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Like any other specialized item, the fountain pen has amassed a lexicon of terms that are unique. And like other jargon languages, fountain pen jargon can be cryptic or confusing. This glossary presents brief definitions for many of the most common pen terms. It is not complete (an impossible goal); but it is a work in progress, and I welcome suggestions for terms to add. (Revised May 12, 2008)

The glossary is organized alphabetically. For numbers, look under the spelled-out form; e.g., for 14K, look under fourteen.

If there is a magnifying-glass symbol () next to an image, click the magnifying glass to view a zoomed version for more detail.

G
galalith	(Also galilith, galalyth, galalythe) See casein.
gallotannate ink	See iron gall ink.
gel pen	A ballpoint pen whose ink is a colloid (a “gel”). Gel pens are known for their smooth and easy writing, much like that of a good fountain pen. See also ballpoint, rollerball.
German silver	See nickel silver.
GF	Gold Filled. See also gold filled.
GFT	Gold Filled Trim. See also gold filled.
giant	A pen that is hugely oversize. The best known giants are the Parker Red Giant and Black Giant, which featured Nº 12 nibs, and Waterman’s Ideal Nº 20, whose nib was a Nº 10. Giants among modern pens include the Namiki Emperor and the BB eyedropper fillers made in 1999 by Bernard Bernolet (illustrated below with a Parker “51” for comparison). See also Black Giant, oversize, Red Giant, Ultra Giant.
glass nib	A nib made of glass. Glass nibs are made by heating a bundle of glass rods and stretching with a slight twisting action to pull the individual strands together as they grow thinner, creating a tapered shape resembling a flame. After the glass cools, it is cut or broken at the thinnest point, which is then ground to shape. In use, ink flows to the tip by capillary action along the “cracks” between the strands of glass. See also capillary action, nib.
Glider	A pen model produced by Conklin after the company’s 1938 move to Chicago and its consequent descent to the third tier. Early Glider production used high-quality nibs from existing Toledo-made stock; later pens used nibs of progressively poorer quality. Glider caps and barrels are attractive and well made of good celluloid, but the gold-plated furniture (steel clip and lever, brass cap band) is cheap and is rarely found without serious wear or corrosion. See also Chicago Conklin, Conklin.
gold	A soft, lustrous, very malleable yellow metal that is virtually impervious to corrosion or tarnish. Used to make pen bodies, furniture, and nibs. The purity of gold is measured in karats (24K = pure gold) or parts per thousand (1000 = pure gold). Pure gold is too soft to be used alone; mixing it with various other metals creates alloys of the desired hardness or color. See also gold filled, green gold, karat, rose gold, white gold.
gold filled	(abbreviated GF; also rolled gold) Made of a metal “sandwich” consisting of a layer of gold alloy pressure-welded over a thicker layer of base metal (usually brass). Gold-filled objects are sometimes marked to indicate their gold content. A marking of 1/10 14K on an object indicates that the layer of 14K gold contributes 1/10 of the weight of the object; thus, since 14K gold is 585/1000 gold by weight, the actual amount of gold in the object is 5.85% of the object’s weight. High-quality vintage pens frequently have gold-filled clips, bands, and other trim parts; today, virtually all parts consisting of gold over a base metal are electroplated. See also plated, vermeil.
gold pen	(archaic) A dip pen nib made of gold. Gold pens are usually tipped with iridium or some other durable alloy, and they do not wear rapidly. Some early gold pens were tipped with ruby. Illustrated here is a Nº 2 gold pen by E. S. Johnson. See also dip pen, nib (historical note), steel pen.
Gold Seal	A small metal trim piece (pictured to the right), introduced in about 1928 by Wahl to identify its top-line pens. Shaped to resemble a wax seal and inlaid into a pen’s cap, the Gold Seal featured a pair of checkmarks resembling a stylized letter W, to signify that the pen was “Double Checked” for quality. The company discontinued the Gold Seal in about 1941, replacing it on the new Skyline with a squared “seal” stamped into the clip. [Historical note] Some Gold Seal pens turn up with a small hole drilled through the seal. Current thought among knowledgeable collectors is that these pens may have been discontinued models sold off at discounted prices without the usual warranty, with their seals drilled for identification purposes.
