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A couple of years ago I acquired a Marlen Aleph in gray marble. It's a gorgeous pen with a flex "harmonic" steel nib. But alas, it had a plastic feed which produced an uneven and unreliable flow. I put it away in my collection. I recently "discovered" it in my collection, and once again, it's beauty attracted me. This time around, however, I tried a little experiment. I removed the plastic feed and replaced it with a Sheaffer ebonite feed from the late 1930s. Now it flows perfectly and the nib produces just the kind of smooth moderate flex that this left-hander likes. Of course, I had to spend a bit of time shaping the Sheaffer feed to fit the Aleph's nib and section, but the time spent was worth it. Has anyone else tried replacing a plastic feed on a modern pen with an old fahioned ebonite one?

Every now and then, I come across a pen that is of particular value combined with a unique capability. The flexible Marlen Aleph pen shown above is such a pen. It is a piston filler with a nib made from fine harmonic steel that allows a beautiful calligraphic script. The harmonic steel nib guarantees a good flow for a controlled flex making a line of 1.0 to 1.5 millimeters. To control the flex of the nib, the pen presents two lateral cuts to accomplish a functional task without overshadowing the aesthetic component. The body of the pen is made of mother-of-pearl resin in lava grey or black refined with a full stainless steel barrel fully inspired to the old flat tops, without any kind of ornaments (rings and more) to divide the line. The pen is 143 mm of length; 111 mm for the body and 62 mm for the cap. The total weight is 30.9 grams (complete and refilled) of which 10.4 grams for the cap and 20.5 for the body. These characteristics lead to a balance allowing the pen to fit perfectly with the hand cavity. The filler system used is a piston filler in which the barrel end has as its main aim the protection of the mechanism from accidental or clunky actions. The harmonic steel nib guarantees a good flow for a controlled flex making a line of 1 to 1.5 millimeters. To limit the necessary strength for the flexion of the nib, the pen presents two lateral cuts to accomplish a functional task without the overshadow of the aesthetic component. You can find the Marlen Aleph on our website: https://www.bertramsinkwell.com/Marlen for special pricing.