Underestimated Fountain Pen Brands

[TheDutchGuy]

Many obscure brands that went out of business long ago are underestimated IMHO, based on old pens that ended up with me. Just one example would be Marossy, a brand I had never heard of until I found one in a remote antique shop. A spectacularly nice semi-flex oblique medium nib, piston still works flawlessly, great workmanship all around… But somehow the brand didn’t make it. Many other examples exist, especially defunct European brands.

 

As for modern pens made now, I’d be inclined to say that a lot of brands are underestimated, in the sense that complaints usually outnumber praise. Just as an example, someone who buys a plastic Kaweco Sport might not plaster the internet with how great the pen is, whereas someone who thinks he got a dud is much more likely to let us know about it. Another example might be Visconti. Two big retailers recently told me that they see a noticeable decrease in returned pens and complaints, yet when I tell people that they usually go “Yeah, right 😒.”

[txomsy]

I fully agree.

 

I would add that many, if not most, of the German pen brands in the 40's-70's produced excellent pens that are ignored now. Both DDR and FDR. I have several, some of them totally unnamed/unbranded that are great writers.

 

And on the modern side, I'd also say there are many. I feel tempted to name some Chinese pens, but after a somewhat long experience, most of them have turned out to have disappointing (to me, YMMV) quality control, which, often coupled with dubious advertising, are taking me away from them. Again, YMMV.

 

I agree on Kaweco, I find them to produce great pens that are often underestimated due to bad mouthing. and though I do not have one (wish one day I might), Wancher urushi pens seem to also be underestimated (this time due to their comparatively low price). And Gravitas, from Ireland, I'd say are also comparatively a great buy (haven't one either).

 

[inkstainedruth]

On 8/2/2022 at 11:38 PM, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

And for an actual brand - Diamond Point. Their earlier BCHR pens are bordering on "tier 1" in quality and their later ones are still very very good. Fantastic celluloids I haven't seen on other pens, and they're built very well for a "lower tier" brand. Way more solid than Wearevers, for example (nothing against Wearevers, I have a ton!).

I think I have a couple of Diamond Point pens but haven't gotten them up and running yet (there were higher priority pens in the queue).  It was a house brand for Sears-Roebuck.  I picked up one at an estate sale which turned out to NOT be a Diamond Point, but S-R's lower tier pen brand, just in a Diamond Point box.  When I did some research about the models I found out that at least some of them were made for S-R by IIRC Parker.  

Back in the day, S-R actually sold good quality products.  My mom was convinced that the company started circling the drains back when they opened B&M stores and had to compete with the other stores in malls, especially for clothing.  And the old "Kenmore" (another house brand) washers and dryers were TANKS.  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[inkstainedruth]

3 hours ago, TheDutchGuy said:

As for modern pens made now, I’d be inclined to say that a lot of brands are underestimated, in the sense that complaints usually outnumber praise. Just as an example, someone who buys a plastic Kaweco Sport might not plaster the internet with how great the pen is, whereas someone who thinks he got a dud is much more likely to let us know about it. Another example might be Visconti.

A friend of mine who is a lawyer LOVES her Viscontis.  I keep looking at some of the Van Gogh line pens, but they're a bit pricy and also a little on the heavy side for me (but the weight may be less of an issue now that I've gotten used to my TWSBIs, and someone gave me a Monteverde Strata recently (and I think it's even heavier than the 580-AL and 580-ALR).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

11 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

I think I have a couple of Diamond Point pens but haven't gotten them up and running yet (there were higher priority pens in the queue).  It was a house brand for Sears-Roebuck.  I picked up one at an estate sale which turned out to NOT be a Diamond Point, but S-R's lower tier pen brand, just in a Diamond Point box.  When I did some research about the models I found out that at least some of them were made for S-R by IIRC Parker.  

Back in the day, S-R actually sold good quality products.  My mom was convinced that the company started circling the drains back when they opened B&M stores and had to compete with the other stores in malls, especially for clothing.  And the old "Kenmore" (another house brand) washers and dryers were TANKS.  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

Oh you're thinking of a slightly different brand, Diamond Medal. Diamond Point was something different. Diamond Medal was good stuff too, I think their earlier pens were made by the National Pen Company of Chicago who made great quality products. Some of the later 1930's pens were actually even made by Parker as you mentioned. So all in all, high quality pens for sure.

