Diplomat
About This Model
Diplomat is a German brand with long history, back to the early 1920s, when most of the venerable brands got their starts. They made their mark, as did the others, with piston pens and mechanical pencils. During WWII the factory was used for munitions manufacturing, returning to pen-making after the war years. From the 1950s-90s, Diplomat changed hands and locations at least, focusing on parts production rather than whole pens, and it wasn't until the early 2000s that the firm was stabilized again in Berlin. For at least the past twenty years, Diplomat has made millions of corporate-stamped pens, and produced pens that looked like other, better known pens but always work well. They continue today, somewhat behind the scenes.
About This Pen
In keeping with Diplomat’s practice over more than a century, this is a nice example of a generic 1980s-1990’s fountain pen. It looks like the Parkers and Watermans of the era, like a typical French pen, except that it’s German. A cartridge-filler (it comes with an empty international cartridge), the pen does not have a known model name. Its surface is a dark grey lacquer with a deep shine, over brass, and the trim is all gold, probably brass. The crown badge is marked “Diplomat West Germany”, which confirms it as a 1980s pen.There are no scratches; its only imperfection is as typical as the pen: a bit of corrosion in the trim ring at the bottom of the gripping section which is found in almost every pen of the era with a ring that made ongoing contact with ink. It writes a smooth fine/medium. Good pen to carry around and not worry about!
Price: $55