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I was looking up pen history and found this article on Croatian Tourist Board website: The reason for the choice of the pen is simple and also an added acknowledgement for journalists. Croatia is the home of the fountain pen! According to the Croatian encyclopaedic dictionary, pen is the colloquial name for the fountain pen, ball point pen and mechanical graphite pencil. Where did this name come from? For their “father”, one time inhabitant of Zagreb, engineer Slavoljub Eduard Penkala (born in 1871 and died in 1922), one of the most famous inventors in the 20th century. Among eighty or so inventions in the areas of mechanics, chemistry, physics and aeronautics is also the invention of the first mechanical pencil and fountain pen. The first mechanical pencil in the world was patented by engineer Penkala on the 24th of January 2006 and the first fountain pen in the world with solid-ink, on the 31st of May 1907. The invention were patented in more than 35 countries in the world and manufacturing of the fountain pen and ball point pen in the Zagreb based factory grew. In the year 1906 the cooperation between engineer Slavoljub Penkala and Edmund Moster began, resulting in the “Penkala-Moster” company and in 1911 the creation of the joint stock company “Penkala – Edmund Moster” and construction of a new factory with a significantly larger capacity in the Zagreb street Branimirova. At the same time another member of the Moster family using joint capital opened a factory in Germany. Penkala’s pencils and fountain pens at this time were exported to over 70 countries in the world and in the time period between 1912 and 1926 it was one of the biggest factories of writing equipment in the world. And so at the beginning of the 20th century these revolutionary inventions and symbols of the journalist profession ventured into the world from Zagreb, Croatia and took it by storm. First of all mechanical pencil was invented in 1822 in Great Britain and in the 50 years following invention more than 160 patents pertaining a variety of improvements were registered. So Idea that Slovakian engineer of Polish/Dutch heritage Penkala invented mechanical pencil is just ridiculous. And regarding solid-ink fountain pen all I can say, I don't know what that is but I don't believe Penkala invented it. I get really annoyed when this fervently nationalist small countries claim inventions out of thin air and with no evidence what so ever.

A quick question gentlefolk. I notice in the listings on the Bay of E that quite a few pens are offered from some interesting places - Uruguay, Argentina and Turkey spring to mind, though there are others. So, are sales from these less mainstream places largely genuine or not? Or is it all just a big gamble? Okay, that was two questions when I only promised one. Sue me!