Duke Fountain Pens

[mke]

Does anybody know anything about them?
And their relationship with Germany?
And if they really learnt making nibs from Jowo?

Thank you.

 

I remember that their homepage (www.dukepen.com/) was always trouble and their contact address was equivalent to >0.

 

Edited March 23, 2020 by mke

[Corp.]

The Dukes I own aren't better than the "standard"Jinhaos as X450, 159 etc. Neither are the nibs. Their relationship with Germany? I think it's a myth.

[Mech-for-i]

As with most of these gift market Chinese fountain pen brand .. it depend on the vintage, and the said model .. for a rather long while during its early days Duke had their nib supplied via both German import ( multiple sources ) and home market OEM ; in recent years most of its nibs on the low end models are indeed from German import but that does not equate quality since the economic nature of the pricing means those are just well off the shelf parts mostly. Instead most of its mid range and high end model are now OEM from home market where they can specify branding and decor easier. As to whether the nibs are better , it depend on the batch and the model in question and which OEM are chosen at the time.

 

Jinhao, Duke, Baoer, and a number of newer names ( more fashion / store brand ) are all no different than the like of Cross in term of their aimed market approach and their product thus reflect, while some specific model might be interesting, overall they are just shall I say generic and having no surprise , works , but do not expect anything above and beyond, if the styling caught your fancy , just get one , else the pen part is just as generic and de facto ..

Edited April 8, 2020 by Mech-for-i

[Aramchek]

I bought a Duke either last year or the year before (I've forgotten what it was called), mostly because it had an interesting nib shape and apparently wrote well. It arrived with a completely different nib and wrote horrendously. The seller insisted that it was the right item and Duke had just changed it and sucks to be me basically. I can't remember if I failed a claim or not.

 

So I found another seller, told him what happened, and asked him to guarantee that it would be shipped with the right nib. Of course, he said, he was completely and utterly trustworthy and they would check before shipping.

 

I think everyone can guess what happened next.

[Aysedasi]

I have a Duke Chaplin. Looks nice but is very heavy (even for me) and the nib is really quite unpleasant. I haven't used it for a long time. I'd have sold it but it's not really worth much....

[mke]

> Their relationship with Germany? I think it's a myth.

Absolutely no myth. Until 2 years ago, there was a homepage of Duke pens in German. I forgot to save it. Now it is gone.

And the "learning" information, I got from a pen manufacturer. It was also said that the founder of Jowo nibs told that he trained some Chinese many years ago.

 

Personally I like the performance of the bigger Duke nibs very much. I have several duke pens and all but one of the bigger nibs wrote well out of the box. I haven't bought recently, however.

 

[lovemy51]

Hi there. i remember over 10 years ago, there were some treads that addressed that issue of Duke relation with Germany... if you can go back in [search] time... maybe you'll find something.

 

i have a few Dukes and like them very much, tho' as mentioned here before, they can be a wee heavy. my fav in looks is the "Spider", at least i think that is what Isellpens.com (no longer in business) used to call it.

 

here's a pic (no affiliations...)

https://www.peytonstreetpens.com/duke-9006-fountain-pen-blue-resin-gold-colored-cap-fine-new-in-box.html

[mke]

@lovemy51

Thank you. The box shows the name I had forgotten: https://www.peytonst...new-in-box.html

German Duke Lux Pen GmbH

and here we have a working homepage: http://www.dukepen.eu/

 

And the information translated from Polish to English:

"Duke is a brand originally registered in Germany in 1809. It did not function for many years of the twentieth century, until in 1988 it was reactivated by G.Crown - the current owner. Nowadays, it has in its assortment a whole range of writing instruments made of such materials as brass, stainless steel, lacquer and series finished with chrome and gold. For several years, it has also been launching special limited series. Leather and wooden products have been added to a wide range of stationery."

Catalogue: http://www.ps-net.eu/dukepen/Duke2017.pdf

[Corp.]

