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View Full Version : Two More Italians, 1st Aurora (Afrika Le), 2nd Omas (Fao Le)



KBeezie
July 16th, 2015, 02:43 AM
These arrived wednesday, a 1995 Omas FAO 50th Anniversary LE (No.795 of 6,000), with an 18K Fine, and with it's original white marble container (heaviest thing in the package), along with a modern Aurora Afrika LE (No.1765 of 7,500 ... getting a little high on these "Limited" aren't we?), with an 18K "M" (more on why I quoted it in a sec). Didn't get the original box with it, but rather one for an Optima (which seems to be the same pen but with thicker body and more decor).

The Other Omas I have is a Europa LE also from 1995 (http://pens.kbeezie.com/post/omas_europa_limited/) which I was iffy on the nib so it's out right now being tuned.

I have not gotten around to inking the FAO (Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), but I'm thinking when I do may be Montblanc Irish Green, but waiting til this weekend before I decide my new rotation. Feel/etc pretty much same as my Europa just without the diamond stud.

The Aurora Afrika is just a lovely pen so far. The reason I quoted the Nib size was because it doesn't appear to be a Medium. The original seller traded it to me for my Pelikan M805 blue stripe with a 18K Broad ground to an Architect point (aka Hebrew/Arabic). The Omas came from the same seller, gave me a nice discount on it to go along with the trade.

His only complaint was that it was rather dry, and wrote smaller than a medium and he prefers the nibs wet and broad. I took care of the wetness in a matter of seconds with a brass shim giving me a nice shading with Tsuki-yo, but still dry enough for multipurpose paper. The line appears to be more between a western extra-fine and a fine. Has feedback, but it's a comfortable pencil/graphite style of feedback, would be nice if it was smoother, but it writes great, immediate start, doesn't miss a beat on any of my strokes, and I can write with a hover (very light hand) without any skipping or need of re-stroking a character. (it drives me nuts if I can't write lightly, or start a left-going character every so often, so this makes me very happy).

It's a rather light pen, I was expecting a little more weight, but I actually enjoy the lightness (I prefer them lighter), and it holds sort of like my Pelikan M640, but more comfortable (probably due to larger grip area, and lighter weight). The celluloid material has a nice feel to it (just like the celluloid on my Visconti Divina Desert Springs LE before I sold it). Ink window nice and large, piston operates smoothly. The matte finish on the grip is just lovely to the touch and seems very easy to clean off when filling.

Needless to say for a first Aurora, I'm actually quite impressed so far, especially with the nib behaving exactly how I'd like it in terms of consistency of ink getting onto the paper (if it was slightly springy instead of firm, then that would be dreamy for me). The only thing that made me wonder if it was going to be a headache is their "reserve tank" feature as it seems like something that would make flushing the pen out take longer. But I can see how it can be useful to a typical user, sort of a "Hey you need to refill soon, but here's some ink in the mean time".

Anywho, enough wall-o-text, some pictures. (I'll get some detailed shots for each pen later in the week)

Omas FAO 50th Anniversary Limited Edition
18K Fine, Piston Filler, Green Vegetal Resin
No. 795 of 6,000
Has it's own 'crypt', a white marble container to hold the pen.

Aurora Afrika Limited Edition
18K "M" (Marked on Feed), that writes like EF~F
Made of Celluloid, Piston Filler with a "Reserve Tank".
No. 1,765 of 7,500

http://i.imgur.com/k0kDq8Q.jpg

Pelikan M640 Special Edition, Mount Everest, 18K M
Aurora Afrika, 18K "M"
Omas FAO LE, 18K F

http://i.imgur.com/WjNt5CV.jpg

Parker 75 Cisele (USA, mid-60s to mid-70s), 14K '63' EF
Lamy 2000 (post-2009), 14K EF
Aurora Afrika (Modern, Unsure of Release Year), 18K "M"
Pelikan M640 SE (2008), 18K M
Montblanc 225 (70s), Platinum coated 14K XXF

http://i.imgur.com/xmsEKqC.jpg

Left : Aurora 18K "M"
Right : Pelikan 18K M

http://i.imgur.com/5RubPyM.jpg

Write sample on a portion of a small Rhodia No.12 pad with the Aurora inked with Tsuki-yo.

http://i.imgur.com/J0ijLmp.jpg

Llewellyn
July 16th, 2015, 03:27 AM
That Afrika is very nice, but I'm a Visconti man at heart (and I've got no room for any more pens either)

KBeezie
July 16th, 2015, 04:29 AM
That Afrika is very nice, but I'm a Visconti man at heart (and I've got no room for any more pens either)

The Visconti, of which I only had one experience with the Divina Desert Springs Limited Edition left me mainly with the impression that the materials tend to be just lovely, but the filler and the nib are so-so in comparison to Aurora and Omas so far (mainly considering the Divina LE is a pull-push touchdown, basically a vacuum filler instead of the regular editions concealed converter, and the Omas and Aurora are integrated piston fillers). IF the Divina LE was a piston filler, or somehow a C/C to take the headache out, then pair it with a nib that wasn't so-so I'd have a higher impression (especially when I keep seeing quality control issues ever so often here and there from other visconti owners of various model pens).

Really like the look of some of them, but the first impression especially considering at the time it was the most expensive pen I bought, was not that great as it's main saving grace was the material and style, but the practical usage points (nib consistency/reliability, filling ease, cleaning ease, general quality control in small areas of the pen, etc) didn't seem to measure up to my expectations.

The Aurora surpassed my expectations on the first impression (I just need some in-the-real-world experience with it, and had I bought it brand new and was expecting a medium, it would been a slightly different story), and the Omas about met my expectation with a few pleasantries thrown in such as how their vegetal resin feels and general balance/weight. Aurora and Pelikan seem to be nicer on the piston smoothness and operations than Omas just in the limited number I've tried so far.