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There are dozens of listings of new Lamy Dialog 3 and Dialog cc on eBay. All from China. Offered for about $150 and even $125. The only caveat, it seems, is that they do not ship with gift box. Just the usual Lamy sleeve. Here are a few examples: https://www.ebay.com/itm/405060698783 https://www.ebay.com/itm/355821237677 https://www.ebay.com/itm/355821477884 I don't think they are knock-offs.

In case this might be of interest, here's the story of a Sheaffer Tip-Dip Cadet I now have. Six months or so ago, I bid on an Ebay pen that supposedly was a Sheaffer Snorkel in excellent condition. I thought I was paying a very good price (around $20, as I recall it) and won the auction a little easier than I thought I would. After receiving the item, I realized two things: first, that it had been misidentified and actually was a Tip-Dip Cadet and, second, that the sac was brittle and disintegrated to hard pieces when I touched it. I already had two Cadets in excellent condition that were previously sold to me by a much more honest seller. In fact, the previous seller had advertised a semi-flex SM1 nib and when the Cadet arrived with a plain medium M1 and I contacted him, he sent me a second whole Cadet with the SM1 nib and said to just keep both for the price of one. Since I never got into the workings of the Cadet, I decided to just keep my third one, that had a broken sac. I took it apart and learned how it worked, but I did not feel very motivated to go out and buy a new sac (plus postage), since I already had two working Cadets (actually, one working one and one that never had been inked). I thought that I'd like to just see if I could get the third one into working condition, as long as I had it sitting around. Its one redeeming feature was that it had a fine F1 nib, different from the SM1 and M1 I had on the others. It just sat around until I started scrounging around for an unbroken sac I could try on it. I pulled the sac from a Wing Sung pen I had in a drawer that I never used because it had a bent squeeze filler. The sac looked supple and as good as new. My next problem was that I had no shellac, so, just for fun, I decided to see what would happen if I mounted the Wing Sung sac on the Cadet. Since there was a tight sac protector, I thought I might get away with using no shellac. The o-ring and blind cap gaskets were also shot and I found an o-ring among my plumbing washers and made a blind cap gasket out of some of my cut sac material. Well, it wound up working pretty well and I've been using it. Recently, I began to worry that it might leak and destroy my shirt, due to the lack of shellac. I searched and searched for people who said you could use a sac protector without shellac, but to no avail. Everyone said you needed shellac. Not wanting to buy a whole pint or order a bottle when I only needed a drop or two, I searched for a woodworking shop. This morning I found one and the owner kindly invited me to stop by for a free ounce or so of orange shellac. I went there this afternoon, ready to explain my strange reason for shellac: to repair a fountain pen sac. To my surprise, the woodworker turned out to be an amateur wooden fountain pen maker! I showed him the pen I was working on and he showed me his wooden self-made cartridge pen, some of which he sells on Etsy auctions! Since he doesn't use sacs, he actually never had heard of using shellac for this purpose. He also complained about his pens getting plugged up. I told him about using a 1:10 solution of ammonia and using a syringe to force water through the feed. So, as I wait for the shellac to dry, I'm still not sure if I need a third Cadet like a hole in the head or not. But, it was an interesting experience, in any case.

I inked up a pan using this ink and was very pleasantly surprised. Please see the photo for my review. The paper is Clairefontaine.

Dear all, (I hope I am posting in the right part of the forum. Apologies if I am not and, moderators, please help me move this message where appropriate.) TL;DR: This is about an issue with a 1970s Pilot Elite, Soft 18K Nib. I have never seen something like this before, but I suspect there is something wrong with the iridium tip of this pen. In plain English, I think it's missing. Could you please comment? Details: I just received a few pens from an eBay seller from Japan. One of the pens felt very scratchy on my thumb, so I started looking at its with 10x optics. Here are the photos, Figures 1-3, showing the nib overhead, sideways, and underneath, respectively. The original photo from seller seems to me to show the nib with tip, but I will not display it for now so I do not damage the reputation of the seller (which is high wherever I checked). My questions are: What do you think could be the problem? Is there a missing (iridium) tip? Is this reason to contact the seller and complain? What would be a typical request - money back? Is there any other way I could fix this? Can the nib be re-tipped? Who could do this and what would be typical expenses? Many thanks. Figure 1. Nib from above. Figure 2. Nib from the side. Figure 3. Nib from underneath.

