!jinhao159 Next to a common (and spendy) Lamy Safari, the Jinhao 159 is a beast of a fountain pen. Total cost: $3.59 on eBay.

When I saw http://www.ebay.com/itm/131300838435 in my auction trawling, http://www.ebay.com/usr/hejing1314 piqued my curiosity with promises that this would be a mysterious pen. Is this pen some avatar of Eastern mysticism?

As soon as I saw this handsome pen available http://www.ebay.com/itm/361345956777, I had to pull the trigger and see what it was all about. I mean, sure it looked good online in a photograph. But would it hold up to closer scrutiny? And could it w…

I’ve been a fountain pen user for about five years now. The number of pens I had was actually pretty small, and the few times I’d dabbled with “cheap” pens it ended with disappointment. Actually, the first time I dabbled with an expensive pen (the…