The Price of Writing in Gold

Feb 7

Twenty twenty-six has started off rocky for us fountain pen lovers. Amid a renewed interest in gold as a store of value, gold prices rose sharply—65% in 2025 alone. The downstream effect has been immediate. Fountain pen manufacturers, particularly Japanese ones, have begun revising their catalogues. After decades of steady prices, Platinum, Pilot, and most notably Sailor have pushed through increases at a pace that is almost hard to believe. A Pro Gear that once sat at 38,500 yen now lists at 77,000 yen, as of February 2026.

Left: Sailor Pro Gear 21k (now 77,000 yen)
Right: Sailor Profit Large 21k (now discontinued)

There was a time when the Big Three competed on who could put more gold into a nib. In the 1970s, pocket pens were the craze in Japan, and gold content became a battleground. The precursor to Pilot’s E95S came fitted with 18K nibs rather than 14K. Sailor made pocket pens in 14K, 18K, and 21K. Platinum, most likely in response, introduced a 22K model alongside its 18K. Sailor answered with a 23K model. All of this, conveniently, in a form factor you could slip into a toddler’s shirt pocket.

Much later, there were even rumours of a 24K nib made by the late nibmeister Kohei Kubo.

How times change. Not long ago, a Platinum 3776 was 12,000 yen. Today it is closer to 30,000. A Pilot Custom 823 could be had at 35,000 yen; now it sits around 55,000. Like Pelikans and Montblancs, Japanese gold nibs are being priced squarely into the premium category. Those of us who had years to accumulate our gold nibs should be careful not to develop the posture of boomer homeowners: mistaking timing for virtue, and confusing “I bought early” with “I earned it.”

Meanwhile, Chinese fountain pens—Majohn, Hong Dian, Jun Lai—continue to redefine how good steel nibs can be. Despite the popular belief that only gold can deliver the bouncy, springy writing feel many of us chase, modern manufacturing is starting to prove otherwise. For the time being, though, gold remains the gold standard, because it resists corrosion. There is a reason so many pens that have survived the decades since the Great Depression do so with gold nibs: the Sheaffer Balance, the Waterman 52.

Only time will tell if Chinese industrial prowess will produce an affordable alloy that is innately corrosion-resistant while still offering similar softness. Perhaps they already do.

—Platinum Izumo, Pilot Blue