Jinhao 992 and Lamy Turqouise

Simon Chooses a Fountain Pen

It's Sunday evening, time for another excruciating episode of Simon Chooses A Fountain Pen.

This week it's the Jinhao 992 paired with Lamy Turquoise.

As those who know me know, I gift pens to children. I do this because I'm convinced writing is an important contributor to development, increasing dexterity and encouraging creativity and self-expression.

I have a method, and here it is.

Around about the age of twelve I gift good pens, the sort of instrument that is suitable for engraving and could last a person a lifetime. Until that age I give more generic pens, still good but less expensive. The theory here is that it won't matter if the kid damages or loses it, and it alleviates the burden on the parents of having to worry about it.

But the really interesting aspect is loss or damage seldom occurs. In my experience younger children love a fountain pen. Because it’s special, elegant. It's not like the pens they see other people using. There's an aesthetic to filling it from a bottle, similar to the thrill of painting in art class I suppose. But most importantly I think because it is a fine object which is intrinsically theirs.

I buy pens like this in bulk, usually in lots of 12 or 20. The criteria are:

• Small body size, suitable for a child's hand

• Size #5 nib

• Medium nib

• Generic, interchangeable components

• User serviceable

The pens are almost exclusively Chinese, because China makes superb pens that are inexpensive. I shop around to find good deals on various makes and models, usually they work out somewhere between $2 and $5. What I like about the Jinhao 992 is it fulfils all of the criteria and comes in a range of bright colours children seem to prefer, which is probably why I only have this grey one left in my collection.

Which brings me onto the next aspect of my method, always providing a bottle of ink in the child's favourite colour as I figure they're more likely to want to use it. Kids tend to favour bright colours and many fountain pen inks are highly saturated. I try to give Lamy inks because they're inexpensive (about $15 for a 50ml bottle) and come with blotting paper. I do regularly end up giving away more prized inks directly from my personal collection however, when Lamy's rather limited selection won't suffice.

So there we have it. It's a wonderful thing to bring the joy of writing and to gift a cherished possession to children I reckon. And just on that aspect: the thank you letters I receive are amongst my most cherished possessions. I keep all of them, with the intention of returning them on the occasion of the sender's 21st birthday.

I won't be using this pen this week, it's going back in the stash for the next child who wants one.

-SRA. Auckland, 14/vii 2024.