There's a eBay promotion in play for 26/9/2021 that gives any random Joe Punter 20% off the prices in Peter's of Kensington's official eBay store, or 22% off for eBay Plus members. Sadly, not much of interest to me personally (even if I were still in the market for pens and inks today), but I'll call out that: Monteverde 10-colour (Bloo, Emotions, Gemstone, and Noir ink collections) gift sets are now A$56 (or less) after discount Pelikan Souverän M605 Green-White fountain pen (different nib sizes still available) is now A$416.80 (or less) after discount That is much cheaper than ordering it from my normal go-to European retailers for Pelikan products, even after stacking discounts to get an overall 19%–20% off the regular price, and with ‘free’ international shipping by DHL. I personally wouldn't be able to get those items any cheaper anywhere else.

Anyone ever heard of / dealt with Pens and Beyond out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, otherwise known as Uwe Gruening? I notice he posts at Pentrace. I ended up in a bidding war with someone on an ebay auction of his for an ostensibly uninked Stipula Etruria Nuda Demonstrator, #207/351. I received the pen, and lo and behold, the pen is clearly used: http://i.imgur.com/mDzABwn.jpg?1 as you can see, there's a clear green ink ring where the piston seal sits when the piston is retracted. Turns out all the seller's feedback has 'private' listings so you can't see what he's been buying and selling. Pro scammer or honest mistake? Anyone ever dealt with him before?

Just a word of caution if you are tempted to buy one of the metal Pelikan signs for sale on eBay. Although they appear to be embossed metal they are in fact flat and the quality looks like the image was upsized from a small jpeg file-- That is the image has a fuzzy, out-of-focus appearance. The sign is OK from a distance but certainly not what I was expecting.

Hi Folks, I just bought a used pen on eBay that had the description "works very well". After cleaning it, I tried to ink it up with both a converter and a cartridge. Neither would seat in the pen and the ink leaked out all over. The seller offered me less than half the value of the pen + shipping, without return shipping. I refused the offer and told them that I would be opening a case with eBay and also leaving them a bad review. Any advice, other than to buy only from known sellers going forward? Out them by name here? Is there a thread in FPN where complaints and praise is found?

Hello, frequent listener - first time caller etc. I've just started dipping my toes into dip pens (ho ho) and have made a discovery I thought I'd share (if this is common knowledge then just humour me). If you enter 'Wood Copperplate Calligraphy Pen' into eBay's search you'll quickly come across this.... It's a very cheap dip pen set from China - you get a wooden holder, three nibs and a tiny pot of ink. Well, it turns out that the reservoir attached to the 'Student Nib' pings off very easily and slides onto a regular G-nib with no fuss whatsoever! It holds a ton of ink and goes forever. I've ordered five more kits (a whopping £11) just for the reservoirs. As it happens the holders are comfortable and the 'Round Nib' is genuinely excellent to use so why not?. The reservoirs (the 'Round Nib' also comes with a reservoir) will probably fit other popular nibs, too, but like I said I'm new to all this so I can't check.

