Aurora Firenze Vermeil Fountain Pen With “M” Nib.

May 13, 2013

Hello to all. I’m new on this forum as a poster, but have been a long time lurker. I finally decided to post reviews on some of my pens. In this review I’ll give you some information about my latest pen, the quite rare Aurora Firenze in vermeil (gold plated silver).

As my in laws know I’m always writing with a fountain pen (I’m a lefty and end up with a blue hand whenever I write with a ballpoint), they wanted to give me something special for my recent birthday.

Especially my father in law likes to go completely over the top with this kind of thing and he decided to get me a kind of pen I wasn’t likely to encounter “in the wild”. I’d say he succeeded in that part ;-)

I have been writing with fountain pens for over 20 years. I started with a very small 1918 Pelican that once belonged to my grandmother. Over the years my hands have grown and as I like nice accessories like watches, cufflinks, fountain pens, I have acquired several pens.

After the Pelican I bought a Waterman Le Man in blue with an 18k fine nib. During my time at the university I have even managed to wear out the nib (the point), which has been replaced by Waterman free of cost just after graduation. The new nib was too stiff to my taste, it was very hard to adjust to it after writing with the old one for so many years.

My parents heard me complaining about this and they decided to give me a graduation-gift from Montblanc. Since then one of my favorite pens has been my Montblanc Meisterstück, along with my St. Dupont Lacque de Chine.

Lately I have bought several other pens just for fun. I seem to have a soft spot for the Snorkels by Sheaffer: I bought a refurbished black Sheaffer Snorkel Statesman with palladium-silver conical F-nib and really enjoy it. So much that I even bought another (green) Snorkel last week, which is in the post right now.

Back to the pen that this review is all about: the Aurora Firenze (Florence) in vermeil:

General information, looks.

Aurora is an Italian penmaker, founded in 1919. They make quite a few models in a broad price-range. The Firenze (VF-800) is one of their Special Edition models and has quite an “Italian” styling, which lots of people will find way over the top, especially with the red resin body (which Aurora calls “Terra di Toscana red”, Toscany soil red) and the (heavy!) gold plated silver decoration on the cap. Love it or hate it ;-) It won’t be everybody’s choice.

The Firenze has a body that is engraved with Fleur de Ly’s, its cap is screwed on the body. The images on the cap are: 1)Ponte Vecchio, 2) Cathedral of Santa Maria, 3) Signoria Palace and 4) Michelangelo’s David.

Construction and quality.

The Firenze is a sturdy pen. It is well made and feels like it will last a long time. The filling is easy, it has a nice, smooth action and is on par with or better than my Montblanc.

The weight of the body isn’t really impressive, this isn’t a heavy pen until the moment you screw the cap on: the gold plated silver makes this a rather heavy pen. The gold plated parts are crisp and well cast. They are nicely finished, with lots of detail.

The nib is a rather big 18k gold nib with a big feeder under it. I got the “M” nib, which writes well: not as smooth as my Montblanc, but the pen hasn’t settled to my hand yet.

Filling and maintenance

As I have only filled the Firenze twice, there isn’t much I can say about the filling of the Firenze, other than that the filling is butter-smooth and that this pen hold a LOT of ink.

I suppose cleaning will be just as easy as with my Montblanc and other pistonfillers.

Conclusion

I got this pen as a gift. I probably wouldn’t have bought it myself as it is a rather expensive model (I don’t know the exact price and don’t want to know). I probably would have gotten myself something a bit less flashy and more in line with the larger part of my collection. I’m a lawyer/barrister and in that profession this kind of pen is quite a jawdropper.

However, this pen is a very nice writer, that is well built and certainly is a discussion starter. I am very pleased with it (which is a good thing as I will have to write with it for the rest of my life ;-) ).

Pictures:

I took some pictures with my cellphone. I will see if I can upload better pictures anytime soon...

May 13, 2013

Wow, that's stunning. I like the decoration on the nib too.

May 13, 2013

Nice contribution and pics - thanks for posting. The pen is clearly something special.

May 17, 2013

a very nice pen!

enjoy!

June 21, 2013

Hi: Congrats on your gift-pen. It's a beauty! You said in your review that another favorite pen of yours is a Dupont Laque de Chine. Would it happen to be the red-marbled one? I'm currently watching one of those on eBay. Regardless of whether or not yours is red marbled, how does it write for you. Would you give it your highest recommendation? Thanks in advance for your answer.

June 24, 2013

Hi ccvinylman,

I happen to have the black Dupont Laque de Chine. It is a very smooth writer and a rather thin pen.

I believe it has an M-nib.

It would get my highest recommendation and writes just as easy as my Montblanc 149.

The only - minor - criticism: it has a click-on cap. I prefer screwed on caps.

September 23, 2013

Hi ccvinylman,

I happen to have the black Dupont Laque de Chine. It is a very smooth writer and a rather thin pen.
I believe it has an M-nib.

It would get my highest recommendation and writes just as easy as my Montblanc 149.
The only - minor - criticism: it has a click-on cap. I prefer screwed on caps.

Hi, BernardB:

Forgive my tardiness in responding to your answer. I just now discovered (in September!) your response. Your comments are very helpful. Thanks again. Right now I'm looking at a Dupont Laque du Chine in blue, but I'm also interested in a Pilot/Namiki Custom 823 which has been getting great reviews. The Waterman LeMan 200 I bought recently turned out to be defective--skipped like crazy, so I had to return it, getting a Delta Dolce de Vita Oro slim in its place, which I promptly gave to a friend whose favorite color is orange. He seems to love it, by the way.

Congratulations on your gift pen. Its design is a little "over the top," but how well it writes is perhaps more important--though some collectors would disagree.

All the best,

Don, ccvinylman