Chinese Pens. Not what you think.

**Scrawler** · March 2nd, 2023, 09:18 AM

Long before the modern consumer age where China is a principle suppliers of consumer goods, China had a bureaucracy that needed written records. Almost everything was handwritten by pen. They had factories turning out work-a-day pens for the bureaucrats. The factories that now turn out Hero used to be Parker. They did not need beautiful materials or brass bodies. China has a very large population of students workers and bureaucrats who all needed to write so was a natural place for pen manufacturers to operate. What we see in the west of all the pretty offerings on eBay are just a tip of the iceberg concerning Chinese and Asian pen usage and consumption. If you came into the fountain pen world recently and forums like this and eBay are your only exposure you might think that Chinese is all use beautiful and flashy pens. But the recent creations since 1990 are all for the western tastes and market.

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This pen was made in 1954 at a factory nationalized from Parker. It is a button filler similar to the earlier Duofolds. Capped it is 5 3/16 inches from jewel to jewel. The nib is 10 karat gold. I received this pen in 1995 while I was living in China. It was chosen symbolically because it was made in the year of my birth. I can't say what the barrel material is but it has a hard feel like Bakelite. It definitely does not feel like resin or any of the plastics you might find on a Duofold or Parker 51 of the time. As you can see from the pictures the imprint is very strong and unworn. It is too small for my hands now and so is just a museum piece. This is a work-a-day pen which was in continuous production for many years with little variation. I think this particular pen having a 10K nib rather than plated would have been for a higher ranking bureaucrat.

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**RobJohnson** · March 2nd, 2023, 09:35 AM

Thanks for posting. I love historical items such as this, anything with a back story.

I think I have seen this pen before, about 15 years ago there was an eBay seller, possibly from Taiwan rather than Mainland China who was selling these pens by the truckload at $1 each plus a nominal amount for p and p. I bought two but the feeds crumbled immediately on use.

**Scrawler** · March 2nd, 2023, 10:06 AM

Originally Posted by RobJohnson

Thanks for posting. I love historical items such as this, anything with a back story.

I think I have seen this pen before, about 15 years ago there was an eBay seller, possibly from Taiwan rather than Mainland China who was selling these pens by the truckload at $1 each plus a nominal amount for p and p. I bought two but the feeds crumbled immediately on use.

That would not surprise me. They made an awful lot of them. There were in production for a long time, at least until late 196x. They don't all crumble, or at least I have seen them in successful use. I don't know how reliable or long lasting this would be. I used it for about a week a long time ago and found it moderately serviceable, and have no plans to use it again. It was a gift so I keep it in my pen museum. The story of how it came into my possession is actually rather interesting and I should write an essay about it one day.