Fascinating Fountain Pen Facts for Fountain Pen Day

Today is Fountain Pen Day, an event which continues to raise the profile of the traditional Fountain Pen – so here are a few fantastic fountain pen facts to help mark the occasion!

Whether you have one stored away in the presentational box it came in or out on your desk ready to use, we can all agree that the fountain pen is certainly a piece of stationery which has continued to stand the test of time!

Now more commonly associated with calligraphy and cursive writing, the fountain pen has a very rich history and have some fantastic facts attached to them too!

We thought that for Fountain Pen Day, there was no better opportunity than today in order to share them with you, so read on for some fascinating fountain pen facts!

Fountain Pens Date Back to 3,000BC

Whilst it wasn’t referred to as a fountain pen during this period, you would need to look back to as far as 3,000BC to discover the very first form of one!

History states that it was used by the Ancient Egyptians, who used a reed straw in order to write with ink which was made from vegetable gum and soot!

But if we look at the true essence of when the fountain pen was discovered and put into use, then it is suggested that the earliest recorded reservoir pen (which would later be known as the fountain pen) dates from the year 953.

Further mentions of metal writing pens would then arise in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Your Fountain Pen Can Learn Your Handwriting

This could possibly by the most intriguing of the fascinating fountain pen facts we have to share!

Did you know that fountain pens can learn how you write?

If your fountain pen features a gold nib, it’s known that the soft metal material will slowly over time start to adjust to your style of handwriting.

This means that the more that you are to use a fountain pen that uses a gold nib, the more unique your handwriting will become overall!

The Most Expensive Fountain Pen in The World

If you were to take a wild guess at what fountain pen manufacturer has created the most expensive fountain pen, which would you mention?

Perhaps it could be Parker?

Or Cross?

Montblanc maybe?

Well in fact, it’s none of these!

The title of the most expensive fountain pen in the world currently belong to the Fulgor Nocturnus which costs a staggering $8,000,000 (approx. £6,177,280)!

You could consider this fountain pen as being more a work of art than a writing instrument, as its maker, Tibaldi, has crafted the pen based on the Divine Proportion of Phi – more commonly known as the Golden Ratio.

The Golden Ratio is usually found throughout architecture, art pieces and nature and forms the key concept of ancient spirituality, so the Fulgor Nocturnus is certainly not a pen you’d want to misplace or have going missing!

The Smallest Fountain Pen on Record

The final of our fascinating fountain pen facts focuses less on the most expensive fountain pen and more on what is considered to be the smallest fountain pen currently in existence today!

This title belongs to the Nanofountain Probe, a fountain pen that is able to write out lines that measure just 40 nanometers in total width (that equates to just 40 billionths of a metre!)

Whilst it’s not a physical fountain pen you can hold, researchers at Northwestern University have likened the Nanofountain Probe to utilising fountain pen type properties.

This is due to the Nanofountain Probe using an integrated system that feeds through molecular ink, much like found in the cartridges of regular fountain pens!