My Visconti Ragtime arrived from Pentime/Chatterly.
First: Well and safely packaged. And the little leather box it comes in is nice. The Visconti black ink is... Black ink, I inked it with it just to start with something I knew it'd like but. Well I never use black ink so it is sorta boring.
Second: Confusion. During my research everything said the anniversary edition came with the MyPen system including three little buttons, a pearl, and two other colored stones. Mine however, did not. Nothing in the box, no sign of it at all. Part of the reason I chose this pen was I liked the idea of customizing it and despite it being $$$, coming with three buttons ($15 each it looks like) made that price a little more reasonable.
Not sure what happened here, maybe only the BOX SET came with the buttons? Either way this is VERY unclear online and documentation made me expect it. Sad me, no customized pen until I buy yet another big.
3rd: Pen itself... I'm not sure yet. It does have similar COLORS to my beloved tortoise pens, but it is so definitely NOT what I usually buy that I'm still not quite sure. It is considerably heavier than my normal pens. I use primarily 50s era Pelikans and MBs. None of them are bigger than a modern Pelikan M400, and most weight in at right around an M400 as well. This is a GOOD thing. I don't like big and heavy.
The Ragtime isn't big, exactly, but it is considerably heavier than I am used to. Not sure if it is TOO heavy or not quite yet. Bryant had two of these left when I ordered and he sent me the one with the most "drama" and "movement" at my request. There is a still a significant white patch on the body. Not a fan of that, but the advantage is, I think it actually acts as an ink window. I can clearly see the brass section through it, and a pretty obvious black ink fill. As I write and that ink level drops we'll see if it actually works as an ink window.
Posted the pen is way too big, and too back heavy. But I don't generally post anyway, and unposted it seems to be OK, it is at least well balanced with the weight primarily in the grip section. I see why they made the section metal: the rear of the pen would be unbalanced and too heavy if the section were made of the pen body material.
I got number 0048/1988, oddly.
The nib is wet and very smooth. But also a total nail. For such a retro looking pen to have such a modern nib FEELS wrong. If I keep this puppy it is going STRAIGHT out to Pendelton to have the nib modified. As an M nail, I just wouldn't use it. (the stubs are totally sold out, no way to get them, but I've been wanting a quite fine italic for a while, so this medium should do.)
The material is very translucent, you can see the nib through the cap. The blind cap though doesn't match the pattern of the body and body and cap don't match at all either. I was surprised by that actually, I expected at least the blind cap to match up perfectly. I'm used to blind caps on my patterned Sonnechens and others that become invisible. Not necessarily bad, just different...
I've bought very, very few new pens in my time. Most of my pens are old and well used. A little in shock still at the price of this puppy. Straight out of the box I did not say "oh, WORTH IT."
This is my first Italian pen and maybe I should have gone with something a bit brighter and more completely different than my German pens? We'll see. My Lamy took time to grow on me, and while one Lamy is enough, I won't buy another, the Visconti may still convince me to get more of its kind. Or I may try another Italian pen maker before giving up and admitting that the Germans have my heart.
Don't REGRET it, let's be clear. But not yet convinced it'll be a permanent resident here. (The design IS retro enough to please my old pen loving heart.)
So after having it in my hot little hands for just an hour, hmmm.
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