Good morning, I'm currently looking for my very first vintage flex pen and my second vintage pen in total. My only vintage pen that I currently own is a Parker Vacumatic with a low to medium flex nib. I love the pen and I've recently been on the hunt for a 'true' flex nib. Although I certainly don't have the budget to go for anything crazy, (like a pink nib) there are way too many beautiful options out there to not get excited and a little bit lost. (All my modern pens have a broad nib) I've been eyeing the waterman's in particular, mainly because of the beautiful nibs with the long tines that some of them have, as well as the gorgeous materials. One of the pens that I've been looking at is this one that I found on ebay. There are some scratches on the material, particularly around the personalization and bite marks at the end, which makes it impossible to read the model. Would this be a good purchase and/or are there any vintage Waterman sellers that you'd recommend? I like the material of this listing and the capabilities of the nib, but I'm not crazy about the condition. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Watermans-Ideal-FLEX-fountain-pen-14k-XF-BBB-GORGEOUS-green-gold-RARE/164207465050

With the assistance and guidance of Bo Bo, who has really educated me on Geha pens (they dont even have a chapter in Lambrous book...), I have been hunting down a clean Geha Schulfüllfederhalter from Ebay. ^A clean pen without much wear and tear. It is a slim pen that can be used posted and unposted. It weighs nothing and is very comfortable to hold and use. The materials dont feel exactly high-end (they feel like cheap plastic), but the workmanship is a good example of German design and Deutsche Gründlichkeit: all the parts are engineered very well and everything functions as intended. The piston feels solid and straight away everything works as it should. ^The Geha clip design is a detail that I really like. ^The ink window is nice and clear. Steel nib and what appears to be an ebonite feed. The section can be easily unscrewed from the barrel. The greenish rod activates the unique reserve tank feature of these pens, allowing another 1 to 2 pages before a refill. How does it write? Geha was pointed out to me my Bo Bo as part of my search for a modern pen with a vintage writing experience. Contrary to what Bo Bo and I expected, the nib of my Schulfüllfederhalter is rigid. Under moderate pressure, it can be induced to produce a bit of line variation but clearly this nib was not intended for that. It is not a nail, it offers a bit of cushioning which I like a lot, but normal writing with minimal pressure does not offer even the slightest bit of line width variation. That was a bit of a letdown, but on the plus side this pen writes very well. Line width is what we would now call western-EF and I really appreciate the crispness and thinness of the lines in conjunction with the nibs smoothnessa and degree of control. The nib initially needed a bit of attention, because it loved cursive italic writing at a certain angle (clearly it had been used a lot in exactly the same way for many many years) but did not like any other style of writing. That was easily fixed and the pen is a pleasure to use. For what I paid for it, this actually is a very nice pen and it will be in regular use. That this pen still works 100% after many decades is a testament to how well it was made. The attention to detail and the high degree of engineering more than compensate for the economy-grade materials.

You know the old warning about sending food back in a restaurant because someone might spit in it? Well, I think an eBay seller just spit on my Estie. Ordered my first two Esterbrooks on eBay---a Gray Pearl LJ from someone who focuses more on other types of collectible items (higher perceived risk, lower price), and a Copper J from someone who claims to deal in lots of Esterbrooks (lower perceived risk, higher price...$49.99). From the latter listing: Restored state: Working J bar and fresh bladder in each. These pens are guaranteed to write.Overall condition: These pens are in gently used condition. There will be no major flaws, but there may be micro scratches consistent with the age of the pen. We are fountain pen enthusiasts and our special purpose on Ebay is to provide you with quality writing materials, vintage and new, expensive and economical. The first Copper J arrived with three significant cracks running from the jewel on the cap, downward (it was otherwise in very good condition). I felt this was beyond the advertised "gently used condition...no major flaws...may be micro scratches consistent with the age of the pen." The seller agreed to exchange it for another Copper J. I paid return shipping...she sent the replacement...and...well, read the first line of my post. The new one arrived yesterday. Technically, one could argue the J bar "works," but it's severely rusted, as is the lever. There was so much dried ink caked in the nib, feed, and inside the cap, it's taking endless soaking in Dawn and distilled water (two hours and counting) to clear the mess. As for the "fresh bladder," I'm not sure. Can't get a good look inside, but am concerned by the fact the lever easily flips all the way up, unlike my other two Esties that stop half way, presumably due to resistance from the sac (yes, a third Estie found its way to my stable in the interim). Is all this worth trying to repair, or should I attempt to return this to the seller (in better condition than it was received)? Something tells me, I'm not the first person to have this happen. And this, after the first hour in the bath:

Where or who are the best professional and reputable sources (vendors/dealers/etc) for vintage pens? Places where the prices are fair, the pens are restored professionally, and the nibs are tuned? Places where the pens do not smell of cologne, cigarette smoke, and mold. I've tried Ebay and it's "touch and go". Sometimes I get a great pen, most times I have to return it for refund. Any suggestions? Where have you bought from with great result and great return policy? Right now, I've been looking for a vintage Pelikan 400NN (old one) fine point , smooth writer, and a vintage Parker Senior Duofold (fine point) smooth writer. Both in excellent to mint condition. Thanks everyone for your help. jim

N.B. This is not intended to be a comprehensive review of the product. I ordered one of these unbranded "6-Layer 78 Pens Display Box Organizer Fountain Wood Storage Collection Tray Case" advertised on eBay last Saturday, and it was delivered by Tuesday. That's lightning fast for online shopping in Australia! The item was very well packaged inside the sturdy shipping carton, with a thin foam sheet all around the display case and sheets of long, parallel cylindrical air pillows on each side sitting neatly between the foam sheet and the cardboard. I consider myself to be very 'anal' when it comes to packing things for shipment, and I couldn't have done a better job of that. That heading of the item listing is a bit of a 'misnomer'; the display case has six removable 11-pen trays each with a tiny drawer knob, and a 'layer' at the top for displaying 12 pens sitting under plexiglass. The actual construction of the frame and trays is sturdy enough, roughly comparable to that of the German-made(?) Ferocase Pan-Gora pen display case I have, but with a superior design with respect to the drawers; as mentioned, they are removable, but held in place by (weak) magnets at the rear when closed. The finish of the box borders on the cheap-and-nasty, and my unit arrived with a number of unsightly chips, dings and scratches; it mustn't have taken much for enough of the thin coating to come off and show the white material beneath it. Not that the finish on the Ferocase is great, but it is still superior to this. Never mind; I got an acceptable partial refund for that, but not without a little bit of a fight. The biggest issue with this box, however, is how shallow the removable trays are. The liners in the drawers (as well as in the display section at the top) are just semi-rigid sheets of plastics covered very thinly with some 'plush' material, and hollow underneath; and they don't all sit 'regularly' to give 11 troughs of the same depth in each drawer. If and where you're lucky generally towards the central troughs on each tray, but on some trays the troughs on one side is lower/deeper than the opposite side the troughs will juuust accommodate a Nemosine Singularity, 'classic' FPR Himalaya (with #5.5 nib), PenBBS 308 or Platinum Balance; otherwise, even a Platinum Plaisir will get caught and/or scrape against the edge of the drawer (or the frame of the case) above it. I have a tray of exactly 11 Platinum Plaisir pens, and the pens on one side of the tray or the other are apt to get stuck when I'm sliding that drawer out; I have to then push down on the pens to elastically deform the hollow drawer liner to get the drawer and the pens out. It's okay to put a LAMY cp1 or Logo, or a Nemosine Neutrino, or a Sailor Profit Junior or a Delike Submarine in the trays, no worries. However, you can totally forget about storing a LAMY Safari, Diplomat Aero or Monteverde Rodeo Drive in the drawers, unless you're prepared to rip out the liners. Now, if you're buying a 78-pen case, I'll hazard a guess you have more than 12 pens (that would fit in the display section at the top) out of 60 or 70, or are at least planning on eventually having a large variety. None of my gold-nibbed (or, in other words, pricier) Aurora, Platinum or Sailor pens are going into this display case. I'm not even sure I'll trust it to house a Sailor ProColor 500 or a Moonman M200 (of which I've just ordered several); the tray occasionally causes my Moonman S1 and M100 pens to scrape against what's above the drawer when I'm pulling it out, and Delike Alpha and New Moon 3 pens are just out of the question. No such trouble with my Ferocase (but the troughs in its drawers are shorter, and cannot accommodate, say, a Platinum Izumo).

