A new catalog of Pens

[avbill]

I just received Fountain pen hospital catalog today. And there are many beautiful pen! YET,
Over 90% acrylic pen.
Only one wooden pen a rosewood.
There is an overtly amount of silver / acrylic-pens
98% of the Fountain pens are plastic threaded.
I see silver, rhodium or chrome being the choice of the manufacturers as the ascent medium of the pens.
More and More I seeing a completely chrome nibs.
I see the Polaris, Atlas, or Carbara pen becoming more popular
I’m viewing a tradition of top of the roller and fountain pens being solid black also.

What I do not see in their catalog is the quality of photographs that IAP has. And yet their price list shows a Polaris pen at $ 140.00 I’m looking at a European round top ball point for $150. in a celluloid blank.

I have seen better and consistent -- uniqueness in the pens this group hand makes than in the catalog. I’m looking at a Visconti fountain pen Divina Desert Spring. For $1,000. no better than the wasted wood blanks from Eugene, and others on this site.

Just an observation and notes

Bill Daniels

 

[aurrida]

unfortunately i haven't seen the catalog but what i do know is that the brand and name carries a lot more weight than handmade and uniqueness for the discerning fountain pen buyer. its a tough market to crack without credibility, some from of branding and a hell of a lot of good marketing.

i think you are right in saying plastic sections are preferred over metal ones. and acrylic, hard rubber, celluloid and resins are preferred over wood.

I guess like all areas of life, marketing and the subsequent trends that follow make for an ever changing market place. i just wish our kit manufacturers could keep up or even get the basics right so we could actually compete for a bigger share of the market.

 

[fafow]

Darren, are you saying that the plastic sections are preferred by the sellers? buyers? or both? I'm just getting started on fountain pens and this collector was very clear that he didn't want plastic threads. He has one pen that was low-priced and he loved the pen. Over time it started to get a little loose and he found that a crack had developed in the plastic coupler. He does not want to buy another pen with this issue. He said he has no problem paying for a quality product that is unique. For him this uniqueness can be just the wood itself. But, he wants metal couplers so they won't have the fragility of the plastics. I have a hard time imagining that a buyer would prefer a plastic coupler over a metal one, but I've been surprised a lot when dealing with the public.

 

[aurrida]

i am talking about the section, i believe a 'plastic grip' is preferred to metal, and naturally there are other materials to plastic. your collectors complaint seemed to be about plastic threads and couplers which is understandable.
no doubt there will be some that don't mind or even like metal sections but its not the norm.

my comments were about breaking into a specific market and how difficult it is in general and how difficult it is with the limited designs we have especially as many have metal sections. The other problem i am sure you are aware of is, can the pen be posted. yet another difficult challenge to overcome using standard kit fittings.

I think its also important not to go down the road thinking what we do is so unique, there are many other large pen companies making some amazingly unique pens. you can find great pens in wood too, faber castell and omas for example. all of whom we compete against when we try to sell our pens to lovers of fountain pens.

post one of your pens with a metal section on the fountain pen network forum and see how they respond. i saw a gentleman pen using a weaved plank, beautiful blank, it was by and large ignored. i saw another pen, very nice too, a standard churchill closed end in black hard rubber that had a mont blanc look about it that had rave reviews. i also posted one of my pens that had mixed reviews. the basic criticism was they don't like metal sections some find them harder to right with.

i would be interested to hear whether there where any metal sections in the catalog you talked of initially.

 

[redfishsc]

Name means everything. Just look at our own hobby. Anything with "Sorby" on it commands a price 3-times what it's worth IMO. I refuse to buy anything with someone's name on it if it cost more than a knock-off.

If you sell fishing tackle, put Bill Dance on it. If you sell auto parts, put Dale Earnhardt on it. If you sell moron-priced polo shirts put Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus on them. If you sell snake oil and buckets of leeches, put Hillary on them. They will sell.


PT Barnum was right!

 

[1JaredSchmidt]

Is the catalog free? If so where do I order it from?