Duke Black Fountain Pen Double-Nibs Iridium Medium and Fude Calligraphy Nib Interchangeable Writing Gift Box Set for Office/Business/Art/Painting

You know, you could do a lot worse than this Duke fountain pen. I am surprise at how well this pen writes. I use it with an ink converter. I can fill the converter directly through the nib. I cannot do this with all pens. The black pen with silver highlights is attractive, and it feels comfortable in my hand. I have about a dozen fountain pens, from $20 to $500. The Duke writes almost as well as my most expensive Mont Blanc and Cartier. If you are looking for a fountain pen and are price conscious, then here's your pen.

Review: Duke D2 Dual-Nib Fude (筆) Nib Fountain Pen Gift SetHave you ever had one fountain pen that, when you wrote with it, made you think, ‘you know, if I could only have one fountain pen, this would be it’? Well, now I do. Come join me for an experience of a lifetime.For starters, this is the nicest gift set packaging I’ve seen south of a $500+ fountain pen. The outer box is nice and thick, has full color print and feels like it will last for years on a shelf or in storage. You open it to find this substantial, hinged, velvet-lined box containing the pen itself, with both nibs, the standard international converter and some nice paperwork. Remove some much appreciated wrapping on the pen and second nib and you have possibly the most welcoming gift set I’ve yet encountered in the fountain pen hobby.Getting past the gorgeous packaging almost requires therapy, but moving on to the pen itself proves to be the best part. This Duke is a cigar-style all metal pen with a flawless black lacquer finish which it wears like a fine suit. The iridium trim shines like a luxury wristwatch or fine cuff links. The cap is topped by a matching black lacquer finial delineated by an iridium trim ring just above the clip. The clip is standard Duke attire complete with the crowned badge and pinstripes engraved along its perimeter. It is just stiff enough without being unwieldy. The lower section of the cap is graced with a substantial iridium cap band which itself is adorned with the Duke crown on he front, the DUKE script on the reverse and filigree running between them, all inlaid with more black lacquer to better show off their details. The perfectly medium-length body tapers down to a matching iridium trim ring and black lacquer finial at the end.Removing the snap cap reveals the Medium iridium nib, engraved with a beautiful design incorporating the Duke crown, the DUKE script and “GERMANY”. The grip section is all metal, finished in more black lacquer with iridium trim at both ends. The black portion is nicely concave and is the perfect length and diameter for my hands. There is a significant step up to the body, but the section distance to the writing surface is perfect for my writing position so I don’t notice it when in the hand. Unscrewing the body from the section reveals a high quality standard international converter, complete with an internal spring to agitate certain inks.And now to the best part. As if all of this wasn’t overwhelming enough, when I inked this beauty up, I think my life changed forever. I inked the pen up with some Pilot Iroshizuku Murasaki-Shikibu ink and put the Medium German iridium nib to my Rhodia *80 DOT pad, only to find the most impressive writing experience I’ve ever had with a fountain pen. My notes inevitably include phrases like “zero scratch”, “zero feedback” and “perfectly smooth”. Some line variation is possible, but with the Fude (筆) nib also included in this gift set, it is unnecessary. Reverse writing provides the finest usable line I’ve ever been able to achieve in a fountain pen, and it of course does so, again, with no scratchiness whatsoever.As if this couldn’t get any better, I swap nibs to the included Fude (筆) (“Fü’-deh”) nib, again German made and again in iridium. These are sometimes called “bent” nibs, for good reason. The tip is still finished in a specific size, but the tines are bent into any of a series of specific angles and curves, producing a writing instrument which provides a nearly infinite variety of line variation, without having to change nibs or pens. Just vary you pen’s angle to the writing surface and you can achieve anything from an EF line when reverse writing, to a Fine at 90* to the paper, to more bold than the boldest nib when at a steeper angle. These are perfect for sketching and drawing, and are particularly popular for calligraphy use in some eastern cultures.This one is the first I’ve used myself, and it does not disappoint. Reverse writing is again extra fine with zero feedback. A 90* angle produces a Medium line with minimal feedback. And utilize a 45* angle or more and vary the pressure applied to achieve a wide variety of super thick, luscious strokes which would be welcome by the most experienced of Asian calligraphy artists. Extremely smooth, desperately thick strokes simply ooze out of this nib when used at the steeper angles. I doubt if all Fude nibs are like this, so I’m especially appreciative to be using this one as my first. It is simply astounding.As I drag myself away from my Rhodia pad in order to share this experience, I already find myself thinking of excuses to use this pen and nib again soon. Honestly, just the included Medium nib is more than worth the price of admission here. If this set had any more notable brand on it, it would be hundreds of dollars, and rightly so. The Fude nib is an absolute dream by itself as well, and the whole pen feels of significant quality.This is the single best writing experience I’ve had with a fountain pen yet. It cannot be more highly recommended. Go buy it. Now. You’ll thank me, I promise.

