Recently, on a trip to my local fountain pen shop, I found a cool pen that caught my eye, the Conklin Herringbone. The Herringbone comes in 6 colors: Golden Yellow, Majestic Purple, Sunset Orange, Deep Sea Blue, Slate Gray, and Silver. I initially opted to get the Deep Sea Blue, which is more of a sky blue color. Later, I picked up more of the same pens, in Majestic Purple (this color), Silver, and Golden Yellow. Three of the pens (Golden Yellow, Majestic Purple, Sunset Orange) use a black trim, nibs and accents. The other three colors use chrome trims, nibs (Two-tone) and accents.
Recently, I found out that these pens are being discontinued, so many online stores have them for steep discounts. I found this purple one on Pen Chalet for only $40, a 70% discount from the MSRP of $135. Get them while they last!
The Herringbone is made of a light aircraft-grade aluminum which has been engraved with a wavy pattern then coated with epoxy resin for a smooth but mildly textured finish. The cap finial is engraved with the “Conklin Est. 1898) pretty deep into the finial. The cap ring is also engraved with C’s all around and the clip is engraved “Conklin.”
Conklin offers Fine, Medium, and Stub (untipped) nibs in all their pens. I opted for a Medium as their Stub nib did not have a size designation.
Conklin provides a nice (faux?) leather box with a satin lined interior. It holds and protects the pen very well, and is very nice display on a desk or cabinet.
The pen comes with screw in converter (hard to find these days) as well as 2 black cartridges. Yafa, the manufacturer of these pens, opt to use a screw in converter to prevent the converter from falling off in use. If you want a spare converter, a normal push-in standard international will work as well.
Like stated previously, the purple color comes with a black colored nib. The nib is very simply engraved with the Conklin name and Toledo, USA. The nib isn’t very beautiful, but it does go well with the rest of the pen. Note the unique crescent shaped breather hole.
Here is a writing sample of the M nib. The nib was initially a bit scratchy on one stroke. A tiny bit of nib alignment fixed the problem into an extremely smooth nib. The nib has a little bit of line variation but is definitely not a stub.
Here is a comparison to the Jinhao M nib. The size is pretty much the same.
Lastly, enjoy this picture of the pen on a Montblanc Corn Poppy Red bottle!
Thanks for reading this review! I like this pen a lot!
Stay tuned for more to come!
At the time of this purchase, I had no affiliation with Pen Chalet in any way. I am just one of their happy customers!