I confess that I am sometimes drawn in by the allure of Chinese pens, but in my defence I maintain that they are much improved – or at least some of them are – and some, it seems to me, are not all that far behind much more expensive European and American pens in terms of quality and presentation. A case in point is the Picasso Red Flower which I bought recently.
It’s extremely well presented. It comes in a cardboard outer box decorated with a tiny image of a Picasso painting. Inside is a hard case containing the pen, a quality inspection card and a well illustrated Picasso booklet. Every bit as smart as any of the European pens I bought lately.
My one complaint about the pen would be that it is enamelled brass construction and therefore quite heavy, though so far I haven’t found that to be a great disadvantage in use because it’s quite well-balanced. The pen is very pretty, black with splashes of red in a fairish imitation of urushi. The clip is two-toned with an image that I can’t quite make out – maybe it’s a pen nib above an ink bottle, but maybe not. Have a look – see what you think.
The push on cap fits very securely with a satisfying click. The black plastic section has an embossed pattern which gives a good grip. The nib is 22k gold-plated stainless steel, and is as smooth as any pen I have ever tried. The ink flow is generous and after several pages of writing it hasn’t skipped yet. Unscrewing the barrel exposes a twist converter which works well and of course the pen will take international cartridges.
This is a lot of pen for under £20! I’m not saying that it rocks the foundations of Mont Blanc or Visconti, but it does make one wonder about the prices that they are set at. Undoubtedly, they are better pens but are they several hundreds of pounds better?
Goodwriterspens's Blog 
I know that some people look down on Chinese pens. I have a couple that write smoothly and easily. I’ve known ‘well-known’ makes that have taken considerable nib adjustment to get a reasonable flow of ink. I bought a pack of ten Chinese Parker 51 copies that I give to people who express an interest in using a fountain pen; they cost me just over £1 each!
I agree, Andy – my experience is the same.
the image on the clip is two faces facing each other. Nose against nose.
I think it does look very similar to a “H” for the pen clip.
IIRC I thought it was more a collectability for very high-end FPs? There’s a new LE each year and maybe if you find them all your deepest wish will be granted or something of that nature =)
Yes, I think that’s the way it works 🙂 seems to me that there’s a bit of shameless exploitation goes on there!
Now I see either one face in the clip (with the eyes at the top and a long nose between the eyes) or two faces nose-to-nose.
But whatever, it is still a very nice looking pen.
I’ve been making much the same point for a long time: that the prestige brands need to look to their nib finishing now that Chinese pens tend to work respectably as supplied. Some of the big European names appear to be buffing the tips to a mirror shine without checking whether the pens write satisfactorily, and anecdotal evidence suggests that very often they do not. This is good news for the so-called nibmeisters I suppose. “Emperor’s new clothes” is a phrase which frequently comes to mind when I see the latest big-ticket fountain pens.
As for the clip, what I saw was two Picasso-esque people in profile engaged in conversation nose to nose.
I agree with all of that. I’ve had some expensive modern pens that I couldn’t wait to get rid of, and the note-taking pen on my desk is a very cheap Chinese pen.