Many handcrafted fountain pens are works of art in their own right that can sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars. And most fountain pen aficianados will spend a little more to purchase a special pen. But you don't have to break the bank (or max out your credit card) to buy a terrific everyday writing instrument. Many high quality fountain pens with solid gold nibs are available for well under the two hundred dollar mark.

Sailor offers some of the best values in fountain pens today - their 1911 Mid-Size and Sapporo series pens offer terrific value along with their smooth-writing 14k nibs. And for just a little bit more, you can move up to the 1911 Full Size and Pro Gear series pens, along with the popular Realo piston-fillers. Platinum also offers great value in its 3776 and President series pens, and also offers highly attractive Maki-e pens at prices far lower than might be expected.

Pilot-Namiki's capless Vanishing Point pens are highly popular with on-the-go professionals such as doctors and lawyers (a trait they share with the twist-action Fermo pens), while the Falcon Resin series pens offer terrific values for those looking for a semi-flexible nib - for just a bit more, the Metal Falcon series offers these same nibs in rhodium trim and with pen bodies in a sleek metallic finish. And the affordable Custom 74 demonstrators, little cousin to the popular 823 piston-fillers, offer similar value in smooth-writing stiff-nibbed pens.

Italian pens are more often associated with luxury than affordability, but the terrific Aurora Ipsilon De Luxe offers a 14k nib in a sleekly stylish pen that may remind some of the better known 88 and Talentum series pens. And even companies whose offerings don't drop below the two hundred dollar mark still offer some great values - the Nakaya Briarwood and Celluloid pens, the Pelikan M400 series pens, the Montegrappa Espressione, and the Bexley BX701 and Simplicity lines all offer terrific values in wonderful pens that can last a lifetime.