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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