# Gold Nibs



## Randy_ (Sep 29, 2007)

After seeing Lou's ad for the Heritage 18 nibs and his auction for some 14k gold nibs, I got to wondering if there is a "big" difference between 14k nibs and 18k nibs?  There seems to be a significant difference in price.

Edited:  To correct vendor 
of Heritage 18 nibs.


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## DCBluesman (Sep 29, 2007)

The nibs you are referring to are both my nibs.  Anthony also sells beautiful nibs in both sizes.

The "Heritage 18" nibs are $70 for the large and $40 for the small, wholesale.  The small 14k nibs for auction are $75 for my "retail" customers.  










I think when you compare wholesale and retail pricing and the appearance of the nibs, the price differential is well worth it.  As far as writing performance is concerned, there's not a great deal of difference.

What do the rest of you think?


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## Randy_ (Sep 29, 2007)

My apologies, Lou.  I was sitting here trying to do three things at the same time and just had a brain fart!!

While on the subject, thanks for running that auction.....we all appreciate your contributions to IAP!!.


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## Scott (Oct 2, 2007)

I agree with Lou, for the most part there is no particular difference in writing characteristics between a steel nib and a gold nib.  

BUT, gold is a much nicer material, and many people who use, buy and collect fountain pens will view steel nibs as "cheap" nibs, and the gold ones as the "good" nibs.  So if you want to sell to those people, you will need to be able to offer a gold nib before you break into selling pens for a "good" price!

So, is it worthwhile to put gold nibs on your pens?  Yes!  Particularly from the makers/sellers point of view.  But this is very subjective, depending on factors such as the collectability of the pens.  An example might be ashaw's president pens - I'm not sure if a gold nib would add much to those pens, since they are so special in their own right!

Just my opinion.   [8D]

Scott.


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## ashaw (Oct 2, 2007)

Remember by adding a gold nib your are adding value.  I did find a big difference between steel and gold.  With gold very little pressure is required to write.  I'll market this way.  A person wants a fountain pen but never wrote with one always writes with a ball point.  I'll point him to a steel nib first.  Pressure to write is simular to a ball point after his is comfortable with the fountain pen upgrade him to a gold nib.  That is just my take on it.


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## DCBluesman (Oct 2, 2007)

Just to add a note to Alan's paragraph, at a certain price point, buyers expect a gold nib.


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## bjackman (Oct 2, 2007)

> _Originally posted by ashaw_
> 
> Remember by adding a gold nib your are adding value.  I did find a big difference between steel and gold.  With gold very little pressure is required to write.  I'll market this way.  A person wants a fountain pen but never wrote with one always writes with a ball point.  I'll point him to a steel nib first.  Pressure to write is simular to a ball point after his is comfortable with the fountain pen upgrade him to a gold nib.  That is just my take on it.



Yes, a gold nib should certainly add value.

The rest I'm not so sure I can agree so easily.
While it's true that you might have to press a little more to help a badly tuned nib, of any material, write. You should not have to press harder for a nib to write just because it's made of steel. Just touching the slit area of the nib to paper should be enough for ink to begin flowing. It's not the pressing that makes the ink flow, it's the ink touching to the paper. Regardless of the material the nib might be made from.
I think this kind of statement might sell someone who doesn't really know much about FP's, but you may just be turning away someone who really knows what they're talking about. 
A gold nib will probably flex easier than a steel nib, and it will probably have gone through a tighter QC process and maybe an extra finishing step or two, but I'll stick to my statement that a properly tuned steel nib will write just as easily and reliably as a similarly tuned gold nib. I know I've seen quite a few magazine articles where they did blindfolded tests and with only a few exceptions the testers could not tell the difference between nibs.


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## dfurlano (Oct 2, 2007)

I think there are German nibs, major manufacture nibs and then all others. The first question out of a collectors mouth, if they do not recognize the brand, will be where was the nib made.


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## LanceD (Oct 2, 2007)

In the April-May issue in Stylus magazine, Richard Binder wrote an article on nibs, comparing different nibs in steel, 14 and 18 Karat gold and titanium. Below is a small samplang of what he wrote:

"14 karat gold is the best,10 karat and silver palladium is good, 18 karat is good but not always the very best and while steel nibs are much less costly they can be very good and titanium not very good unless you just want to look at it and don't plan to write with it."


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