Iridium Point Nibs

[mke]

Usually, "Iridium Point Germany" nibs point to Chinese pens.

But, is it always so?

Are there non-Chinese makers who use "Iridium Point" or "Iridium Point Germany" nibs?

 

Thank you.

[BlueJ]

Some of the German-made stainless steel nibs from Schmidt and Jowo carry the "Iridium Point Germany" engraving. Those are good-quality nibs. Some cheap Indian and Chinese nibs also carry the designation, indicating only that the tipping alloy is supposed to have come from Germany. The latter nibs are hit-or-miss as to quality, but can often write well after some adjustment and/or smoothing.

 

There are a lot of posts about this--do a search.

Edited April 30, 2017 by BlueJ

[Meltemi]

Many european pen turners carry these. For me IPG = Not made for writing, look at the beautiful materials instead. I am not aware if some are somehow adjusted, but on ebay these can be found from chinese sellers. I would stay away from anything realated with these unless I plan on changing the nib.

[dcwaites]

Very rarely do I have to adjust any nibs from Jinhao, Hero or Kaigelu. Most of them, and especially on the +$10 models, write perfectly out of the box. Many Jinhao nibs are not round, but a smoothed boxy shape, giving interesting character when you are writing.

[Beechwood]

Agree with DCW, never had a problem with Jinhao nibs, for smoothness or flow. Must admit that that I havent had a problem with IPG, or one IP Paris, possible improvement with a glass but the work of a moment.

[Bluey]

Some of the German-made stainless steel nibs from Schmidt and Jowo carry the "Iridium Point Germany" engraving. Those are good-quality nibs. Some cheap Indian and Chinese nibs also carry the designation, indicating only that the tipping alloy is supposed to have come from Germany. The latter nibs are hit-or-miss as to quality, but can often write well after some adjustment and/or smoothing.

 

There are a lot of posts about this--do a search.

What are the visible differences between the ones made in Germany and the ones made in China/India?

Edited May 24, 2017 by Bluey

[jar]

What are the visible differences between the ones made in Germany and the ones made in China/India?

None.

[Bluey]

None.

Wonder how BlueJ/whoever would know which is which then. Hmmm

 

btw nice new avatar

Edited May 24, 2017 by Bluey

[Miaxina]

I have an Indian eye dropper called 'Click Glare rainbow fountain pen' which has an iridium point nib. It writes very very wet, which makes most of my inks lose its shading on that pen.. but gives a very crisp fine line, which I like. I haven't had any problems with the nib so far.

[BlueJ]

Bluey,

When you buy a pen, the origin of the nib is usually specified by the seller or manufacturer. If you want some visual cues, I suggest you search the FPN forums or the Web in general for images of Bock, Schmidt and Jowo nibs and nib units, as well as Chinese and Indian nibs. Those will be more informative than any brief description I could give.

[rwilsonedn]

About all IPG on the nib means now is that the pen maker doesn't think the intended customer group is well-enough informed to care about the origin of the nib. It certainly doesn't mean the tipping contains iridium, and unfortunately it doesn't always even mean the tipping material was made in Germany. It never meant that the nib itself was made in Germany. Today most pen vendors will either let the nib manufacturer brand the nib, or they will pay the extra few cents to have their own design and brand stamped on it.

ron

[mke]

You can often see that pens with such a nib are sold as pens from Germany (Yahoo Auctions Japan).

Apparently, the name Germany has still a good value - like a brand.

[Ink Stained Wretch]

As I have it, and this could be researched quite a lot here on FPN, the Iridium Point German (IPG) designation did mean that the pen was made in Germany, it may have at one time also indicated that the actual element Iridium was used in the tipping material. The expense of Iridium has resulted in other hard metals becoming the tipping material for fountain pens for quite a long time now.

 

And then a nib making company in Germany went out of business and sold all of their nib making equipment, including all of the dies, to a company in the so-called People's Republic of China. Among the dies was the one that stamped the IPG on the top of the nibs. And so that factory which is thousands of miles away from Germany began to crank out IPG nibs in their millions, and they still do.

 

Had the German company withheld that one die, or maybe it's more than one, there would be no confusion about IPG nibs today. We'd see the same nibs, but they might not have the formerly informative IPG words stamped on them.