Quote:
Originally Posted by jar
You are free to disagree.
No one writes with the gold in a gold nib and the tip is the same "iridium" family of alloys regardless of the basic metal. The iridium tip really doesn't wear much and with fountain pens it's more that the user gets broken in that any physical change in the pen itself.
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Indeed not! However, while the iridium tip does not wear much, it does wear. You may not see it much on a pen that has been part of a large collection and used little, but you will notice it on a pen that has seen reasonable use.
I have a beautiful Parker 51 that was owned, and used extensively, by my father. It wrote beautifully for him, but the very slight differences in our writing, and the degree to which it was worn, make it less than ideal for me.
A gold nib definitely breaks in to a users writing more easily (I assume because it is slightly softer) but once broken in becomes a delight to use in a way that, in my experience, no steel nib can match.
I also find that a gold nib is nicer to use from the outset, but... you need to have a degree of flex in the nib to notice this, and I appreciate that many modern pens do not.
Sheaffer steel nibs were among the best I feel. I bought a “Targa” fountain pen with an Italic nib, brand new, in 1985. I was able to try a few before buying (always a bonus) and loved that pen from the outset. Italic nibs work well in steel, of course, as you don’t want much flex!