Inside Look: Montegrappa Fountain Pens
In the fall of 2019, Brian Goulet and Drew (our Customer Relationship Manager) traveled to Italy and during their trip, they were fortunate enough to travel to Bassano Del Grappa in Northern Italy, home of the Montegrappa headquarters. An amazing facility run by an inspiring leader in a stunningly beautiful town, the experience was truly unforgettable. The opportunity to hear the story and see the magic behind such a prolific brand was something we wanted to share with you, so we did our best to do just that. We hope you enjoy it!
Write on,
The Goulet Pen Company
5 Fountain Pens for Spring
Any pen is the right pen no matter what time of year. But sometimes it’s a little fun to let the season inspire your writing. Here are a few of our current favorites that we think should be on everyone’s wishlist!
TWSBI ECO Yellow
This color of the beloved ECO is bright, cheery, and perfect for warmer weather. The ECO is our most popular fountain pen because of its clear barrel, piston filler, and affordable price tag. You really can’t go wrong.
LAMY AL-Star Turmaline
This year’s special edition color, Turmaline, is perfectly suited for this time of year. Reminding us of warmer days, the AL-Star is a reliable writer that has interchangeable nibs, making it a great option for a variety of tasks.
Montegrappa Elmo Blue Cross Gentian
The Elmo is an entry-level pen from Montegrappa with a true high-quality writing experience. The pattern on the Blue Cross Gentian is a gorgeous teal swirly resin with pops of purple and green. The JoWo nib is also beautifully designed and super functional.
Diplomat Esteem MadC
The Diplomat collaboration with artist MadC is really unlike anything else we’ve seen. Known for her use of color and dynamic designs, her work is printed on an alcohol polyvinyl film and each pen is then immersed in a different section of the painting to create a unique pattern on every pen.
Conklin Duragraph Water
This clear base with flecks of blue and yellow remind us of the newness that the spring season brings. The Duragraph Water is available with a JoWo nib in a range of nib sizes, or with a flexible nib perfect for that line variation you’re looking for. The rose gold trim is just stunning!
What fountain pen is currently on your wishlist?
Write on,
The Goulet Pen Company
Sailor Brand Overview
We are absolutely thrilled to announce that we are now authorized Sailor retailers! In this video and blog, we’ll talk about our initial offerings, compare each of the pen models, and give an overview of each of the 7 nib sizes.
Over the last few years, we’ve been building a new relationship with the team at Sailor and Itoya of America, the US distributor. We are all excited to finally bring this partnership to fruition, and work together to do all we can to best represent and grow this brand.
We’ve been keeping this launch secret for the last few months as we have been working hard to prepare everything we would need – all the product photography, measurements, videos, webpage listings, writing samples, educating our team, etc. It’s been a labor of love and we are so excited to share this with you now.
So without further ado, let’s review our initial product offerings at Goulet Pens.
The Sailor Pen Line
Sailor is one of the three big Japanese fountain pen companies, founded in 1911. They are known primarily for their 14kt and 21kt gold nib fountain pens with a focus on quality, and an extensive line of bottled ink colors.
The fountain pens are primarily divided into two models: the 1911 and the Pro Gear. The 1911 features a rounded cigar shape, while the Pro Gear has a flat top design. Each of these models come in different size variations. You can use our Pen Plaza comparison tool on our website to directly compare these in size to each other as well as to any of the other pens we carry.
1911L
The Sailor 1911 Large fountain pen is considered to be their most popular model in the US market. Available in a huge range of resin colors, including some exciting North American exclusive colors, it features a large 21kt gold nib in seven different nib sizes (more on that below). The cap screws on/off and posts onto the back when writing, and it uses a proprietary Sailor converter or Sailor ink cartridges. Our prices start at $272.
1911S
The Sailor 1911 Standard fountain pen is a smaller, slimmer version of the 1911L. It is also available in a wide range of resin colors. The biggest difference is that it has a smaller 14kt nib, instead of the 21kt nib on the 1911L. Our prices start at $180.
There are also several 1911 Maki-e versions available. Stock is a bit more scarce, but we do have a few designs to start with. Our prices start at $392.
1911 King of Pens
The Sailor 1911 King of Pens is the largest of the Sailor offerings, and one of the largest fountain pens on the market in general! To complement the oversized body, it comes with an even larger 21kt gold nib in medium or broad. Our prices start at $740.
