At a recent geek gathering I was allowed to play with a dear friend's pen. His had a medium italic nib and I was impressed. Once home, I ordered my own from Mr Pen. It showed up this morning.
This pen came in an understated black box with a nice little instruction leaflet and fitted with a cartridge converter plus a standard international cartridge that I instantly tossed in a drawer.
The first thing that strikes me about this pen is the quality of the finish which to me looks fabulous. There's enough bling to keep me happy but not so much that I'm going to feel silly taking it out of my handbag. The amber finish is light coloured but with enough depth to it that I don't feel it's cheap or going to look dull in a couple of months.
The converter looked to be the 'weak link,' shouting I'M FROM CHINA, so I was instantly suspicious. I was wrong, so far on that, it seats well into the section and I have been using this pen all day and so far, no leaks and flawless ink delivery.
Some stats for you:
140mm capped length
36.5gms weight (filled) As an 'aside', my TWSBI 540 weighs in at 23.1gms (filled.)
A really 'up close and personal' inspection of the nib shows some slight scuffing to the top surface. At this price (a gnats whisker over 47 quid) I really don't care. Also worth noting was that there was some mis-allignment of the nib and feed, easily corrected with my thumb nail. Again, for the money, do I care? Not much.
I juiced it up with Diamine Syrah and got busy with the cheapest, naffest paper I could find that lurked in my printer and I was impressed. I don't post pens but I tried this beastie both posted and unposted and in my small hands, it felt good to write with at speed for two sides of naff printer paper.
Let's talk about the nib...
Mine is a 1.3mm italic. Rather confusingly, it says on the outer sleeve that the nib is marked M but has been ground and polished to a broad italic 1.3mm. Instantly I'm questioning how a medium can become a broad? Did the nib fairy visit and glue on a little extra? Nope, that's not it. This nib has no tipping that I can see so has been ground and polished to an exact 1.3mm. I don't know how long this nib will last but honestly, for this kind of money, I don't mind. This is not a pen I will use all day every day so in two years or five years when the nib is beyond fun, I'll replace the nib or replace the pen.
Summary: A well balanced pen with a great finish in a stonkingly huge choice of nibs. The nib is exactly what it claims to be and is buttery smooth right out of the box.
For those who like to see what their 47 quid buys them, here's some pictures...
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