In general, I feel like there are price brackets for fountain pens in which you can find pens of similar quality and features. This Hinze Americana is made by hand and is different than pens made by major pen manufacturers. Some of the most expensive pen bodies will even feature precious metals or gems.Įxample: Kaweco Sport – Plastic: $25, Brass: $100 The same goes for maki-e, which is essentially a painted scene or decoration on a fountain pen. Hand-painted finishes such as urushi cost significantly more due to the amount of labor involved in creating them. More exotic materials and finishes can drive the price up even higher. For example, a Kaweco Sport in brass or aluminum can cost 3 to 4-times more than the plastic version, even though the rest of the pen is identical. Metal pens will typically cost more than a plastic pen.
Pens with fancier plastics, such as those with a mix of colors or sparkles, can cost more than the same pen with a solid-colored body. Typically, a solid-colored plastic body will be the least expensive option.
The material the pen body is made of is probably the most obvious fountain pen feature and therefore can have the biggest impact on the price of a pen. Larger pens need larger nibs to keep the overall look balanced, but some people do say that larger nibs feel nicer to write with.Įxample: Lamy Studio – Steel nib: $80, Gold nib: $180Įbonite feeds (left) have a rougher, less perfect appearance than plastic feeds (right). One reason for this is that they simply have more material, so they cost more to manufacturer. Larger nibs will almost always cost more than a smaller nib. I’m not talking about Fine, Medium or Broad, but the physical size of the nib itself. Nib size can also influence the price of a pen. Nib shapes and sizes outside of Fine, Medium or Broad, such as stubs, italics and even music nibs, can increase the price of a pen. Extremely cheap steel nibs may not even have any tipping material, which means that they can be quite scratchy to write with. Less expensive pens tend to have steel nibs, which can still write very well, but are not typically as soft or flexible as a gold or titanium nib. Nibs influence your writing experience and how your writing looks. Pen prices are taken from the same retailer. Please note that for the particular pen models I mention, they will typically feature more than one price-affecting variable, so when comparing a Pelikan M200 to a Pelikan M800 for example, they will have different nibs, sizes and sometimes even body materials. I know that everyone has different tastes and preferences, so I’m going to do my best to remain neutral and just present why each particular variable can influence the price of a pen.įor each part below, I’ll try to give an actual example to show how much of a price difference you can expect. My goal is to give you some tools that you can use when considering a pen to decide if it’s going to be worth it to you. I want to discuss each part of a fountain pen that has a significant influence on price and/or performance. Isn’t it amazing that such a seemingly simple object can have such a huge range of options and prices?
Of course, pens are made up of more than just three pieces, but in general that’s what makes them work.
A nib, a body to hold the nib and a reservoir to hold some ink. Were they worth it? They were, as they have saved me much frustration over the years and I haven’t had to buy new knives to replaces ones that were no longer any good.įountain pens at their core are fairly simple objects. Were they inexpensive when I got them? No, they definitely weren’t. For example, I’ve owned the same set of kitchen knives for almost 20 years and they’re still amazing. I would rather spend more money to buy something once and be done with it than need to re-purchase something multiple times. I am willing to spend money on things that will stand up over time and that have a quality relative to their price. That is not the same thing as being cheap. The first thing you should know about me is I like value. One of the biggest questions many people who are somewhat new to fountain pens have is what is the difference between an expensive fountain pen and an inexpensive fountain pen? It is really worth spending hundreds or even thousands more on a pen? In this post I want to talk about some of the more significant differences between expensive and inexpensive pens.
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