Pro Gear (Standard)
The Sailor Pro Gear (short for Professional Gear) fountain pen is available in several resin colors, including some exciting North American exclusive colors. Like the 1911L, it features a large 21kt gold nib in seven different nib sizes. The cap screws on/off and posts onto the back when writing, and it uses a proprietary Sailor converter or Sailor ink cartridges. Our prices start at $312.
Pro Gear Slim
The Pro Gear Slim fountain pen is a smaller, slimmer version of the Pro Gear. It is also available in a wide range of resin colors. Just like the 1911S to the 1911L, the biggest difference on the Pro Gear Slim that it has a smaller 14kt nib, instead of the 21kt nib on the Pro Gear Standard. There are also several themed special edition versions available. Our prices start at $180.
Pro Gear King of Pens
The Sailor Pro Gear King of Pens is an oversized version of the Pro Gear, with the larger 21kt gold nib in medium or broad. Our prices start at $816.
You can find all of the technical specs for each pen model, including weights, measurements, and ink capacity, on the respective product pages on our website.
Sailor Nibs
There are seven different nib sizes available for most Sailor pens: Extra-Fine, Fine, Medium Fine, Medium, Broad, Music, and Zoom.
All of these sizes are available in a smaller 14kt nib on the 1911S or Pro Gear Slim, and the larger 21kt nib on the 1911L or Pro Gear.
The largest 21kt nib for on the King of Pens is only available in medium or broad.
Sailor makes all of their gold nibs in-house, one of the few companies left in the world to do so. As a Japanese nib, they run on the fine side. Sailor nibs feature a bit of feedback in the finer sizes, similar to what you might feel when writing with a sharp graphite pencil. The broader nibs are more smooth. The most popular Sailor nib size is Medium Fine.
Zoom is a unique size to Sailor. It is ground in such a way that the line width is varied: it is more fine when writing with the pen at a steeper angle, and broader at a lower angle.
Sailor’s Music nib is most similar to a traditional stub italic nib. A two-tine design, you’ll achieve wider up and downstrokes, and narrow sidestrokes.
Here are the writing samples for each of these nibs. You can use our Nib Nook comparison tool to compare these to each other as well as writing samples for all of the other pens we carry.
Sailor 14kt Gold Nib writing samples:
Sailor 21kt Gold Nib writing samples:
Sailor King of Pens 21kt Gold Nib writing samples:
There are some additional nib offerings available through select Bespoke retailers, but these are the ones we’ll be offering at Goulet Pens as of this launch.
Sailor Ink
Sailor produces hundreds of ink colors, many only available to specific geographical markets or exclusive to retailers. We are starting with an initial selection of 40 colors, from several different collections.
The Standard collection contains the basic ink colors: Black, Blue, and Blue Black. These are packaged in 50ml square glass bottles for $12.50 each, and also available in cartridges.
The Pigmented collection features Sailor’s waterproof ink line. These are very popular with artists who rely on the permanence in their art. Kiwaguro is the black color, and there are two blue/black shades in Seiboku and Souboku. These are packaged in 50ml square glass bottles for $24 each, and also available in cartridges.
The Jentle collection is exclusive to North America, and features six pleasant colors in 50ml round glass bottles for $25 each. Brian’s favorite is Sky High. Epinard is also a popular and unique spinach green color.
The Shikiori collection is inspired by colors of nature. There are twenty colors in this collection in 20ml square glass bottles for $15 each, some with beautiful shading or sheening properties. Souten and Yamadori are especially popular colors.
The Manyo collection is the newest, featuring eight colors in 50ml square glass bottles for $24 each. This collection is an Overseas Exclusive (available everywhere but Japan). These colors were inspired by flowers frequently mentioned in Japanese poetry. Rachel’s favorites are Haha and Nekoyanagi, for their gorgeous pastel multi-tonal shading properties on ink-resistant papers like Tomoe River.
For all forty of these colors, we also offer a 2ml ink sample so you can try out a color before committing to purchasing a full bottle.
Sailor Accessories
We will also be stocking replacement Sailor converters in gold or silver, and a Sailor Fountain Pen Maintenance Kit. This $16 kit contains everything you need to keep your Sailor pen clean from the inside out!
Are you excited to see Sailor offered at Goulet Pens? What are your favorite Sailor products? Let us know if you have any questions, we’re happy to answer.