I seem to be a Duke fan because I order so many of them. But this one had an interchangeable fude nib which is what I wanted from it. Sadly, it's not interchangable with my other Dukes, but this pen is very pretty, comfortable in the hand, a pleasing length and weight for my tastes, that is, I like a bit of length and weight, came in a really nice presentation box so for gifts it will make a lovely show. The cap posts securely if you push it down far enough....it's a snug fit. it doesn't skip, like all my Dukes, and that fude is very broad. I see many artistic applications for it. The everyday medium nib is also reliable. I left it lying in a box for a few days to see if it would clog and of course, no. Because it's a DUKE. None of them clog. What a great pen people. Very pleased with all of them but this one is a very pretty addition. Glad of the purchase.

It took multiple flushings and many, many tries to get the cartridge to draw ink, and the the line is not what I expected based on watching others' work with it, but it DOES work (unlike I previously thought). 3 stars because it does work, but was a bit of a pain.

I was impressed with this Duke Pen Set the moment I opened it. The case is very nice with a pebble grain leather looking cover with a silver Duke emblem on the top and a silver trim along the front part of the case. They even have a thin plastic coating over the silver pieces to keep them from getting scratched, this film is still in place in the photos I have attached. The inside of the case is covered in a dark forest green colored velvety material and has molded sections for the pen and the extra nib. There is also a booklet that comes with it that tells you about the brand and how it got started and it was interesting to see it was started in 1853. The booklet also contains helpful instructions for those that might be new to fountain pens.The pen is made of brass, the one I purchased is black the with the silver trim. The clip is very nice and features the crown logo at the top of clip and along the band of the cap on the front it also has the crown logo and on the back it says DUKE. The iridium nibs are interchangeable and comes with a medium nib as well as a bent "fude" nib. You can do everyday writing with the medium nib and can create beautiful calligraphy with the bent nib. The nibs feature the crown logo and says DUKE and GERMANY on them.I filled the ink converter with Waterman ink and it wrote immediately with no starting issues. I was impressed by how smooth the nib was for a pen in this price range, it writes like a much more expensive luxury pen and you are immediately very pleased with yourself for scoring such a fine writing instrument for under $25. After writing a page or so with the medium nib I couldn't help but do some fancy writing with the bent "fude" nib and was impressed with the way that I could easily do finer lines along with some nice broad lines with just a slight angle of the pen.I am extremely impressed with the quality of this pen and I cannot believe that I got two interchangeable nibs as well as a very nice case for the price that I paid. I would highly recommend this pen, you will not be disappointed. It is absolutely beautiful. Your friends will think you paid a lot more for this pen so I will keep your secret that it was under $25.I hope that this review helps you if you are thinking of purchasing this pen. Now I want to buy the other colors. Maybe I can convince my husband to get them for me for Christmas. Then I could keep different ink in each one to match the outside color of the pen.