I have just received a beautiful restored Parker Vacumatic in the mail from Ebay. Got it for $83. It has a nasty strong perfume odor on the body and cap. I tried cleaning it with windex, light laundry soap and soft sponge, and alcohol wipes. Also tried "Pet Odor Remover" which normally takes any organic smell away. And, it still reeks so bad that my hand smells from holding it. Questions: 1. Can the smell be removed? . . . How? 2. Is the smell absorbed into the plastic? 3. Should I just try to return it? Thanks for your help. jim

I've recently begun purchasing fountain pens and have bought a few through ebay from china. They state that they are Parker Sonnet, and appear to be just that, but the prices are dramatically less than if I were to purchase from Amazon. For an example I bought a Blue Parker Sonnet pen, gold trim with a medium nib on ebay for $12.05 Cdn, but on Amazon the same pen is listed for around $45.20 Cdn. Are these pens truly a Parker Sonnet, or a 'knock off' and how would I be able to tell. The pen writes well and I have no complaints about it, but the pricing variance is a little unsettling.

I unexpectedly won this vintage pen on eBay recently. It is my first Platinum pen! I must say, even though I had to do a thorough cleaning and purchase a new converter, it does not disappoint! However, after scouring the internet, I can't seem to find anything about this specific model. It looks like it might be a variant on the PTL-10000 or PTL-5000 maybe? At least the shape of the barrel and the nib seem to imply that. If anyone could knows anything or can identify this pen, I'd really appreciate it. I'm very curious.

Hey guys & gals, Just want to know regarding a seller in Ebay by the name of penpen avenue. Has anyone bought an item from this seller? They have 100% feedback and that is a good thing but I am totally curious about the price. Basically, I am interested in replacing my Sailor 1911 / Profit Standard with a 1911 / Profit Large since the Standard is a little bit small for me. Probably some of you can attest that PenSachi as a store gives a low price regarding Japanese pens and they sell the 1911 L at $225, however penpen avenue has the same pen listed at $153. Which brings me the ultimate question, is the deal too good to be true?

Recently, I tried to buy a nice Parker Duofold from a seller on eBay, who goes by the name, mpcac (from Iowa). An honest error was made and packages were switched, so I received the wrong pen. Mpcac immediately refunded my purchase price and shipping, even before we had made arrangements for me to return the item sent to me by mistake. He instead directed his efforts at retrieving the pen I wanted from the person it was mistakenly sent to. The pen, alas, already had been shipped on to India and the package had not been opened in the USA. It may or may not make it back here. The pen actually intended for India was returned by me to mpcac (at his expense) and sent on to the other buyer by mpcac. Mpcac has kept me informed of when he will have pens for sale which are similar to the Parker I had bought. I could not ask for more. I once had a very similar experience selling two books on Amazon, and I know how hard it is to be sure everyone feels they have been treated well. At every turn, mpcac kept me informed, and treated everyone involved in the best possible way. He's in my seller list now, and I will be watching what he has in stock, as I know the character of the man I am dealing with. His thousands of good ratings back up my experience -examine them. (He's a retired teacher, and as a teacher myself, I prefer to let my dollars flow toward those who have given years of hard work in socially-important services. It's similar to recognizing our armed forces people.) I just thought good -no, excellent- ethical service was worth reporting.