Write On,
Brian & Rachel Goulet
COVID-19 Update 3/18/20
Hey pen friends,
Three announcements here, some mixed news….
1) We gave you an update a few days ago on what we’re doing to address the COVID-19 virus.
Due to the ever-changing situation and out of an over-abundance of caution for the safety of our warehouse and receiving teams as well as for you as our customers…. starting next Monday March 23 we will be transitioning to fully remote working. We are still keeping our website open and working remotely to continue to serve you. However, our warehouse will no longer be shipping orders, and physical returns will be paused as well. We will work with each return request on a case-by-case basis to make sure you are taken care of in the best possible way.
We appreciate your support to help our small business keep going, and we look forward to shipping your orders as soon as it is safe to reopen. It may be a few weeks, it may be longer… we will continue monitoring guidance from authorities to make a responsible decision. This includes all orders placed from today forward.
We will also not be able to regularly restock during this time, so you may expect more stock outages than normal and lack of clear timelines.
We care immensely about the safety of our team and they will all be paid during this time.
2) Despite the upcoming pause on order fulfillment, we’re still pressing forward with a big new surprise product launch tomorrow. We’ve been working on it for months, and we’re very excited about this new brand. So stay tuned tomorrow to our blog and website for the big unveiling! Again, we cannot guarantee immediate shipment of these orders, but we appreciate your support and hope you share in our excitement.
3) As a thanks for your support during this time, we will be offering free USPS shipping on all $50+ orders within the US. You’ll see this reflected at checkout automatically starting immediately.
Our customer relationship team is ready and willing to take your questions as usual (via email, phone, and live chat), and we look forward to continuing to support you and your fountain pen passion.
Write On,
Goulet Pens Update on COVID-19
Hey pen friends,
Wow, it’s been crazy, right?! Things are escalating quickly with COVID-19. Last week we cut our family vacation short to come home and implement emergency plans for Goulet Pens as we dealt with the changing environment surrounding COVID-19. At this point we’re sure you’re already familiar with what’s going on in the news around the world and in your local community, and we’re sure you’ve been getting lots of emails like this one. Even so, we wanted to take a moment to let you know the proactive steps we’re taking at Goulet Pens.
Starting today, we have implemented remote working for the majority of our team members. Some essential staff who are handling physical products will continue working in the office to help ship orders. We have taken extra precautions with regard to handwashing and hand sanitizer, distancing ourselves, extra facilities cleaning with bleach, staying home if anyone feels ill, etc.
As for ordering packages from us right now…. you should make a determination for yourself what you feel comfortable with. Current research shows that the virus could live on certain surfaces for up to a few days, but that there is currently no known risk of transmission via packages/mail.
Schools here in Virginia are closed for the next two weeks, so some of our team members are now at home taking care of their families. We’re doing our best to support them while continuing operations as normal. We appreciate your patience with us if it takes additional time to ship your order, process your return, or respond to your inquiries.
We are continuing to monitor the ever-changing situation and following guidance from the CDC, WHO, and local government authorities. We’ll take each day as it comes and keep you apprised if our situation changes. We are thankful that all GPC team members and their families are healthy so far.
We hope all of you stay safe and healthy as well. We know these are uncertain and scary times, but we’re trying to remain hopeful (yet realistic) and not let fear get the best of us. If you find yourself stuck in quarantine, working remotely, or at home with children out of school for an extended period of time, it’s a great time to get out your fountain pens. 🙂
We’ll continue to be available via email, live chat, or phone if you have any questions.
Write On,
The Platinum Prefounte!
The Platinum Prefounte is a new affordable starter pen that is reliable, colorful, and easy to use! It is a model designed more for adults while retaining the basic functions of the Preppy fountain pen. It’s available in several colors including Vermilion Orange, Crimson Red, Dark Emerald, Night Sea, and Graphite Blue.
The Prefounte fountain pen is equipped with Platinum’s “Slip & Seal Mechanism” that prevents ink from drying out in the pen with the cap on for one year. It accepts proprietary Platinum ink cartridges (one blue-black cartridge is included) or a Platinum converter (sold separately) to fill with bottled ink. All of the colors are available with a fine or medium nib.
This pen is great to keep in your bag, use at work, or gift to a friend.
Are you going to try a Platinum Prefounte?
Write on,
The Goulet Pen Company