What Pen Brands To Look For When You Are In Greece

[sanyalsoumitra]

This is a request to our respected members from Greece and Europe. I would get to visit Greece , near Athens, on a training program and might get a couple of evenings to visit local shops.

I like to know what brands are available there , Greece made pens ? Kindly advise.

[Tas]

No idea but every time I see a bottle of Parker Penman Mocha on ebay it always seems to originate from Greece.

 

If it's your colour, keep your eyes open

 

Best of luck !

[fplover01]

I am greek, although there has been some time, I havent been in Greece. I suspect little has changed pen wise though.

 

To my knowledge, there has been no native greek brand of fountain (or ballpoint pens) at least from the 80s or so.

 

Fountain pen as a writing instrument has to my knowledge disappeared. I am early 30s and in our school days, there was no requirement to use or own a fountain pen. We learnt to write with pencils (Faber Castell, Pelikan) then moved on to ballpoints. In our senior years most people would write with some form of disposable Pilot rollerball (G2 very popular) or cheap ballpoints. Even my fathers generation would think of fountain pens as something clumpsy to use, antique, that scratches paper. It was popular back in early nineties to give Parker Sonnet ballpoint pens as gifts for academic achievements and there were stores with the usual brands of pens (Pelikan, Parker, Cross). Lots of good old traditional B&M stores closed in the late 90s, people started buying school supplies from discounters. Some were a century old, in central athens and followed the transformation of the city center and the market. Montblanc pens were and i suspect are still as everywhere considered a status symbol, people like lawyers or so might have one on their desk to make an impression (but well rollerball is more common). The most available ink was Parker quink. In general Parker was a respected brand, a parker was considered a good pen. Perhaps the lack of a popular local brand has made transition to ball point uneventful, most people took it as progress.

 

There is (or at least was 6 years ago) a store, "Evangelidis" in central Athens, Kolokotroni 3 & Voulis 7, Athens, 10562 . Rumours said, the owner was looking to retire, even before crisis and all that started. He had a great collection of pelikans and other pens, also a personal one with much rare stuff. Knowledgable and very kind person. His prices were fair but not cheap, certainly not a discounter. But great shopping experience, a small shop, with showcases full of pens. A truly special shop.

 

My gf bought me my first pen from a now defunct stationary store, in 2005 which had various Cross, Pelikan and Parker models.

Edited August 6, 2015 by fplover01

[sanyalsoumitra]

I am grateful for such a detailed account from you. This is very informative..

[fplover01]

This is what I remember from my childhood, and of course my perception. But as said, people tended to use universally disposable pens, with Pilot being the choice of most who actually wrote, teachers and students. i wrote my school leaving exams with a Pilot G2. To tell the truth, I have never seen anyone using a fountain pen to actually write anything, all my years in greece. And it is rational, since nobody came into contact with those pens from an early age. as said my parents never saw a fountain pen as a useful thing, (and i have lots of teachers in my family).

 

i first saw a store with good fountain pens during a trip in Italy, as a teenager, and said to myself, I need to have one of that. At the time, there were traditional stationary stores in central Athens, where there were fountain pens available. You could see them if you bought your school supplies from there. But nobody was buying them, those stores largely closed down in the late 90s. Immediately after leaving school (and being free to express some individualism) I started experimenting. First wrote with the Cross century II and parker quink, then with Pelikan and Quink. Black und Blue Quink was at the time universally available and it was my choice of ink because of that and because it was cheap. Some places also carried Pelikan inks. I stopped using ballpoints in 2006.

Edited August 6, 2015 by fplover01

[inotrym]

Indeed, there are no pen manufacturers in Greece.

 

It is really interesting though that fountain pens, albeit very rarely seen in action, make a somewhat common gift. Especially for males that hold a distinctive position and/or practice ¨respectable¨ professions. (Please notice the quotes; I don't mean in any case that there are non respectable professions).

 

For example, last January the current Prime Minister signed his oath using a Montblanc.

And I can tell from experience that a pen (and sometimes a fountain pen) is a common gift that doctors or lawyers receive.

 

That said, it is not that uncommon to spot a few nicer ballpoints and rollerballs in action.

 

Parker is the easiest brand to find. Hands down.

Jotters and Frontiers were even used by kids at school. I remember about a decade ago I received a Frontier ballpoint as a school award for good behavior and performance.

 

Montblanc is also well known as a statement brand. Although you can't see a lot of people using a MB, everyone can recognize one when they see it.

 

Brands like Pilot, Rotring and Faber Castell are also known here in Greece, but not for their fountain pens. I have yet to meet a non FP enthousiast that was aware of Pilot producing fountain pens.

 

The last couple of years I have spotted a few stores that carry pen related stuff. And what surprises me is that the variety of the brands they carry is getting bigger and bigger.

I was able to find CdA,Cross,Faber Castell,Parker, Pelikan,Pilot,Lamy,Montblanc ,Montegrappa,Monteverde, TWSBI,Waterman and perhaps a few more that I can't recall. And I also found JHerbin and Clairefontaine.

 

Prices are rather steep in comparison, but it's good to see that there is demand in the market.

 

 

So, unfortunately, there is nothing really special about fountain pens to see around here.

 

 

Enjoy your stay in Greece!

[fplover01]

the gift market has always carried the fountain pens in Greece. And esp for lawyers it was (should still be so as previous user said) standard to have at least one good pen fountain pen or rollerball/ballpoint.

 

I was given a Parker Sonnet ballpoint for academic achievement once during my senior years in school.

 

In the last few years, there is greater exposure to online forums and trade, people can order stuff much more easily from abroad than before. Perhaps this has brought more people in contact with fountain pens. This was not so during the 90s and my school years (graduated in 2004). Never seen a fp user in a student setting (but perhaps in the arts and humanistics it might have been different).

Edited August 6, 2015 by fplover01

[dompred]

The other members have covered what is my perception on fountain pen market in Greece, but allow me to add some things from my personal experience.

 

As it has already stated, Parker is a very common brand. In the majority of bookstores that sell pens and inks it is likely to find a fountain pen corner. There you will find many Parker gift sets meant for graduation gifts or promotion gifts. I was never interested in them.

Parker ink is quite common to find. In some places I've visited I've found the now discontinued Quink Red in an affordable price.

 

Pelikan inks can be found easily at very good prices. Well not Germany prices, but really affordable for an imported product. They usually go for 4€ for a bottle of 30ml. I have found some old bottles of Royal Blue at a price of 2€ for 30ml. I have also found their TG1 series of black ink for 5€ for 50ml (the old style bottle with the pen stand).

 

Also Waterman inks can be bought with relative ease. I've been able to find: Tender Purple, Inspired Blue, Black, Florida Blue.

 

Mont Blanc are carried by boutiques and resellers as well. I have seen some old style bottles of ink as well as their new ones.

 

My recommendation would be to look for old and discontinued inks. They can be bought at great prices as in most of the cases stores want to get rid of them.

[liberto077]

I don't know if you are still in Greece but if you are, you can visit evangelidis shop as fplover01 said.he has a big collection of fountain pens and inks. In my opinion his collection is one of the best in europe.

[istvang]

I just feel compelled to contribute to this thread, for the completeness of the archive.

 

There are no fountain pen manufacturers in Greece, as far as I know. But there are exceptional paper manufacturing companies, of outstanding quality. Look for the "επί χάρτου" brand ("on paper"), its notebooks are really good and fountain pen ready, in wonderful colors and traditional bindings.