Hi Guys, Just having a look on eBay, an online retail shop selling the Meisterstuck 149 Red Gold. They have two of these and many other various Montblanc pens, wonder if you could let me know if it is legitimate or not. Here is the link below: http://www.ebay.com.my/itm/381255645201?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 Kind Regards,

Hi everybody! I'm new here, and am on my way to becoming a proper fountain pen nerd. Although I do have a long way to go. I'm looking to buy some Chinese pens, and need some help with how to choose sellers and which delivery options to choose. I'd also like to know which e-commerce sites to go for. I only know of ebay and banggood. Here's the pen that I'm smitten with right now: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Full-Brass-Iraurita-Fountain-Pen-Metal-Retro-Travel-Pocket-Short-Ink-Pens/263592406528?hash=item3d5f54ee00:m:mo1axuQgxTBa7SO5_qmBFOg The seller has close to 99% rating, and ships to India free through "economy international shipping". Should I go for it? Would love to hear from experienced Indian members. There's another listing: https://www.banggood.com/Vintage-Brass-Iraurita-Fountain-Pen-0_51mm-Fine-Nib-Travel-Pocket-Writing-Pen-Office-School-Supplie-p-1323856.html?rmmds=search#customerQA and another pen: https://www.banggood.com/LANBITOU-3059-Piston-Transparent-Fountain-Pen-0_38mm0_5mm-Fine-Nib-Smooth-Writing-Pen-p-1273824.html?gmcCountry=IN&currency=INR&createTmp=1&cur_warehouse=CN&ID=533752&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=cpc_elc&utm_content=2zou&utm_campaign=pla-all2-in-pc&gclid=Cj0KCQjwn4ncBRCaARIsAFD5-gUqSDuR3CyJRy-nwHMcz9KZqgOn9kJTpMHV5j4c_syJa-_vjfTMG2YaAq5eEALw_wcB#jsReviewsWrap Would love to have your ideas.

Hi, there. I am a member of a team of re-sellers who sells various items through our eBay page. I was given the task of listing and researching 7 higher-end fountain pens that came through our office this week. Over the 3 days that I spent working on the listings, I found this forum to be very helpful many times. I've always been very into stationary, and I had no idea such a huge community of fountain pen lovers existed! It's so cool! And I definitely plan to buy one for myself someday. Anyways, I just wanted to say that I appreciated how helpful all of you were. I would like to show you all the pens that I posted for auction recently. Is there an acceptable place to do that? Brands include Pelikan, Parker, Montblanc, and a couple others. Thanks again!

Hi! This is my first post here on FPN, i've been reading the forum content for a while but only now came across with the need to post something. I wanted to buy a modern version of the Montblanc 146 with no signs of use, and since i'm a student i have to buy it in second hand. I don't have any questions regarding the pen authethicity, however, i'm very concerned about what can go wrong, like losing all the money, or dont' receiving the pen. There are two pretty good deals on ebay for around 200 euros on pens with ~15 years, never used, with box and papers. The sellers have a rating of 108 with 100% satisfaction, and 3 with 0% satisfaction. So the question is, how important is the seller ratings nowadays? By using PayPal and talking to the seller can i avoid losing money and a bad experience? Regarding the pen, i've met with a seller some weeks ago and bought a platinum 146 with a broad nib. I disassembled, cleaned, realigned the nib and adjusted the ink flow, only to realise that the nib doesn't suit my dayly needs, so i sold it with some profit. I'm confident that i can fix minor problems by myself, but i'm really concerned abou beeing scammed XD Thank you for your attention, Best regards

