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We're pretty excited to have been able to secure two (2) of these Limited Edition Omas Arte Italiana Calligraphy Sets. This set is a Limited, Numbered Edition of only 331 released worldwide as part of Omas' 90th birthday celebrations and we have managed to secure the only two that have been allocated to Australia. Includes: One Omas Arte Italiana pen in Omas "Colour of the Year" blue. Four easily interchangable complete nib assemblies: 1 x 14K Gold Broad Nib 1 x 18K Gold Italic Nib 1 x 18K Gold Fine Nib 1 x 14K Gold Extra Fine Flexible Nib An always "ready to write" leather travel carry case that securely holds two pens, three nib assemblies and has a pocket containing an Omas note book and a zip pocket containing five Omas cartridges. Features:Limited, Numbered Edition of 331 Sets. Shape: Dodecagonal Material: Cotton Resin Color: Blue Trim: High Tech Models: Milord Converter/cartridge Fountain Pen Engravings: OMAS logo and Greek key on the ring of the cap #Limited Number on the cap Nib: Rhodium plated, 18K Gold B in 14K Gold – Italic in 18K Gold – F in 18K Gold – 14K Gold in EF Ex.Flex. Feeder: Ebonite ø 6,5mm with 1 capillary for Milord model Loading capacity: Converter: 0,80 ml. – Cartridge: 0,80 ml. Length: (cl. – op.), Weight: 145,2 mm. – 174,70 mm. - 27 grams – max ø 16,3 mm. Warranty: OMAS International Packaging: OMAS Leather pouch, including OMAS notebook and 5 cartridges Price: $AUD2,250.00. ( $USD1722.00)Please email kevin@justwrite.com.au if you would like to buy this set or if you would like any further information. You can also download an OMAS pdf file from HERE

Hello everyone, just recently I somehow discovered the fact that I own a few nice pens. I am not an expert of any kind when it comes to pens, but I have a general love of handwriting and of beautifully crafted things, amongst those also fountain pens, especially piston fillers. In the age of computers not much work is left to accomplish by handwriting. Some cards, some signatures... Nevertheless I rediscovered some of my old pens and gave them a good simple cleaning (no disassembling). The little black OMAS belongs to the ones I used to write with a lot, simply because writing with this pen is a really pleasant experience, as it is soft and rich in writing and moreover a real lightweight. (A nice counterpart to the much heavier Waterman MAN 100 Opera with broad nib that I mainly use for signatures, cards or short letters ) The OMAS. I think I bought it new sometime in the 80s or early 90s. The way I remember it I was told that it is made of celluloid. But now I think I might be mistaken there. Or maybe not. I think I just gather what can be said about the pen, maybe this will ring a bell with somebody: - I think it is clear that the pen belongs to the "Arte Italiana" series. - It is a piston filler of black colour with gold trimming and 12 facetted barrel and cap. - It has only one Greek decor band, the cap band, no second one on the barrel like the "Paragon". - "OMAS Extra" is engraved on the barrel. - The length is 120 mm capped, 110 mm uncapped. - The nib is made of 18 Kt. gold, without twotone inlay. It displays the arrow design. One tine has engraved the letter "M" for the nib grade, the other tine bears an oval stamp. Inside the oval stamp is something that looks like a fir tree (or maybe arrows) accompanied by two letters. Left of the "tree" is a "T" engraved (or sth. looking similar). The right side of the "tree" has engraved "F". Does someone recognize the pen by the totality of this description? I very much hope so! I have done quite some search on OMAS, but it seems difficult. I do not even know if Milford e.g. is the name for a model or for a size... It seems it is never mentioned as anyone knows it anyway... Looking at the catalogues posted here (great, thanks!) I can add the following to the above description: The pen does look very similar to the "Gentlemen" pen in the 80s catalogue (see here) - only one Greek decor band, no twotone nib. But on the other hand mine has engraved "OMAS Extra" instead of "Gentlemen". And moreover the "Gentlemen" pen does not appear to be smaller than the "Paragon", while mine is certainly not a big pen. Second possibility: The pen looks also exactly like the 8201 - 556/F (medium) and the 8211 - 555/F (small) pens in the 1991 catalogue (if you care to open the pdf-file in this thread). But as far as I can see, nothing is said about the actual sizes. So I would guess mine might be the medium pen or even more probably the small one? (If my understanding is correct, the old pre 1950 "OMAS Extra" also came in three sizes, the smallest one being "Dama". Has there been a change of models and/or sizes between the two catalogues of the 80es and of 1991? Apart from identifiying the model I wish I knew what the engraving "OMAS Extra" does signify. Is it a separate model or does it stand for something else? Maybe someone knows? I would also be happy to find out if the pen is made from "resin" or celluloid. Right now I have no photographs of the pen, but believe me, it is looking exactly like the mentioned models in the catalogues. I still might add photos later, although the pen is not looking as impressive as many of the coloured resin and celluloid varieties. Nonetheless it is an elegant non-spectacular beauty with impressive writing characteristics. Thank you for your help! Amelie