Golden Arrow	The name applied to Parker’s pump-filling pen during its test marketing in 1932 and 1933; changed to Vacuum-Filler upon the pen’s official introduction in early 1933, and shortly thereafter to Vacumatic.
Golden Quill	The last pen model produced by Chilton (introduced at the 1939 New York World‘s Fair); distinguished by its elegantly austere styling, which contrasted dramatically with that of the immediately preceding model, the Wing-flow. Not widely advertised, the Golden Quill was not a great success in the marketplace. Today it is rare and highly collectible. See also Wing-flow.
GP	Gold Plate or Gold Plated. See also plated.
GPT	Gold Plated Trim. See also furniture, plated.
Gothic	L. E. Waterman’s name for a bar-and-checkerboard engraving pattern the company used on full-overlay pens during the 1910s and 1920s (illustrated below, upper). Other manufacturers such as Mabie Todd (below, lower, on a Swan pen) and Wahl-Eversharp used similar patterns but did not refer to them as Gothic. See also Greek Key.
grade	See nib grade.
Greek Key	An ancient Grecian design element, shown to the right in a simple early form. Various pen manufacturers have adapted the Greek Key as a motif on chased and engraved pen bodies (shown below on a Wahl pen c. 1922) and on cap bands (notably Omas). See a photo of a Wyvern pen with a Greek Key band at Deco band. See also Gothic.
green gold	An alloy of gold, copper, and silver in which silver is predominant; has a slightly greenish yellow color. Frequently used decoratively together with rose gold as shown on the Parker 61 Heirloom cap below. See also gold, rose gold.
Gregg	A phonetic shorthand writing system for stenographers, devised by John Robert Gregg and first published in 1888. The rights to Gregg shorthand were owned by the Gregg Publishing Company, founded in 1896. The Gregg company licensed pen manufacturers to produce pens to Gregg’s specifications and use the Gregg name; these pens are relatively thin and have very firm fine nibs. Some Gregg pens were fitted with an enameled Gregg emblem inlaid into the end of the cap, as shown here on a Wahl pen from the late 1920s. Esterbrook produced several versions of Gregg nibs in its Renew-Point system, numbering them n555. Illustrated below is the first sentence of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights,” in the simplified Gregg system. (Exemplar provided by Andrew Owen.) See also Pitman.
gripping section	(also neck, point section, section) A small tubular part, usually about the length of a finger joint, that is attached to one end of the barrel and into which are inserted the nib and feed. In pens that do not use the entire barrel as an ink reservoir, the gripping section provides a mount for the sac, cartridge, or other reservoir. In the illustration here, the gripping section is the black part between the gold nib and the marbled red barrel.
guard	See sautoir.
guilloché	(from the French word for the tool used to produce it; pronounced GEE-yo-shay, with the g as in go; also called engine turning) A decorative surface treatment. The guillocheur uses a complex hand-operated machine tool to cut geometric patterns in a moving pen barrel (usually one made of metal) with a stationary cutting tool. The tool is either a straight-line engine or a rose engine, depending on the design to be cut, and the design to be cut (and therefore the motion of the pen barrel) is specified by a pattern embodied in one of a set of interchangeable pattern bars (straight-line engine) or “rosettes” (rose engine). Although a machine tool is used, the process nonetheless requires great skill on the part of the guillocheur to ensure that alignment is perfect and that each thread (engraved line) is cut to the same depth. The guilloché surface treatment on the Wahl pen illustrated here (below, upper) is shown more clearly in the enlarged view of the pen’s barrel surface. Some modern makers use guilloché to excellent effect by applying vitreous enamel over it as illustrated at enamel. See also chased, enamel, engraved.

The information in this glossary is as accurate as possible, but you should not take it as absolutely authoritative.

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