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tandaina
January 23rd, 2015, 03:26 PM
I realized I've never put up a review of this pen and that's not fair. There's very little information out there about it, and since it's a stellar pen, well we need to change that.

I've always found Omas pens intriguing, but never bought one because, well frankly they're $$$$$. They make Nakaya's look reasonably priced. But a while back a member of FPN (pretty sure it was FPN, not FPG but my brain is getting old and mushy) was looking to sell his (broken) Omas Italiana '90. (Which seems to have commemorated something having to do with soccer. But that's about all I know.) It had been dropped and the piston filler knob had broken off. The price was... very reasonable for an Omas. So I took a chance, bought it, and bought some plastic model adhesive (the sort that actually melts and fuses the plastic). Applied the adhesive to the two broken pieces as instructed and... it worked. In fact it worked so well I can't take a picture of the break for you, there is no indication the knob was ever broken. :bounce: (Note: I am very gentle with the knob when moving the piston just to be sure to not put stress on the repair. But over a year in it seems to be permanently fixed.) That's good news because this was a LE pen and Omas doesn't seem to have the parts to fix them anymore.

In my opinion she's nothing to look at. Green (and not really a pretty green, just sort of a blah not quite olive dark green), and plain and big enough to look a little coarse. But the cap band is lovely, and everything about this pen says "we put a lot of very exacting work into this pen."

http://tandaina.smugmug.com/photos/i-vt8RWVn/0/XL/i-vt8RWVn-XL.jpg

Because it's so plain I very rarely reach for it in the pen chest. It just gets overlooked next to flashier pens, or classic cigars. But when I do remember to grab it and ink it up. Oh. Then.

This pen. You guys if I'd bought this before my first antique Montblanc or Pelikan my collection would probably look very, very different today. Because this pen has the most amazing nib for a modern pen that I've ever used. Hands down. Final. This is *not* a vintage nib, the pen was made in the 90s (as the '90 in its name would suggest). But the gold 14k nib is so soft that it makes my semi-flex 50s Pelikan nibs feel hard and unforgiving. In fact its so soft that trying to keep it from flexing actually takes effort. Touch the paper and the nib sighs, and gives luxuriously. This pen's a lover, not a fighter. :rofl:

http://tandaina.smugmug.com/photos/i-32fKfxX/0/XL/i-32fKfxX-XL.jpg

The pen body is nicely sized, light and well balanced in the hand. I don't post pens, but this one I can post and it doesn't unbalance the pen, or make it feel enormous (though posted it is enormous). It's a pleasure to write with either way.

15880

The nib is wet. I mean sopping wet. It puts down such a heavy line of ink that dry times are extra long, but wow does it make ink look pretty. Everything shades with this pen, it just doesn't have a choice. ;) I pulled it out to test Mystery Ink Sample #2, hadn't used it in months and once again found myself saying "why? why aren't you inked every single day?" Sadly it's probably because the body is just so... well boring. I love the nib so much I'm seriously considering buying another Omas... One with an extra flessible nib... You know, to *compare* with this one. For *science* people!

jar
January 23rd, 2015, 03:41 PM
Hint, they don't compare.

But it is a wondrous pen and I need to get one out and put in service. Yup. That's what I need to do.

tandaina
January 23rd, 2015, 03:47 PM
Hint, they don't compare.

But it is a wondrous pen and I need to get one out and put in service. Yup. That's what I need to do.

Awww. But the celluloid... So, damn, pretty. :(

jar
January 23rd, 2015, 04:13 PM
Hint, they don't compare.

But it is a wondrous pen and I need to get one out and put in service. Yup. That's what I need to do.

Awww. But the celluloid... So, damn, pretty. :(

Actually I'm not a fan of OMAS celluloid. All of mine are just the Vegital Resin. But nibs like yours are fantastic.

tandaina
January 23rd, 2015, 04:24 PM
It's the Arco, that glowing striped stuff just has me drooling.

Bogon07
January 23rd, 2015, 05:20 PM
The dark green with gold hardware looks quite classy to me. The "silver" ring before the piston nob seems jarring.

tandaina
January 23rd, 2015, 05:39 PM
The dark green with gold hardware looks quite classy to me. The "silver" ring before the piston nob seems jarring.

That's just the crappy light. :\ The ring before the piston knob is in fact gold as well, all the hardware is gold.

fountainpenkid
January 23rd, 2015, 06:33 PM
It was me! I sold it to you a year or two ago I think. This pen has now been reviewed twice by different people. The nib, I agree, is amazing--I had it tuned by none other than Danny Fudge, who I highly recommend.
Great review (you did it much better justice than I), and thank you for putting it back to life!

fountainpenkid
January 23rd, 2015, 06:42 PM
Here's the link to my extremely odd-titled review of this exact pen: http://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread.php/1596-A-Greek-Column-surrouned-by-Birds

tandaina
January 23rd, 2015, 07:00 PM
Woot, small world! :)

john
January 23rd, 2015, 08:50 PM
Among those Italian pens, I've found that Omas is my first choice. I have only one Omas, it writes very well. Just wanna to get more but the price of Omas stop me to do it.
Here is my Omas Milord with the 18k gold nib, very wet and soft.
http://i1353.photobucket.com/albums/q673/SteveL002545/DSCI0523_zps5287e0ad.jpg (http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/SteveL002545/media/DSCI0523_zps5287e0ad.jpg.html)

whichwatch
January 24th, 2015, 12:37 PM
that the Italia '90 was also made in a blue resin. I have posted pictures of the pair below.

The green was an LE of 5000 to mark the World Football (Soccer) Championships played in Italy in 1990. The green represents the grass of the field and the checkered cap band is a well known soccer emblem.

The blue was made in a series of 1000. It was never sold in stores, but was distributed exclusively to organizers of the event and their guests. The blue is the team color of the Italian team.

Whatever color and material, Omas pens are great writers! I bought one a few years ago. Now I have almost 50!!! Enjoy your journey! :-)

http://www.fototime.com/%7B0616A0C7-92D4-497B-949E-0C94ECB75471%7D/origpict/DSCN7244.JPG

http://www.fototime.com/%7BED9A5809-A505-4A46-9019-F7BF229377D3%7D/origpict/DSCN7245.JPG

http://www.fototime.com/%7B625BBDDB-8B8E-4197-B533-B7A293AB9936%7D/origpict/DSCN7240.JPG

http://www.fototime.com/%7BB67C5DB4-6193-4369-835F-FE211AC042FA%7D/origpict/DSCN7242.JPG

http://www.fototime.com/%7B8EEFEA60-2A43-48F8-B162-D61F68566D9A%7D/origpict/DSCN7247.JPG

http://www.fototime.com/%7BD07C3FA7-3DCE-4D77-95DE-6BCC26336146%7D/origpict/DSCN7239.JPG

http://www.fototime.com/%7B569B5130-586D-4176-BFC7-B35CA64283A1%7D/origpict/DSCN7249.JPG