Here in Germany, nobody knows Duke GmbH (=Ltd.). Their pens can be found on amazon.de (https://www.amazon.de/Duke-Kalligrafie-F%C3%BCllhalter-Konfuzius-without/dp/B072SDRL2V/ref=sr_1_3?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&crid=182NK1P09UOST&dchild=1&keywords=duke+f%C3%BCllfederhalter&qid=1586446651&sprefix=duke+f%C3%BC%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-3) but it's obvious that no german native speaker is the seller. The used text is obviously from Google translater.

[Corp.]

In 1806 nobody spoke english in Germany (Germany was occupied by french troops...), so why use an english trademark?

 

 

The minimum requirements of the german law are not respected:

 

I doubt that this company has ANY relationship with Germany...

[mke]

> Here in Germany, nobody knows Duke GmbH

Oh, you are the spokesman of Germans. Please avoid such bold claims.

 

You are just guessing.

 

I will check other sources, like if it is/was really a GmbH. And their relationship with the Chinese company Dukepens is also somewhat strange.

 

I will update when I have facts.

[jchch1950]

I have a few and I like how they write out of the box and for a few minutes. They still are mint because I never use them as I find them heavy.

[fabri00]

To me it look a regular Chinese pen, and somebody registered the brand in Germany to give the impression it is a German pen.

Similar toghe situation of cangarou pens, which sounds Australia, but aga9n they are just chinese pens.

[mke]

> regular Chinese pen

perhaps. The surprising part is that it has now a Polish homepage. Probably, one never will know exactly.

Anyway, the pens are not bad - some of them, I really can recommend.

[Cyclohexene]

With or without their supposed relationship with Germany, their products sure don't have any German flavour to them. PenBBS which is Chinese through and through has products closer to the German engineering spirit than Duke that tries to sell only on German heritage and not quality. I guess what I'm saying is that their German name is meaningless when it comes to things that actually matter.

[fabri00]

> Here in Germany, nobody knows Duke GmbH

Oh, you are the spokesman of Germans. Please avoid such bold claims.

 

You are just guessing.

 

I will check other sources, like if it is/was really a GmbH. And their relationship with the Chinese company Dukepens is also somewhat strange.

 

I will update when I have facts.

look at "product description" in this page:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Duke-Gentleman-Fountain-Chinese-Lacquer/dp/B00J5AM1M6

[fabri00]

With manufacturing based on Shanghai, China, the Shanghai G. Crown Fountain Pen Co., Ltd. has introduced its new line of pens, called DUKE. Registered in Europe as German Duke Lux Pen GmbH.,and drawing heavily upon its R&D sub-branch located in Germany, the DUKE brand uses advanced German and European pen-making technology, and employs it to bring traditional Chinese motifs to mid-range and high-end pens and limited editions. When APEC meeting is held in Shanghai in the year of 2001 and the Duke pen is chosen by Prime minister Zhu Rongji and other Chinese diplomats as the contract pen for the important national meetings in the seventh meeting in August, 2002. After that, Duke Golden pen is officially entitled as the contract pen for the China’s prime national meetings and won the international brands’ trust and reputation. More instances, Duke pen has won the right as the general agency of the F1 products in China, in charge of its researching and developing, producing, and sales. Therefore, Duke Golden pen is well known by lots of international pen producing units and regarded as the most valuable classic pen collection in China.

[sansenri]

Two or three Years ago I visited a fountain pen shop in Poland which besides other brands (including some very nice GvFC) had a large section dedicated to Duke. Several of the pens on show were mid to upper end models, with gold nibs and costing several hundred Euros.

 

some older FPN threads

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/7569-duke-fountain-pens/

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/198830-duke-209-fountain-pen/

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/258182-your-view-on-duke-fountain-pens/

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/315866-duke-fountain-pens/

 

here is one with a gold nib

https://www.dhgate.com/product/luxury-14k-gold-pen-germany-duke-fountain/431737255.html

not my cup of tea though

[Corp.]

I made a research - NO Duke GmbH known in Germany.

 

But sure, I'm only guessing....

 

 

 

 

[fabri00]

In the link I posted the German company should be:

 

Registered in Europe as German Duke Lux Pen GmbH