Best Selling Fountain Pens at Every Price Point
One of the best parts of working at Goulet Pen Company is being able to help thousands of fountain pen enthusiasts choose the perfect pen at the appropriate price range.
Because our beloved pen pals have different needs for their fountain pen journeys, we've compiled a list of the best-selling fountain pens at every price point, ranging from under $10 to over $1,000, over the last 365 days.
Under $10 | Jinhao 993 Shark Fountain Pen - Light Blue
Although this fountain pen was up against other popular entry-level options such as the Platinum Preppy and the Pilot Varsity, the Light Blue Jinhao Shark Pen is the champion of the cheap.
Its fun and campy design may entice shoppers as it features a gnarly shark head in a cool blue hue and a hooded extra-fine steel nib, which provides a nice crisp line. This writing tool also comes with a reliable converter that effectively gets the job done for under four dollars.
$10-$25 | Diplomat Magnum Fountain Pen - Prismatic Purple
In this next price range, the best selling fountain pen is the Diplomat Magnum in Prismatic Purple. It is a USA Goulet Pens exclusive, which could contribute to its popularity.
This fountain pen edges out strong competitors like the Pilot Kakuno, the TWSBI GO, and a plethora of Kaweco Sports, and we are contributing that to its nib. The Magnum is a plastic, lightweight pen, but its nib has surprised writers for years. The smooth-writing JoWo stainless steel nib makes for a smooth and effortless writing experience at just $24, making it the reigning champ of the $10-$25 price range.
$25-$50 | LAMY vista fountain pen - black
This is a very competitive category! Industry staples like the Pilot Metropolitan, the TWSBI ECO, the LAMY safari, and the LAMY AL-star competed for the number one spot, but the LAMY vista black is coming out on top.
This is a Goulet Pens exclusive, meaning we're the only store where you can get this particular vista, which might be a variable affecting its popularity. This fountain pen is the same as a regular vista but with a black nib, a black clip, and a black cartridge – making for a modern, eye-catching pen.
Its transparent demonstrator body and affordable price of $34.90 also helps it appeal to a wide variety of tastes and preferences. The vista black also comes with a $6 converter, making it a better economical choice than buying the regular vista and purchasing a converter separately.
$50-$100 | TWSBI Diamond 580 Fountain Pen - Iris
At this price range, TWSBI dominates. Sure, you've got your LAMY studios, some Conklins, and the Kaweco AL Sports, but this category is in TWSBI's house for the time being, and out of all the TWSBIs, the 580 Iris is what our customers choose to buy the most in the past year.
The "Iris" plating on this pen was first introduced on TWSBI's Vac700R, and that became a very sought-after model. Naturally, TWSBI decided to add the Iris trim to the 580, making it a fantastic product. At $80, this is a stunning fountain pen that features an internal piston assembly and an inner cap within the cap that seals everything up extremely well. When a pen seals well, you know someone's paying attention during design and manufacturing.
$100-$250 | LAMY 2000 Fountain Pen - Black
Now we’re moving into some higher-priced pens and our range is increasing!
At a glance on our website, you can see that the Pilot brand dominates in this price range. If you sort by this price filter on our store, you'll see where some of Pilot's most notable pens exist. The Custom 74, the E95s, the Falcon, and the Vanishing Point are all top contenders. You'll also see that one LAMY pen is pretty consistently at the top.
That's right, the most popular pen here is the incomparable LAMY 2000 in black.
If you combined the sales of each color of Pilot's Vanishing Point, the 2000 would have some cause for concern here, but as it stands, this pen's popularity is channeled into this one color, which puts its sales numbers far above the rest.
This fountain pen has been in continuous production at LAMY for more than 55 years and enjoys a reputation for being both a reliable performer and an inspired design piece. You can also grab a rollerball or pencil version if that's more your style. This design maintains a heavy dose of style without sacrificing durability and is a great choice for new or veteran fountain pen lovers.
$250-$500 | Pilot Custom 823 Fountain Pen - Amber
If you peek inside the $250-$500 bucket, you'll see it's full of worthy contenders. But, there isn't one pen that can even come close to the purchase popularity of the Pilot Custom 823.
This beautiful pen is available in two distinct colors, Smoke and Amber, but the Amber version is the top seller. This pen has always been popular, but its desirability has grown in the last several years.
These days, it's constantly a top seller, most likely due to the brown body and gold trim looking phenomenal together. It's also Pilot's only fountain pen that uses a vacuum filler, which gives this writing tool an immense ink capacity, and it has an exquisite 14-karat gold nib. It's fairly large compared to other Pilots but isn't considered "oversized." This pen showcases a beautiful design and brings users an excellent writing experience, making it hard to dethrone.
$500-$1000 | Visconti Homo Sapiens Fountain Pen - Bronze Age
We’re stepping into the luxury zone, where you'll start seeing a shift into high-concept territory. This category begins to feature fountain pens that are heavily themed, labor-intensive, or made from rare materials.
Speaking of rare materials, how about a fountain pen made with lava?
The top-selling fountain pen in this category is the Visconti Homo Sapiens Bronze Age, a writing instrument made with hardened basaltic lava sourced from the Mount Etna volcano in Italy, and it’s slightly hygroscopic, meaning the finish of the pen gets smoother each time you use it.
Featuring a trim made of solid bronze, a vacuum power filler made of titanium to resist ink corrosion, and a rose gold-plated oversized 18k gold, this pen is virtually unbreakable. It is one of the industry's most popular, if not the most popular, "grail pen" and is currently priced at $716.
This pen certainly has that "It" factor that continues to allure the fountain pen community.
Over $1000 | Namiki Yukari Royale Urushi Fountain Pen - Vermillion
This price range is home to the most posh pens yet.
Pens in this category sometimes feature urushi, a natural lacquer applied in layers to provide a sleek and durable coating. What makes these urushi pens so expensive is the many layers of urushi need to be carefully applied over strict time intervals with time to cure, which could take weeks and months. Manufacturers use traditional techniques that few possess, and often the urushi lacquer isn't the only material used. Some urushi fountain pen designs are joined by various styles, such as hand-painted artwork, inlaid abalone shells, or eggshells that are painstakingly applied by hand. However, our best-selling pen over $1,000 does, in fact, happen to be just simple urushi lacquer.
The Namiki Yukari Royale in Vermillion is priced at $1,600 and sits at a great place in terms of price. Describing a $1,600 pen as reasonable might sound crazy, but hear us out. The Yukari, a smaller version of this pen, can be purchased with all sorts of beautiful artwork laid into the lacquer, but it's more expensive than the Royale. If you wanted a Yukari Royale such as this one that includes designs, you'd be spending over $5,000.
We're not saying that the extra artistic elements aren't worth the money because they absolutely are. But it makes perfect sense why the comparably "plain" Vermillion is the best-selling pen in this range. It's a reasonable price, all things considered. The Royale is a large, lightweight urushi-lacquered pen made of hard rubber that feels substantial in hand. It also has a magnificent 18-karat gold nib with a gorgeous Mount Fuji imprint, and even the feed has a matching red urushi lacquer coating.
That's our list of best-selling fountain pens at every price point! If you'd like to learn more about all these beautiful pens, check them out below. Have fun and write on!
