Help Id This Golden Star Fp?

May 18, 2016

My mom recently gave my brother two fountain pens she used back in her school days, one which was identifiable as a Hero 261. The other is a Golden Star pen, which I've seen mentioned a few times on this forum, but the exact model is uncertain and I was wondering if anyone could help. It's bladder fill (I think? I've only used converters up until this point so this is new to me) and is virtually unmarked except for the english words GOLDEN STAR printed around the cap and the chinese characters for golden star (jinxing) on the inside metal part. The nib is similarly unmarked except for a square with a four-petaled flower design.

May 19, 2016

This is the Golden Star 908: the model with snake skin covering. The same pen with different external finishes were given different model appellations, for instance with wooden barrel and cap it became the 916, with cloisonne enamel it became the 910, matt steel is 906, etc.

The snakeskin on your example seems to be quite worn, but as it's a family heirloom, I think you can definitely enjoy it as is. However, Taobao still has quite a lot of them, so a pristine new example can be acquired to be a spiritual successor to it too, I suppose.

May 19, 2016

Thank you for the help and information!

May 20, 2016

You are most welcomed.

I have three other versions of this series of pens, polished steel with engraved straight lines down the length, several felt-finished ones, and wooden barrel too.

The wooden barrel version is interesting: so it was said a local government official was incarcerated due to some misdeeds, and some family members wanted to see him more often; the wooden version was created so that timber could be delivered to the wood workshop in the penitentiary for turning, and then the finished cylinders were then collected, giving someone a bit more chance to go through the front gate...