Visconti Wall Street, Palladium Nib

Hello folks, time to post another review. These make a great excuse to take a few pics of a much-loved pen and to ink it up...

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...psc834ab1a.jpg

This evening's review is on my Visconti Wall Street (not the LE), in green celluloid, with palladium nib.

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ps1af87526.jpg

First Impressions: 10/10. I mean, look at this picture (and pretend that it is in focus...) - beautiful leather pen display box, complete with a little drawer in it, soft white leather interior to hold the pen...and then the pen...:shocked:...It is beautiful. That's it, just beautiful. Alright, a little more objectively, it is very eye-catching in its beautiful green layered celluloid (similar to the stuff used in the old Parker vacs of the 40's), which is very hard to take your eyes off, but even better, if you catch it in the right light, you can see through the transparent clear layers between the green ones, and see the awesome nib and nicely ornate converter.The weight and balance are very nice.

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...psd95619e3.jpg

Construction quality: 9.5/10. Very, very good. A well-made pen, no question. The iconic clip is tight and springy, the cap band with its 'WALL STREET' inscription is beautiful and well done, and the magnetic cap medallion is solidly adherent (can be customized to personalize the pen). The four-sided barrel is solid and beautifully polished, and has even had some polishing done on the inside to show off the converter. My only tiny issue is that the cap doesn't screw on quite as securely as I would like. On the other hand, it DOES screw on with the flat sides perfectly lined up. Nice detail.

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ps9df839ee.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ps285e3029.jpg

Filling system: 10/10. I know some will disagree, who feel a pen this pricey should be piston fill etc. And, they have a point. However, this is my score, and I base it on how much I like it. Well, I do. As mentioned on other reviews, I have to admit that I am biased toward converter fillers, as I find them easily the most versatile (for me). The converter in this pen has the typical beautiful detail in the knob on the end, and also screws into the nib section to make it a very secure fit. This converter will NOT be falling out.

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...psfbaec0a8.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...psde015c16.jpg
NB - the smudge on this sample was there before I wrote on it.

Nib: 10/10. Like almost every nib I have ever encountered, I did have to do a slight touch of adjusting/smoothing, but very little. As this is my experience will nearly all nibs, I do not take points off for this. This nib is made out of palladium (23K) rather than gold, which seems to be Visconti's 'thing' (gimmick?). It is called the 'dreamtouch' nib, which I scoffed at a little. Until I tried it. WOOT! This nib is soft, responsive, smooth, and truly a pleasure to write with! I am quite impressed with this nib.

Cost: Well, I got this used, so it is pretty hard to be a good judge of this here. I paid $335 shipped, and find this to be an incredibly good value for what I received. The list price on these appears to be over $600, and I am not sure I would be quite as pumped about this pen if it set me back that much.

Overall: 9/10. OK, I took a point off because I figured that if I paid full price, I might be slightly less impressed. But I think I would still be pretty impressed. It is a NICE pen.

Well, I hope this review is of help to someone.

Thanks for looking.

Ken

Re: Visconti Wall Street, Palladium Nib

Nice review Ken.

That green is stunning. Great pics!

Re: Visconti Wall Street, Palladium Nib

Ken

Firstly thanks for the review - it's nice to see a review of the dreamtouch nib from someone I trust not to just swallow the hype and join the bandwagon.

With regards to this issue:

Quote:

Originally Posted by drgoretex

My only tiny issue is that the cap doesn't screw on quite as securely as I would like. On the other hand, it DOES screw on with the flat sides perfectly lined up.

Based on your pen making experience do you think one is caused by the other? That is, do you think it's possible that the wish to have it all lined up means that the cap is loose as the focus was on the aesthetic? By the way this is not a criticism of Visconti I'm just interested.

carl