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Thread: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

  1. #61
    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    Quote Originally Posted by MarcoA64 View Post
    Following to my previous post I discovered an interesting feature of this pen.

    So, there is no instruction booklet in the box so, just by chance, I discovered that you can unscrew the end bit of the barrell and you have access to the converter. This means that you can either ink the pen in the classic way, unscrew the barrell, immerse the section in the ink bottle and turn the converter or just remove the end of the barrell and ink it without having to take it apart. Cool. This is also why, and I thought about it, the converter is finished in polished aluminiium
    I agree - I wish they would make this more obvious, as I think it is a selling point. And another way to point out their attention to detail: for instance, one that I have has dark (almost black) ruthenium plated hardware; when you unscrew the blind cap, you notice that both the threaded insert for the cap, as well as the piston knob (and other metal parts on the converter) are also plated in the same material. Everything matches. Very classy.
    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    Quote Originally Posted by MarcoA64 View Post
    I ordered and received my first, maybe last Leonardo, Momento Zero Regular in Coral Red.
    I bought it directly from Italy as I could not find any of the usual UK sellers I use that stocked it.
    Price was affordable, 112 Pounds. Ordered it on the 15th and arrived yesterday afternoon, very quick with UPS....

    The schock were the Custom duties, 70 Pounds. Never again I'll order from Italy directly.....

    HTH
    £70 duty on a £112 purchase? That's 😧.

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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    What on earth did they put in the waybill?
    Did you get charged UK VAT on the Italian Vat included price ie VAT on top of VAT?
    I know they levy charges on the price + postage charged by the seller and a "handling charge" but that seems a lot.

  4. #64
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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    @topcat666 the waybill indicated 200 euros of goods. No Italian VAT added anywhere, Brexit.
    The shop lady told me that there are issues with UK Customs if you put a value that is less than 150 GBP, so she increased the pen amount in the waybill only to avoid this. The pen was 125 euros without Italian VAT, 112 GBP.
    UPS sent me a notification of duties to pay as a whole, 69,xx in total.
    I do not know who's beating around the bush here, the shop, Customs or UPS. UPS's bill reported duties 50 GBP, service charge 16 GBP. Definetely not goign to buy anymore from Italy.

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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    Quote Originally Posted by MarcoA64 View Post
    @topcat666 the waybill indicated 200 euros of goods. No Italian VAT added anywhere, Brexit.
    The shop lady told me that there are issues with UK Customs if you put a value that is less than 150 GBP, so she increased the pen amount in the waybill only to avoid this. The pen was 125 euros without Italian VAT, 112 GBP.
    UPS sent me a notification of duties to pay as a whole, 69,xx in total.
    I do not know who's beating around the bush here, the shop, Customs or UPS. UPS's bill reported duties 50 GBP, service charge 16 GBP. Definetely not goign to buy anymore from Italy.
    I must confess I do not understand how US Customs works so it is probably wrong for me to make any comment about another country's customs process & procedures.
    But, I cannot resist....what possible reason could there be for overstating the value of an item in a customs declaration?? How could that possibly be of benefit to the buyer?

    I agree with the others, in all likelihood, there is something very wrong here.

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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    This is an explanation I got on another forum re why the seller increased the price in the waybill.

    For orders up to GBP 135 including shipping, the dealer has to be registered for VAT with the UK Customs and Excise. There is an annual charge to do this, too high for small businesses. They then have to prepay the VAT ahead of shipping the parcel. So if they have not done this, the parcel will be returned.
    For orders over GBP 135 the dealer is supposed to deduct the local VAT/MWST/TVA and then the customer has to pay the UK VAT to the courier or Royal Mail. The latter then add a service charge which can be anything up to GBP 30 for handling the charges on your behalf

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    Senior Member mizgeorge's Avatar
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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    Quote Originally Posted by MarcoA64 View Post
    This is an explanation I got on another forum re why the seller increased the price in the waybill.

    For orders up to GBP 135 including shipping, the dealer has to be registered for VAT with the UK Customs and Excise. There is an annual charge to do this, too high for small businesses. They then have to prepay the VAT ahead of shipping the parcel. So if they have not done this, the parcel will be returned.
    For orders over GBP 135 the dealer is supposed to deduct the local VAT/MWST/TVA and then the customer has to pay the UK VAT to the courier or Royal Mail. The latter then add a service charge which can be anything up to GBP 30 for handling the charges on your behalf
    Yet if I buy from a smaller seller via ebay or etsy, they will collect the VAT on the seller's behalf...

    The biggest problem seems to be the big couriers, who appear to randomly set their own figures for vat/duty and then add massively inflated handling charges. Makes the royal mail 'actual duty' plus £8 ransom seem positively reasonable...

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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    As I understand it, if you use FedEx (as an example) the cost is to your door irrespective of whether the last leg uses a local courier (which is usually the case). Yes it is more expensive, but on the other hand you know all the price upfront at the point of purchase.

