Gold plated nibs

[FredRydr]

I doubt gold plate is strong enough to hold a nib together pending failure of the steel.

[Ray-VIgo]

The plating is not much of a help against corrosion. I've seen plenty of the old, cheap steel nibs from before WWII that had gold plating but still corroded. Sometimes you find them on really colorful or interesting pens, but cheap ones nonetheless. The underlying alloy is what will help the nib avoid corrosion. Using proper ink and cleaning also is helpful.

So have I. The point is that you don't know how long they held out because of their gold plating before they failed.

The original questions were:

Do gold plated nibs have superior resistance to corrosion?
Are there any advantages to gold plated nibs?

The answer is that if you use a cheaper alloy, the gold plating is going to offer only marginal help, at best. The advantage is mainly in appearance, but if the alloy is cheap, again, it rusts underneath. With that being the case, who cares if it took 2 years to rust or if it took 6 years to rust? If the alloy is the problem and you are serious about the pen's durability, use another nib and don't rely on plating.

[pajaro]

Sometimes it sells the buyer something shiny and durable, and sometimes just a bill of goods that does corrode easily, like Waterman Laureat I, the one with the flat cap top as opposed to Laureat II with domed cap top, that had better nib plating.

[eachan]

The plating is not much of a help against corrosion. I've seen plenty of the old, cheap steel nibs from before WWII that had gold plating but still corroded. Sometimes you find them on really colorful or interesting pens, but cheap ones nonetheless. The underlying alloy is what will help the nib avoid corrosion. Using proper ink and cleaning also is helpful.

So have I. The point is that you don't know how long they held out because of their gold plating before they failed.

The original questions were:

Do gold plated nibs have superior resistance to corrosion?
Are there any advantages to gold plated nibs?

The answer is that if you use a cheaper alloy, the gold plating is going to offer only marginal help, at best. The advantage is mainly in appearance, but if the alloy is cheap, again, it rusts underneath. With that being the case, who cares if it took 2 years to rust or if it took 6 years to rust? If the alloy is the problem and you are serious about the pen's durability, use another nib and don't rely on plating.

That may hold good for modern pens. In times gone by, when fountain pens were essential, many could not afford gold nib pens and the quality of steel used in nibs was not sufficiently good to resist the inks available. If some level of gold plating extended the life of the nib that was a benefit to the customer.

I do find it amusing that present-day hobbyists think the pen makes of seventy or eighty years ago were wasting their money or cheating their customers by gold plating steel nibs.

[Ray-VIgo]

The plating is not much of a help against corrosion. I've seen plenty of the old, cheap steel nibs from before WWII that had gold plating but still corroded. Sometimes you find them on really colorful or interesting pens, but cheap ones nonetheless. The underlying alloy is what will help the nib avoid corrosion. Using proper ink and cleaning also is helpful.

So have I. The point is that you don't know how long they held out because of their gold plating before they failed.

The original questions were:

Do gold plated nibs have superior resistance to corrosion?
Are there any advantages to gold plated nibs?

The answer is that if you use a cheaper alloy, the gold plating is going to offer only marginal help, at best. The advantage is mainly in appearance, but if the alloy is cheap, again, it rusts underneath. With that being the case, who cares if it took 2 years to rust or if it took 6 years to rust? If the alloy is the problem and you are serious about the pen's durability, use another nib and don't rely on plating.

That may hold good for modern pens. In times gone by, when fountain pens were essential, many could not afford gold nib pens and the quality of steel used in nibs was not sufficiently good to resist the inks available. If some level of gold plating extended the life of the nib that was a benefit to the customer.

I do find it amusing that present-day hobbyists think the pen makes of seventy or eighty years ago were wasting their money or cheating their customers by gold plating steel nibs.

Amusing perhaps, but also accurate. The "Warranted 14K" nib mark was an attempt to show that the nib was supposed to be guaranteed as being actual 14K, as opposed to many nibs that would have the "14K Gold Plate" imprinted so far down the tail of the nib as to be covered by the section.

[eachan]

That's a different issue. The warranted 14 ct nibs were extras made by those pen companies that had the facilities to make gold nibs, for sale to those that didn't. Nothing whatsoever to do with plating. 14K gold plate is only a US thing, I believe. I haven't seen it on British or European pens. That may well have been intended to deceive as the "plated" part usually disappeared into the section.

My point is that the historical application of gold plating over the poor quality steel available in the vintage period extended the life of those nibs thus making them practical in cheaper pens.

[Ole Juul]

I just occurred to me that gold plating could potentially also be chosen for it wettability.

[Chrissy]

My best friend is a jeweller and is an expert on the subject. I remember her once telling me that gold items are gold-plated for aesthetic reasons. Especially 9ct gold that has a lower gold content and sometimes doesn't look yellow enough for some customers. Gold can sometimes start to look dull and can be gold plated to make it look more attractive. Also yellow gold has to be rhodium plated to make it into white gold. It wears very well, but is really just an aesthetic colour preference. Some people want yellow gold and some want white gold.

A long time ago I bought a pack of 5 gold nibs from Japan for Parker 45 pens. I'm not 100% certain, but I believe they may have been original Parker nibs that were re-tipped. Re-tipping has lost them their original yellow gold plating and when wiped with a Sunshine cloth they can sometimes look quite pale in colour - almost like something in between gold and steel.

As a personal preference I prefer my nibs to match the other trim on my pens. I also tend to prefer gold coloured trim on pens, so the pens I bought usually came with yellow or two tone gold nibs. But it's just aesthetics. Those with rhodium plating trim on top of the gold are absolutely fine but for me they look better when paired with platinised trim than with yellow gold trim.

There have been pens that I have avoided buying simply because they have a completely different coloured nib to the rest of the trim.