Welcome to- The Fountain Pen Community!

HisNibs.com update -- Fountain Pen Day
November 1st, 2013

Greetings,

Just a quick update to let you know that November 1st is the 2nd annual
Fountain Pen Day.

As mentioned on the official website http://www.fountainpenday.org/, here
are a few suggestions for celebrating the day:



1. Write a letter to someone with your favorite fountain pen and ink.
Under your signature you can write the pen & ink you used.


2. Go through your stationery collection and use some of those you have
saved for a special occasion. Surprise a friend with that vintage paper.


3. You can make up a FPD "intro to fountain pens" pack for a friend like
this.


4. Post on your favorite forum or blog by writing it out with your
fountain pen. Then take a picture of it and post it. Again, under your
signature write what pen & ink you used.


5. Instead of typing Facebook status updates and tweets on Twitter, write
them and upload a picture of them (mention the reason that you're doing it
at well.)


6. Take one of the pens you don't use anymore and send it off to a friend
with a handwritten note. If you don't have any pens you want to part with
you can shop one of the online retailers and have it sent direct to them.


7. Make that the weekend you have your pen club meet up.


8. Turn off your computer and put down the phone and spend some time
writing.

To help celebrate Fountain Pen Day, His Nibs.com http://www.hisnibs.com/ is
offering a site-wide 10% off of any orders placed between now and 11:59 PM
EST Saturday, November 2nd (OK, I've extended Fountain Pen Day to 2-1/2
days).

In addition, the first 30 people ordering will receive a knock-off Hero 329
fountain pen (my total supply of these), which is a $10.00 value. Read a bit
more about these collectibles further on in the newsletter.

So, just place your order as usual, by sending me an email at
orders@hisnibs.com, and receive a 10% discount as well as a free pen (if
you're one of the first 30 orders received)...and have a Happy Fountain Pen
Day!

As this newsletter goes out to a mailing list of thousands of customers,
please understand if there's a delay in answering your email queries or
orders after one of these is sent. We will respond in order received and as
soon as possible!

Join us on our Facebook HisNibs.com fan page which can be reached directly
at https://www.facebook.com/HisNibs1. Come join us for what has become a
lively meeting place for news about pens, ink and handwriting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~in this issue
* A knock-off Hero 329????
* Happy Halloween!
* 'His Nibs' page on Facebook

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A knock-off Hero 329????



The Hero 329 was the very first pen model offered by His Nibs.com, starting
in 1997 (two years before we officially became His Nibs.com). The pen's
price has remained unchanged in those 16 years!

So, what's the story about these free (for the first 30 customers placing an
order during the 2-day Fountain Pen Day celebration) knock-off 329s? How can
there be a knockoff of such an inexpensive pen? Aren't knock-offs usually
reserved for expensive Montblancs and S. T. Dupont pens only?

Well no, actually. Shanghai Hero Pen Company, which has been in existence
for about 70 years, is by far the largest fountain pen manufacturer in the
world. Just think of the population of China alone (most schools still use
fountain pens), not to mention the bulk of India and Asia as a whole that
preferentially use the generally low-cost Hero models as their pens of
choice. My wife Lai Yee, born in Hong Kong, used a 329 (as did all of her
classmates) throughout her primary and secondary school years. So yes, there
have always been knock-offs of Hero pens.

I recently placed a re-stocking order for the 329s for the website. This
old-style 329 (with the 'Star Trek' insert on the hood) was actually
discontinued about 15 years ago, when Hero brought out a new -- and
inferior -- version that looks quite different and is not of the same
quality. So, although countless millions of the old-style were produced over
the decades, each year it has become more and more difficult to locate
new-old-stock of the pen.

My last order for these arrived from one of my suppliers in China a few
months ago, and I was quite surprised to find that they were actually a copy
of the iconic 329. Close, but no cigar. There are somewhat subtle
differences that many might not notice, but having sold the model for more
than 16 years, it was easy for me to recognize. The depth and clarity of the
stamping on the cap of 'Hero' and the Chinese characters for the name were
somewhat poor; the spring clip is not as thick and sturdy; the cap shape was
ever-so-slightly off; the pressure bar was slightly less robust; the barrel
end differed, as did the nib and feed upon close examination.

These are perfectly functional pens, but even if only I noticed the slight
differences, there was no way I was going to offer them as the genuine
article, so they've been sitting in the box in which I received them ever
since.

So, the first 30 customers for the Fountain Pen Day sale will now be able to
say that they proudly own a faux Hero 329 -- and they got it for a song
(free!). I have mostly black ones, with a few dark green, and will honor
color requests for as long as possible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Happy Halloween!



Hey, I had to use the photograph again!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'His Nibs' page on Facebook



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Regards,

Norman Haase
http://www.hisnibs.com