Cleo Aura Fountain pen

Cleo Aura Fountain pen

Cleo Skribent pens are made in Bad Wilsnack, not far from the River Elbe between Berlin and Hamburg. Yes, Germany, where many expensive and purportedly excellent writing instruments come from. And these ones are – excellent, that is.

The company was founded just after the second world war, in that part of Germany that was a democratic republic. They supplied top quality writing instruments to the Eastern Bloc – they were big in Cuba. There’s cool!

With the reunification of Germany in 1990 their market broadened, and as well as manufacturing pens themselves, they finished pens for some better known pen and jewellery manufacturers. We first came across them ten or so years ago, and for a while did nicely with their Messograph – a ballpoint with an inbuilt Vernier scale. But we sort of drifted apart – there’s a limit to even the cleverest ballpoint – until earlier this year when, out of the blue, came a brochure featuring lots of interesting pens.

And here are most of them: mostly lacquered metal pens, except for the wood series and the delightful Ebonite piston filler, many available with the convenient cartridge converter system or the choice of the hardcore fountain pen user, piston fillers. With some you also get a choice between a beautifully executed steel nib or even better gold one.

For a top quality pen German pen that won’t break the bank, we commend Cleo Skribent!