 

[Doug C]

I have a number of older Marlens and I LOVE them.

Most of the newer designs don't strike my fancy but the older versions (and non LE Krones that were made by Marlen) are wonderful pens.

[inkstainedruth]

1 hour ago, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

 

Oh you're thinking of a slightly different brand, Diamond Medal. Diamond Point was something different. Diamond Medal was good stuff too, I think their earlier pens were made by the National Pen Company of Chicago who made great quality products. Some of the later 1930's pens were actually even made by Parker as you mentioned. So all in all, high quality pens for sure.

 

Thanks for the correction.  Didn't know that there were two different brands called Diamond.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

6 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

Thanks for the correction.  Didn't know that there were two different brands called Diamond.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Yeah, it's a little confusing. Both made great pens too! Something about the Diamond name. Check out some Diamond Point pens if you have a chance, you will not be disappointed.

[smitbret]

11 hours ago, Doug C said:

I have a number of older Marlens and I LOVE them.

Most of the newer designs don't strike my fancy but the older versions (and non LE Krones that were made by Marlen) are wonderful pens.

 

Came here to post this.  I have picked up a handful of Marlen pens over the last couple of years and they are all fantastic...... Except for that damn Aleph.

 

They are gawdy and carry a little more bling than a lot of people seem to enjoy, but each one is of very high quality and write very well.

[kcwookie]

I've never used an Osmiroid pen. I just bought some of their black ink. Actually, to be honest, I didn't buy their ink as much as I got a great deal on a half bottle of Parker Quink Green. That color is very nice. I'm looking forward to trying the Osmiroid ink when it arrives. 

 

I have two sterling silver Grifos pens and they do write nice. They are a great company to do business with. Another company is Wancher. I have four variations of their Dream Pen. All are great writers and they are now making their own steel nibs. I like their's better than the standard German nib they also use. I think it's JoWo. It's nice to have a pen without those nibs. 

 

Lastly, I've recently acquired some nice vintage Conway Stewarts, most write well, but some of their nibs are so soft, they are paint brushes. 

[langere]

The one pen company that I do not see much about here on FPN is Staedtler.  When I was a kid living and going to school in Germany, I knew the brand mainly because of its pencils.  But Staedtler makes some good fountain pens as well, though they tend not to be as pretty as, say, Italian brands.  But they are really durable.

 

Erick

[Carrau]

On 8/5/2022 at 1:02 PM, Doug C said:

I have a number of older Marlens and I LOVE them.

Most of the newer designs don't strike my fancy but the older versions (and non LE Krones that were made by Marlen) are wonderful pens.

I have two non-LE Krone pens in the Boulder model, the Chinook and the Curaçao, both beautiful pens with excellent writing nibs.  The Curaçao is lovely shades of amber/caramel/green seen below.  The Chinook (bottom picture, borrowed from another thread on FPN) is an intense coral color with veins of bright blue streaked through the material. Both are piston fillers, with 18k white gold nibs, with excellent fit and finish.  Krone is an American company, however the pens are thought to have been made by Marley in Italy, and come with lifetime warranties.I very rarely see any of the Boulder model, or any other non-LE models, for sale or auction anywhere.

[GeneralSynopsis]

On 7/28/2022 at 12:55 AM, Sailor Kenshin said:

I don't even dare mention Osmiroid.  Sturdy, reliable blue collar pens with threaded nibs that out-write almost anything.  And they come in anything from Cooperplate to broad italics.  I have one that's a piston-filler, but the lever-filling 65 is also great.

The piston filler would be a 75.

[langere]

That reminds me - I feel that Krone is way underappreciated.  There are some really gaudy Krone fountain pens, but on the other hand there are also some really beautiful examples, such as the Fusion or the Moderne.

 

Erick

[Doug C]

18 hours ago, langere said:

That reminds me - I feel that Krone is way underappreciated.  There are some really gaudy Krone fountain pens, but on the other hand there are also some really beautiful examples, such as the Fusion or the Moderne.

 

Erick

I agree. 

[georges zaslavsky]

Osmia, you don't see many of them around and neither don't you see often Soennecken pens. They were as good and as high quality of MB in the 30's-50's. Expensive pens but well worth it. Same comment for Chiltons with the pneumatic filling system and the Ford pens which are also rare and expensive underrated pens made during the 30's-40's rivaling with Parker and Sheaffer back then.