Conklin Endura Deco Crest Review: A Filigree Fountain Pen That Earns Its $100 Price

Introduction

The Deco Crest name goes back a long way. Conklin originally produced the model in 1905, and over the years different iterations of the company have re-released it with a slightly different look each time. The new Endura Deco Crest continues that tradition as an acrylic resin fountain pen wrapped in a metal filigree overlay, and it arrives in three versions at a $100 price.

Thanks go to Yafa Brands, the owners and distributors of Conklin, for providing these pens. This is a pen with a genuinely distinctive look, and after spending time with all three versions, it feels like a fair-value offering rather than a style-over-substance novelty. Here is how it breaks down.

Three Colorways to Choose From

The Endura Deco Crest comes in three varieties. The black has an underlying black resin with a silver-colored metal overlay. The blue pairs blue resin with a rose gold overlay. The orange combines gunmetal overlay with orange resin, which has a bit of texture to it. The blue and orange resins are slightly more translucent, while the black is a little more opaque.

Each version looks sharp in its own right. The blue offers a really nice contrast against the rose gold overlay, the black with silver reads as the more classic look, and the orange and gunmetal combination is just a really cool pairing. Of the three, the orange is the standout, and it is the version used for the detailed look below.

Design and Build

The distinguishing feature of the Deco Crest is the metal overlay. The patterning on the cap and barrel is exactly the same but elongated on the barrel, almost like resizing a picture by dragging it out of proportion. That effect does not work well for photos, but it works well here, giving the pen a same-but-different look where the pattern never feels duplicated.

The cap top is flat with a slightly rounded edge, transitioning into the Conklin clip. Unlike some other Conklin models where the clip attachment acts like a rocker for easier use, the attachment here is at the back of the clip. Even so, it is not too stiff and works on materials of varying thickness. The clip itself has a chunky cursive-branded design that is not for everyone aesthetically, but on the gunmetal version it blends into the rest of the pen well.

The cap is engraved with Endura on one side and Deco Crest on the other. On this orange model the engraving is filled with silver or white, while the blue and black models use a dark gray or black fill to match their materials. The cap twists off with a single rotation to reveal the nib, and the barrel ends flat with a slightly rounded edge, mirroring the cap.

Nib and Writing Performance

Under the cap sits a stainless steel number six size Conklin-branded nib. The crescent breather hole is a nice touch that looks a little different from the norm, and the feed has two channels to help ink flow. The nib is black on the orange and blue models, while the black pen gets a silver nib, which is a good match for that version.

Nib options are extensive: extra fine, fine, medium, broad, a 1.1 stub, and the Conklin Omniflex flex nib. The 1.1 stub tested here delivers real line variation, with a thick horizontal line and a much thinner vertical stroke. Ink flow is decent, the feed kept up with fast writing just fine, and a medium nib also performed nicely. The fine nib carries a bit heavier feedback than ideal.

One caution: the 1.1 is not meant for reverse writing and does not perform well in that mode.

Things to Consider Before Buying

The section is slightly convex, transitions into the cap threads with a medium step, and is made of metal. It is not overly long, so a grip tends to spill over onto the threads, but the transitions are smooth and do not impede the grip. While slick metal sections are generally unpleasant, this one sits on the low end of the slippery scale and allows a decent grip.

The cap twists to post, which is not the favorite feature here. There are three thread entry points, so three possible clip orientations, and posting takes one full rotation. Posting also significantly back-weights the pen and throws off the balance, so this pen is best used unposted, where it is comfortably long enough. On the plus side, the gunmetal trim visually hides the posting threads nicely.

As a cartridge converter pen, it accepts standard international cartridges, two of which are included in the box along with a converter. With metal in both the cap and barrel, eyedroppering this pen is not recommended.

Buying Advice

At $100, the Endura Deco Crest is one of those pens where the price simply feels right. It provides a look you do not see everywhere, the underlying resin is genuinely nice, especially on the orange and gunmetal model, and the nib selection covers a wide range of preferences from extra fine to flex.

The pen is widely available at a large number of retailers, so tracking down your preferred colorway and nib should not be difficult. If you want a fountain pen with a decorative overlay that does not drift into luxury pricing, this is an easy one to recommend.

Conclusion

The Conklin Endura Deco Crest succeeds because the filigree overlay is more than decoration: the elongated cap-and-barrel patterning, three well-judged colorways, and a flexible nib lineup make it a distinctive writer at a reasonable $100. The orange and gunmetal version is the pick of the bunch, but there is a colorway here for most tastes.