  9. #69
    Senior Member mizgeorge's Avatar
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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    I decided on a whim yesterday that I needed one of these. Didn't like the whole rattly converter thing (and I'm not a huge fan of converters to start with) so I went for a LE Dark Hawaii version with a piston fill (which is excellent, apart from having no idea how much ink is left because there's no ink window) with a stub nib that simply glides over even the horridest paper.

    I very rarely buy 'new' pens, and then they tend to be very plain, unadorned and chosen because I like the colour or the manufacturer, but curiously, I'm loving this. The super Roy at Izods also included a bottle of Robert Oster Ruthenium, which is just delicious, so all in all I'm a very happy bunny. and feel very grown up!

    My only slight niggle is that I wish they'd at least tried to match up the lines in the pattern. If an elderly one man band in India can do that perfectly pretty much every time, working purely by eye, you'd think a serious Italian manufacturer would be able to do the same.

    leonardo-momento-zero-1.jpg
    leonardo-momento-zero-2.jpg
    leonardo-momento-zero-3.jpg

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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    Nice pen and I have to admit the broad nib is very nice. Never heard of the ink brand 'Robert Oster'. How is it compared to other main brands, Pelikan, Waterman, Parker and Diamine ? You bought form Izods which is local to me, well maybe 40 miles from me :-) I discovered a bit too late that they represent Leonardo in UK :-(

  11. #71
    Senior Member mizgeorge's Avatar
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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    Quote Originally Posted by MarcoA64 View Post
    Nice pen and I have to admit the broad nib is very nice. Never heard of the ink brand 'Robert Oster'. How is it compared to other main brands, Pelikan, Waterman, Parker and Diamine ? You bought form Izods which is local to me, well maybe 40 miles from me :-) I discovered a bit too late that they represent Leonardo in UK :-(
    Robert Oster make some fabulous inks - they're an Australian brand, but have the most extraordinary range of blues as well as the colours you might expect from down under. This one was a special for Izods and is just lovely - it's like a chalky purpley grey and has a great vintage feel to it.

    It's a very good thing I don't have a store like that anywhere near me. I'd be broke...

    I wrote a fair bit with it today, and I am still very pleased indeed - and doubly so that I opted for the piston LE rather than the regular c/c version.

  12. #72
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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    Nice looking pen and writing sample!

  13. #73
    Senior Member penwash's Avatar
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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    Quote Originally Posted by mizgeorge View Post
    I decided on a whim yesterday that I needed one of these. Didn't like the whole rattly converter thing (and I'm not a huge fan of converters to start with) so I went for a LE Dark Hawaii version with a piston fill (which is excellent, apart from having no idea how much ink is left because there's no ink window) with a stub nib that simply glides over even the horridest paper.
    Beautiful photos and presentation of a very cool pen.

    I am not sure what you mean by the "rattly converter thing". The LMZ I had (albeit briefly) was the converter version and I found that the converter is threaded into the section -- a very nice touch, I thought -- therefore it won't be rattling, if installed correctly.

    Having said that, I, like you, am not a big fan of converters in general.
    - Will
    Unique and restored vintage pens: Redeem Pens

  14. #74
    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    Quote Originally Posted by penwash View Post
    I am not sure what you mean by the "rattly converter thing". The LMZ I had (albeit briefly) was the converter version and I found that the converter is threaded into the section -- a very nice touch, I thought -- therefore it won't be rattling, if installed correctly.
    If one is going to use converters, I do like the way they go, but I know what MG is referring to. The Converter they use has a long knob on it that is covered or made from metal. You can take off the blind cap and find that the knob sticks out enough to turn, so that you can hold the pen by the barrel to stick it in the ink bottle to fill - no more holding it by the converter body. Where the potential noise comes in is that LOI uses a fabricated metal insert into the back end of the barrel for the threading of the blind cap, and the tolerance between piston knob and that metal insert is close enough that they can rattle. I say can because I never notice it in regular use, but if I strongly shake the pen - which I have no need for - I can make it happen.

    One of the signs of care in craft for LOI is that all metal parts are plated alike: if you get a pen with ruthenium hardware, the nib, clip, blind cap threads and converter parts are all plated to match. It ends up being a very handsome way to tie the pen together.
    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    I wrapped a piece of tape around my worst offenders. It reduce the noise, but not the feel of something jiggling.
    Fortunately, the Grandes I'm using now are piston fill.

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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    Can anyone confirm just how well (or not) the LMZ posts please? I am considering one, but only if it posts securely. Otherwise the pen is too small for me. Cheers!

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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    My MZG stub nib had terrible baby bottom right out of the box. I was able to polish it out and it writes perfectly now but I was shocked by how bad it was.

    Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk

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    Default Re: Leonardo Officina Italiana - Momento Zero

    Quote Originally Posted by Empty_of_Clouds View Post
    Can anyone confirm just how well (or not) the LMZ posts please? I am considering one, but only if it posts securely. Otherwise the pen is too small for me. Cheers!
    I don't post mine, but yeah, it seems to post securely. You might also like the MZ Grandes....

    Scot

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