_Noob]

Interesting comments regarding Dupont. I have only 1 - an Elipsis and it writes OK, but not more than OK.

Too dry for my taste and a little finicky about the ink used.

Other that that, I think Caran D'Ache has a higher build quality.

[jar]

Interesting comments regarding Dupont. I have only 1 - an Elipsis and it writes OK, but not more than OK.

Too dry for my taste and a little finicky about the ink used.

Other that that, I think Caran D'Ache has a higher build quality.

Caran d'Ache is one of the companies I'd put on the same level as ST Dupont and Graf von Faber Castell as well.