I recently watched a certain Youtube episode about a chap who lives on a canal narrowboat. He keeps a journal and happened to mention a fountain pan he was using. I looked it up and, as it wasn’t expensive, I decided to buy one for myself.
So a quick Google search later, I found the pen and was intrigued to notice a significant % difference in price between some of the sites that offered the pens for sale. On closer examination, the cheapest sites also offered free postage and promised delivery within about 3 weeks from China. The manufacturers website, which states that its products are made in Germany, was more expensive and also charged for postage.
I decided (rightly or wrongly) that the pens coming from China must be ‘knock-offs’ and decided to buy directly from the manufacturer because I felt it was the right thing to do for several reasons.
What would you do in similar circumstances. Have you ever found yourself in this position?
Buying a Western brand pen from a Chinese website may be risky, indeed.
But since the Chinese have a long and proud history of calligraphy and fine writing, Chinese-made fountain pens can actually be very nice.
I love fountain pens and have a bit of a collection - none of them costing more than about €100 I hasten to add!
I have bought Chinese ones from Amazon and American and German-made pens from specialist online retailers.
Some of the cheap Chinese ones are very nice quality and write well - Hongdian is a brand that springs to mind.
Hongdian 8041 (current price £31!) - this one is my “daily writer” for making notes at my desk.
Vice-versa I have an (admittedly inexpensive) German Faber-Castell that has a rather poor seal between the pen body and the ink reservoir so is tricky to fill and dries out quite quickly.
So I don’t think brand names or even price are much of a guide to quality.
You will of course get brands with Western-sounding names e.g. “Scriveiner” which are almost certainly Chinese-made. that said Chnese brands sometimes use German-made nibs.
Chinese pens tend to have narrowish nibs (even if described as “medium”) so if in doubt order a broad nib.
Apart from the Hongdian the nicest pens I own are American - Nahvalur (aka “Narwhal”) and Monteverde.
My non-Chinese pens have mostly been supplied by Cult Pens who are based in Tiverton in Devon, apart from the Monteverde Ritma Espresso which came direct from the UK importers because it was a limited edition.
Nahvalur Schuylkill Dragonet Sapphire:
Monteverde Ritma Espresso:
I love the names they give to pens! Bit like pedigree dogs! 
One more thought - it pays to buy quality ink for fountain pens - brands such as Diamine, Ferris Wheel Press, Jacques Herbin, Pelikan Edelstein, or the Japanese brands such as Pilot Iroshizuku or Sailor.
Finally, American retailer The Goulet Pen Company have quite an entertaining YouTube channel if you want to know more about the world of fountain pens and inks!
What is a fountain pen? Is it one of those ancient analogue typing instruments?
An instrument of beauty whose use marks you out as a person of distinction and refinement.
Ah so that’s why I don’t have one.
You should - it will take you up in the world a notch.
Especially when signing cheques and international trade agreements.
The very next time I sign an international trade agreement I will bear that in mind.
I keep a daily diary and always use my fountain pen for that.
I don’t buy directly from China (or certainly not knowingly). It’s another of my pointless boycotts - except it makes me feel better for perhaps not completely pointless.
And, in the King’s case, of very short temper.
Fortunately I am not a King.
Thanks @ChrisMann for your reply and photos. I will look up each of the pens, brands and suppliers you mentioned. I myself have only about 6 or so fountain pens, hardly a collection - as yet:). I must say, I do find writing - especially with a fountain pen - a great antidote to the hours I spend on a keyboard in front of a screen.
BTW I would have no issue whatsoever with buying a Chinese-made pen, where I had the issue (in my first post) was with buying a Chinese-made pen masquerading as a German-made pen 
In fact I quite like the look of your Hongdian pen
For me, it’s not a simple yes/no equation that goes beyond pens. For example, if I had reason to believe the company that claimed to be making pens in Germany was actually having them made in China and then just ‘finishing’ them in Germany, I would be happy to buy Chinese. OTOH if the Chinese pens were just a knock - off at, say, 30% of the price then I would want the German one.
I’m trying to buy less stuff these days. Before Christmas I saw a watch on sale at AliExpress for about £50 instead of £1500, and was quite tempted. I could justify this because I know my purchase would have no effect on sales of the original, and it was a tribute rather than fake. However, having 2 automatic watches already, I just passed it by in the end. Nice to have, but just not needed on top of the abundance of things I’m lucky enough to own.
It does write well and at that price you can’t really go too far wrong! The body is brass I think (it’s fairly weighty) and the cap is engraved with spirals; the blue and gold design on the body is apparently a map of the rivers on the Tibetan plateau.
Mine has a medium nib which is the broadest they do; I prefer a broad nib but this one is not scratchy and produces a reasonably wide line.
I fear I’d be like Chas the King - ink everywhere, ‘blasted pens … !’ t was certainly the case at school.
Mind you, I am of such a vintage that we had dip pens and china inkwells set into the desk top. If seen to be fiddling overmuch with a fountain pen and the inkwell, a certain Latin master would intone, “Beware elementary fire apparatus drills”
If you get one that takes cartridges they are pretty much mess-free.
Personally I prefer pens that have a “converter” (a reservoir that you fill by dipping the nib in the ink and then turning a knob on the top of the converter to suck up the ink), because that way you can fill the pen with any ink you like (and there are thousands available, many quite exotic), rather than being limited to bog-standard blue or black as supplied in most cartridges.
Yes I get ink on my fingers each time I fill up but it’s all part of the fun.
I recall that my Parker had a lever which compressed the ink tube inside. Several strokes were needed to fill the tube.
In the case of committing ‘elementary fire apparatus drills’, I always did 2/3 strokes too many - blasted ink everywhere, all over a translation of ‘Caesar’s Gallic Wars’ [J. Caesar] or ‘Cicero’s Speeches to The Senate.’
Yes some of those pens had a sort of rubber bladder thing that was compressed by a metal spring.
Definitely dodgy.
Thanks everyone for your replies to date. 
Me too. Cartridges probably make more sense but my (few) pens all have reservoirs and those that came with cartridges were ordered with ‘converters’ as an add-on extra. I like ink bottles, they are a piece of ‘desk art’ and I quite enjoy using them. Like you, I generally get ink on my fingers lol!
Cartridges, cartridges? Whatever next? Puts me in mind of when I drove my 1938 Packard 8 to a Classic Club meet and when the secretary in admiring my car, opened the bonnet and saw, not a Packard 8 petrol engine but a Perkins P6 diesel, straight out of a Derbyshire Stone tipper lorry, he nearly had a heart attack. ‘Of course, you will be looking for an engine then?’ ‘No, couldn’t afford to run it’. I was not invited to join the club. 
Sorry, a bit off topic, but not much. 