There was some discussion on the boards recently about the Jinhao 886 and I was quite taken with it. It seemed a nice, basic pen. I found some in eBay – they come in all the colours of the rainbow and I settled on a red one. You’ll notice from the photographs that this is quite red. In fact, it may be the reddest thing I have ever seen.

It’s a moderate-sized pen, about 12.8 cm long. It’s quite light and initially I took it to be a plastic pen but on looking inside the cap I discovered that it is painted metal. Perhaps those people that make those tremendously heavy pens that require a hoist to get your arm off the table could take note of it and learn from it. The cap is the screw-on type and it takes two turns to close firmly. The short cap posts firmly and the pen is well balanced. I haven’t used it all that much yet but it starts well and there’s no skipping. It’s not the perfect pen for me because it’s a medium and I like fine. Imagine a situation where you can’t find a fine nib on a Chinese pen! That was all I could get and I took it.

Because it’s so astonishingly red I had to put red ink in it (though I’m not usually one of those who hunts around for the right ink for a particular pen). I’ve only got about three inks but one of them is a glorious bottle of old Stephens ink from about 1970. It may have faded a little over the years but it’s still in-your-face red.

Of course the pen was ridiculously cheap. It cost £2.99 postpaid! I don’t know how they do it but I’m quite glad to snap up pens like this while I can. I can’t believe that such pricing can last.

Some have described this as a bullet pen but the resemblance escapes me. It’s just a rather ordinary pen with a slightly shorter cap than usual. I think it’s the ideal thing to have lying around the desk or in your pocket.

My assistant says, “Cheap Chinese pens! Again!”