OMAS as you already know is a 90 year old Italian manufacturer of fine writing instruments and related luxury goods. Founded in 1925, it does carry the name of its founder, Armando Simoni. OMAS as it is, stands for Officina Meccanica Armando Simoni, which means workshop for machinery And initially from 1919 - 1925 this workshop had been producing parts and safety mechanisms for pens.. OMAS had launched its first fountain pen in 1927 and had also copied Duofolds for a while. The turning point for the company came in 1932 with the Omas Extra, a faceted celluloid pen. Today, OMAS is no longer a 100% Italian company as it was earlier, after international acquisitions, first with the French LVMH stake in 2000 and then a 90% controlling equity investment of the Hong Kong based luxury conglomerate Xinyu Hengdeli Group in 2007. Below is a link to this review on my blog with more eye-candy . So here it goes: Omas Art Vision Review As for the Arte Italiana Collection, the twelve faceted or dodecagonal pens were first launched in 1930s and they never got out of fashion over all these years. In Italy it’s called Faccettata, which is also representative of Greek Doric Columns. The Vision along with Milord and a larger Paragon belong to the same collection. They are still assembled in Omas boutique job shop one after the other, manually. The Vision comes in two distinct designs - Liquid Blue & Liquid Green limited to 331 pieces per colour. However these pieces are not individually numbered like the Ogiva Vintage runs. Liquid Blue comes trimmed with bright rhodium decor while Liquid Green is trimmed with dark ruthenium decor. The colours are inspired from watercolour shades. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rwB2R_oPcX4/Vebk2XYHZdI/AAAAAAAAFXc/1dU-X7ggqak/s1600/1Designs.jpg PRESENTATION The Art Vision comes in a luxurious cardboard box encased within a silvery grey paper box. The heavy box is inlined with grey felt resembling the shades of steel grey. Once you remove the top cover, you can find the pen nesting inside a grey pen sleeve, placed on a custom made bed. The inside of the lid muses with the following motto customary to Omas: Italian Creativity, History, Craftsmanship. The Pleasure of Writing. Once you flip open the velvety separator, you would notice that there are two beds for two of your pens. Underneath rest the manuals and warranty card for this pen in a separate section. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KtUuS-0Y-wg/VeblYyOvHKI/AAAAAAAAFZE/79L3CKGNrVA/s1600/box2.jpg DESIGN - THE SONG OF DARK & EMERALD (6/6) It’s the Game of Thrones playing in my mind or these colours of liquid green and dark ruthenium play a beautiful symphony of light and dark. These pens are made of Omas proprietary Cotton Resin which constitutes of blended cotton seeds and resin polymer derivatives. The cotton resin feels quite substantial and does reflect a luxury in its own terms of rendering hues. The entire pen gleams with emerald tunes, entrapped within hushed darkness of ruthenium giving something that is not very common to this world of art. You can actually visualise the pen as a doric column which separated long ago and fell right into your palms. The clip gleams like an arc quite subservient to an emerald haze. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ragZY5aUAho/Vebk9mVwxeI/AAAAAAAAFXs/iT_R5_AXqHU/s1600/DSC_5849.jpg The piston knob concludes the structure with a raised dome. The cap feels light and unscrews with a single turn, revealing a dark ruthenium plated nib converging with gleaming shades of its metallic section. It reminds me of my gun-metal frames. The section starts with a dodecagonal structure (12 sides) stepping down for commencement of the efficient threads before tapering down to a comfortable grip section, before ending with a raised loop. These are the times when soulful geometry transforms into art. I did not find the grip uncomfortable or slippery and I hold the pen 0.4 - 0.5 cm above the nib. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HtVo0taFm3k/VeblKWrDUyI/AAAAAAAAFYY/SlThMQlpxdc/s1600/DSC_5863.jpg Now in case you are wondering about palladium, rhodium and ruthenium icing, along with some silver cake, here goes a picture. The other one (m625) has a silver section, coated with palladium along with a rhodium coated nib. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8ykeiq8Kqy8/VeblGlyDApI/AAAAAAAAFX8/BeNvKoeSwGk/s1600/DSC_5869.jpg The clip acquires the shape of a convex arc before ending with a tender concavity. It has the OMAS classic roller disc (since the 1930s) which slips and secures the pen in your pocket. The finial has a dome like the piston knob and its polygonal planes define triangular precision finally being betrothed to the famous OMAS O dazzling subtly in dark ruthenium. You can see the distinct outlines of the cap insert. The centre band is engraved with OMAS and ITALY at either ends, interlocked with an architectural pattern known as the Greek key or Meandros. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Fln51t2uEzg/VeblZS_bRtI/AAAAAAAAFZM/UtGH4GfPblE/s1600/cap.jpg FILLING SYSTEM (5/6) The piston filling system has a sturdy but small knob and is embellished with what seems to be a single loop. The knob requires three turns for the piston to move to its end stop which reveals the loop to be a part of the piston connector. The piston is smooth and efficiently draws ink from the bottle. The piston end does go down inside the metallic grip section of the pen while filling ink, which provides the additional ink capacity compared to the similar cartridge/converter model of the Milord models. The barrel along with the grip provides a decent ink capacity of 1.2-1.4 mL http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZcK9uDBWbk8/VeblJ7_r6II/AAAAAAAAFYQ/F5WehzFwoxY/s1600/DSC_5920.jpg NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (5/6) The nib comes rhodiated or rutheniated in 14k (Extra Flessible ones) or 18k alloys across four stock widths - EF (14k, Extra-Flessible), F (14k, Extra-Flessible), F & M and seven special widths - BB, OM, OMD, OBD, OBBD, Stub & Italic (untipped). This has a 18k semi-flex and comparatively responsive nib with the usual shaded geometries of the Milord/Paragon series. The size M is mentioned on the wings of the nib while the gold content is mentioned towards the tail. The content resides within an elongated hexagon. It’s kind of hard to describe the parallel hatching and geometrical patterns on the nib and you can see it for yourself. It has got some thick inclined hatching around the breather hole with OMAS branding residing in between the symmetry of it, and thinner lines of straight hatch and plains keep recurring as you move towards either of the tines. The nib is a darling to write with. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OYydDE20yew/VeblJjtJEEI/AAAAAAAAFYI/ETlXcPzKJKg/s1600/DSC_5936.jpg The heat set black ebonite feed has thinly spaced fins and two capillaries which ensure a good ink buffer and an extremely wet ink flow. Ebonite attract water (these are hydrophilic) as opposed to hydrophobic plastics which repel water, thereby wetting it more efficiently under the nib. Having said this, I find my plastic pelikan feeds even more efficient in this regard. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-56Cm-GHTpXM/VeblLJIYzYI/AAAAAAAAFYc/7bIhFrpWbYQ/s1600/DSC_5961.jpg PHYSICS OF IT (6/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING For me, this pen is very comfortable for writing without posting the cap. The overall uncapped length is around 13.2 cm, with a decent girth of more than 1 cm. Cap has heft and weighs a third of the total weight. The section is dark and metallic with the signature ruthenium coating although I did not find it slippery as such. The section feels quite substantial along with the cotton resin and I happen to grip the pen around 0.4-0.5 cm away from the nib. Its does feel a delight to write with, simply with the responsive nib. It’s a heavy and long pen to post and you may not prefer posting the Vision. Closed Length ~ 14.5 cmPosted Length ~ 17.7 cmNib Leverage ~ 2.4 cmOverall Weight ~ 33 g (without ink, Cap ~ 11 g)Capped and uncapped comparisons with a TWSBI 580 and a Pilot Custom 823 go below for your reference. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PAKrd4EbDuY/VeblSHBosxI/AAAAAAAAFYo/cL8P8mDnd5o/s1600/DSC_5972.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jtl9O4qfY74/VeblSKnTcGI/AAAAAAAAFYs/zCzzTTslBEY/s1600/DSC_5992.jpg ECONOMIC VALUE (3/6) The Visions retail at USD 495 and I am not sure if it’s a good or bad price since I do not usually find Omas pens selling at great discounts. I had a got a good, I will say steep discount from my longtime local distributor/reseller on this one. Since I have a lot of blue demos with rhodium trims, I rather went ahead with this song of dark and emerald. After the steep discount, the pen again could not make sure of value for money, but let’s not judge a piece of Art by monetary values alone! OVERALL (5/6) These 18k nibs are extremely smooth, somewhat flexible with a very wet flow. A little pressure increases the ink flow and results in thicker lines. The horizontal lines are a tad thinner than the verticals. I am not allured by flex, partly because of my bad handwriting, but I can assure these are delightfully soft and springy nibs, the best perhaps for a long long time. Being extremely wet writers out of the box, the Medium nib puts a line which takes around 30 seconds to dry GvFC Moss Green ink on MD Paper. Go for it, if you love this pen, substantial, differentiated & limited (331) with a befitting nib! http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GblHlov2XAc/VeblUPJPe6I/AAAAAAAAFY0/Qp6MI6AlW7I/s1600/DSC_5998.jpg OTHER DEMONSTRATOR REVIEWS Pilot Custom 823 Pelikan m605 Pelikan m625 Pilot Custom Heritage 92 TWSBI 580 REFERENCES Omas Art Vision Manufacturing Process Steps Factory Visit Greek key Thank you for going through the review. You can find some more pen and paraphernalia reviews here.

Hello Fountain Pen lovers! We are very glad to announce that Omas is going to launch its Arte Italiana Line and that we will have it soon at IGUANA SELL. We will keep you updated, but until then here you have some information about it: Omas Arte Italiana ART Fountain Pen http://www.iguanasell-pics.com/photos/promo/Omas/AI.jpg http://www.iguanasell-pics.com/photos/promo/Omas/AI2.jpg http://www.iguanasell-pics.com/photos/promo/Omas/AI3.jpg