You ever done something and almost instantly thought, damn that was dumb? How about doing that twice within hours? Yeah, me too. Most recently on eBay. Went there just to look and came away with less money and owning...something. It'd be great if i knew what I bought. I've come here for years and watched members display understanding of all ,manner of writing instruments that borders on obsession. OK, more than obsession. And it would've been just wonderful if I'd thought to post all this before buying anything. But i didn't, very unfortunately. Hopefully someone can clue me in on what I now possibly own. Buys were on different continents within days of one another. I'll label them Pen 1 and Pen 2. Both were sold as Hommage A' WG Mozart editions. I got my doubts, as they say. Pros: Both came with blank "Your Personal MB Guide". Printing is so simple I don't know if anyone can tell the validity of any printed guides that carry no dealer sale stamp. Neither of mine did, and they look identical. All engraving on both pens is very precise. Both are the smaller length / breadth MB the company still sells commemorating Wolfgang. The MB name engraved on the gold bands shows great precision, same with the nibs in all respects, as far as I can see. Every place either pen could be finished shows as very well polished and detailed. The clips are well detailed and polished to within an inch of their lives. Both white snow caps are precisely edged and appear to be dead centered and correct in size. Both clip rings carry letter / number combinations that appear to be laser engraved. Definitely not stamped or force cut into the metal somehow. Precise numbers and letters, country of origin, etc. And one even shows PIX with a trademark inside the clip. Cons: Here to find out. Just nothing sticks out--if anything did, I wouldn't be here begging for help from folks far more knowledgeable than I am. All this is in the poorly shot pictures attached (sorry about the quality). Pen 1--MB 1 in the pictures--is all black with gold and came in a beautiful box with an unopened CD (straight from Best Buy no doubt) and two layers for pen presentation. The top layer is for a single pen with the same "Homm A WGA" print found on the outer box. Lifting that tray reveals another tray with spaces for 4 more pens of like size. See pictures. Serial number is XI 1066978. GERMANY is opposite the SN. Nothing else on the ring in between those 2. Inside the clip is smoothly polished and finished, but no trademark, no PIX, etc While I know that's not a death sentence, I'd feel much better with it there. Pen 2--MB 2 in the pictures--is black, with gold rings and with a silver cap. The cap looks real to me--carefully cut and carries silver stamps you can see in the pictures. It's cap ring shows serial number of BP 1018350 with METAL 2 opposite. In between and directly opposite the gold clip is FRANCE (which is engraved lower than the S/N or METAL 2--so low that it's letters almost touch the bottom of the clip ring--but the fonts and engraving look exactly the same as the other two on each side of it). And inside the clip is a precisely raised PIX in italic type flowing script followed by a microscopic circled R for trademark. PIX is raised, not engraved or etched. I had to loupe it to see it. If anyone can tell me what I own, I'm guessing they're on here. I could walk down the Strip here in Las Vegas to one of the two MB stores and talk to someone--they're exceedingly nice and helpful to the extent they know. Verifying MB doesn't seem to be one of those things. Pls take a look at the pictures and any help is greatly (greatly) appreciated. Either way, thanks for years of happy reading and amazing insight.

I've always wanted a real bamboo pen--not just the bamboo-styled ebonite ones--but the susutake ones run to over $1,000 and seem too large and unwieldy besides. So a month ago, I ordered this pen from China through eBay, and it finally arrived today. I'm happy to report that it exceeded all my expectations--in size, finish, and general quality. It even writes well! (And did I say it cost just $20, shipped?) The section has threads, but it's actually just a pull-off cap. (I'm sure they already had these sections for other pens and didn't want to remanufacture unthreaded ones--or maybe the threads provide more grip inside.) The makers wisely put thin plastic rings on both cap and barrel to cushion the contact. The two-tone steel nib is marked HERO, but the pen itself is, of course, unbranded. What I like the most is that it's real, strong, polished bamboo! I love the nodes and the patterns--you couldn't get these if you wanted to manufacture the pen in ebonite or acrylic. And it's bigger than my Agatha and M900! It's surprisingly comfortable in the hand, and the Hero nib lays down a decent line (it's friction-fit, so I should have no problem replacing this with one of my flexy 14K vintage nibs--can't wait). The only problem I had was that the pen wouldn't suck in ink if I dipped it into the bottle, so I had to pull out and dip the converter itself instead. Other than that, it's a fantastic pen at $20--I'd easily have paid three times that--so much so that I went back online immediately to order more, only to find it out of stock I'll certainly be back to look for more. Here you go: