Chinese Pens Show And Tell.

[Karmachanic]

12 minutes ago, Mech-for-i said:

Hero 616s

 

When I search all I find is this.  No longer available. ☹️

[A Smug Dill]

3 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

When I search all I find is this.  No longer available. ☹️

 

Huh? https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&&SearchText=616

 

That was the first search I've done; I haven't tried Taobao and JD yet. I can't tell the difference between a Hero 616 and a 616s, either; and, quite frankly, it isn't something I care to take the time to learn about. Nevertheless, what is easy (and/or easily accessible) to “Westerners” through a single, moderately well-known online sales channel do not define what is currently available for retail.

[Karmachanic]

4 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

Huh?

 

Link you provided is to 616 not 616s

[A Smug Dill]

10 minutes ago, Karmachanic said:

Link you provided is to 616 not 616s

 

Sigh.

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=21&SearchText=616s

 

How hard was that?

[Mech-for-i]

To me , the interesting part with the 616 is how 50+ years back without much technical know-how the Mfr had done to provide.

 

The 616Plus and now 616s represent, after that five decades, finally a total revamp of the pen, well the actual innards of pen parts but able to keep the original styling, size down to the mm

 

And  the two new model are just decent pen that work and I must say provide beyond what the price represent.

 

Retail availability of any Chinese fountain pen wil likely remain iffy for a while considering the world wide freight status but also that simply the product were and are produced towards the home market and no consideration was or are made towards world wide distribution 

 

[A Smug Dill]

23 minutes ago, Mech-for-i said:

Retail availability of any Chinese fountain pen wil likely remain iffy for a while considering the world wide freight status but also that simply the product were and are produced towards the home market and no consideration was or are made towards world wide distribution

 

… and that — in my opinion — is the “thing”, more so than “Western” brands still produce pens primarily fashion accessories as opposed to functional writing instruments, as you've opined in another discussion thread on FPN. There's only so much of a market for fountain pens as writing instruments, or even fashion accessories, in (say) Italy. Italian fountain pen manufacturers have little choice but to actually consider and cater to the (brand visibility and) consumer tastes in other markets — whether the focus is on the US/rest of the “Western” world, or the wider and collectively wealthier Asian market at large, or both — and gear towards that. Even “American” brands beyond the scale of a small enterprise need to be able to appeal and sell to more than consumers in the US; whereas the Chinese, with a huge domestic market, gets the “freedom” to design primarily to cater to that if a company's goal is just to survive or even thrive economically; outside interests are secondary, and can just fall into line (or not) with what is offered.

 

I also have that same “respect” for the Japanese Big Three brands. Never mind the idea of modularity, and interchangeability and ready availability of spare nibs that some Western brands use as selling points; Pilot, Platinum, and Sailor don't do that, even within the confines of their respective brands, let alone going out of its way to allow their customers to easily mix and match different bits (or even makes) of pen components to assemble what appeals more subjectively than the self-contained writing instruments those Japanese brands care to put in their product catalogues.

[Mech-for-i]

In a fashion Japan, China, India represent right now the Asian realm of fountain pen manufacturing and production , all in their own rights and their own realm. Whatever we hobbyist might want to think or like , the fact remain fountain pen world wide as a tool to write is no longer main stream, I will go off to say writing itself is slowly inching towards becoming endangered species too.

 

I equally had respect for all the big 3 in Japan, just I had for many Indian pen makers, and the same towards many Chinese makers and no less European and US makers. They all are striving to keep their business and if so happen that they can advance their own products or writing itself just need to be considered a nice bonus.

 

From hindsight , we can now say that the decline of fountain pen in most of the world is a making half of the fountain pen Mfr(s) themselves and half the development of simply more convenient and user proof writing tools, and then help by the decline of writing itself. Just as many type writer aficionado lament their mechanical contraption and blame the word processor, many might put the blame on Ballpoint, Gel Pen, and then Computer and smart phone .. I hold no such .. is it not a mechanical keyboard just as tactile as a typewriter, well broadly speaking , and word processor one must admit is a better replacement and tool vs just the old type writer. And that same can be put towards fountain pen

 

If I must be critical, Chinese Fountain Pen are carrying the mantle left by Japanese Fountain pen from the past century, which is pens as a tool , not disposable and not just single use and not just for kids .. in that fashion its what and how Chinese fountain pen had permeate the world wide market. Now that the world is rediscovering writing not just as a simple form of documenting or conveying info but also many new use , from studying aid to artistic exploration. Fountain Pen Mfr of all region are presented with a new market and require a new market approach .. The Asian Mfr seems quite capable to adapt to this new market and Chinese Mfr are seizing the chance, and that's that.  

[Karmachanic]

3 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

How hard was that?

 

 Thank you for the link. I searched both the web at large and aliexpress in particular from here in the UK several times, only to find the "not available" page.

[AmandaW]

I looked for the Hero 616s after Mech-for-i  mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. At that time I could only find one AliExpress seller (and they had less than encouraging feedback) so I decided to wait until it was more readily available. I see from Smug's suggested search (which is the same as I used) there are now three.

 

Also back then I was looking for another pen in Morandi colours and that still doesn't bring up many sellers.

 

I'm patient. Times are not wonderful anywhere and I guess it just takes more time for the new things to get to where we can see them.

[Mech-for-i]

Selmy Alley-Cat 2nd version in the one and only ever opaque solid colour option they had ever done , Selmy is an online designer brand / store brand , but unlike others which either had just OEM ( that's just a branding change ) models or their own models but priced for fashion ( aka , a bit expensive ) .. Selmy had their own range of their own design but they keep the price in check , and here presented the Alley-Cat 2nd version , the first version of this pen is in colourful turned Acrylic and had pointed tip both end with a ( not really useful ) detachable open ring style kitten roll stop, the 2nd version spot this now fixed cap ring and roll stop in either gold or chrome trim , with a bling bling Bow-Tie or Kitten Paw roll stop, the 2nd version are almost all done in turned translucent pearlescent single colour acrylic. The 3rd and current version had the same design as the 2nd version but return to turned pattern acrylic .. and more bling bling

 

But among them there is this interesting one, this less than popular opaque slate grey turned resin finish ; as photo show, its clipless , with fixed roll stop and cap ring , take standard ( int'l standard ) C/C with a pretty standard no.5 , can be had in Fine or EF , the nib is laser etched with all kind of kitten motif, I just swap my EF with a F from the same Mfr , Selmy's nib write kind of dry as befit almost all Chinese fountain pen , running in the nib improve the writing as usual. Feedback is positive but not as much as most others

 

 

The pen weight in at ( empty ) 19g or 12g with cap off , it measures in at 142mm &  126mm with Cap off , this version do not post   

[Mech-for-i]

The latest batch of Jinhao Century Slim ( no.5 nib ) now come with a new " old " style clip , this is the black wood barrel variant ( only barrel part is wood all else still acrylic )

 

 

[Mech-for-i]

Jinhao 85 had a much less known variant in the form of 85a which utilize basic no.5 open nib , the pen do come standard with an extra section / pen parts with the default hooded nib

 

[Mech-for-i]

Taking my very old Liqin 800 Brushed out for a spin , vintage mid 1990…'s C/C filler utilizing Parker Vector style nib / feed aka the same as today's P51 reboot and the Moonman Ti500 , the pen come default with a 10K gold nib in FM 

 

 

 

The pen is all brass with exception of the black section , at 45.6g and 25.9g if cap removed , it measures 140mm capped and 120.5mm uncapped , the pen do not post ; it's girth is widest at 12.5mm  at the barrel / section junction and taper to 10.5mm towards the end of the brushed part on the barrel , the section is 10mm in diameter tapering to 8mm at the tip trimmed clutch