Incredibly enough, but even today there is a great number of people who write with fountain pens. In contrast to the ubiquitous ballpoint pens they provide writing with less effort and more comfort. Fountain pens have some more advantages: wide range of ink colors, expressive calligraphy, longevity and professional design. Indeed, fountain pens have been prized as works of art. They are sometimes made of precious metals and jewels and can be inlaid with lacquer designs. They are like treasures in the collection. And that’s why there is also a great amount of pen collectors desperately looking for those works of art, antique and modern, that are still missing in their collection.

Fountain pens contain a reservoir of water-based liquid ink. A combination of gravity and capillary action makes the ink fed to the nib. Depending on the type and model the fountain pen can be refilled in several ways: by replacing a disposable ink cartridge, by filling the pen with an eyedropper, by filling a removable converter, by using internal mechanisms to suck ink into the reservoir through the nib or by squeezing and releasing the internal rubber sac to create the suction.

Together with the widely spread pencils and the introduction of inexpensive wood-based paper, fountain pens provoked a major transformation in writing and in the nature of paperwork during the 19th century. Fountain pens are more expensive, more difficult to maintain, more fragile than ballpoint pens, they can’t be used with various oil and particle-based inks, in comparison with dip pens, reeds, or quill pens, but they are still considered by many famous and respected writers, artists and stylophiles to be the best tools for writing or drawing.

Fountain pens retain a sense of timeless exility, individuality and apprehensibility that no other type of pens have. They are a must for every pens collection.

The best-known fountain pens manufacturers are: Montblanc, Parker, Cross and Waterman.