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I started collecting fountain pens via my interest in italic calligraphy, and that stemmed from my undergraduate experience at Reed College, where calligraphy was a significant part of the school’s culture when I was there. Last year, I went on a bit of a binge ordering custom made pens that included hardware incorporating Reed College “totems.” The school’s seal has a griffin on it, but for reasons too complicated to relate now, a particular owl serves as a co-mascot with the griffin. Last Fall, I communicated with Shawn Newton about building me a pen that satisfied a number of my wants: It would be based on a model I liked, of course. It would have a clip, because I carry pens in shirt or jacket pockets. It would be made in Conway Stewart Pistachio, one of CS’s several attractive resins I never acquired before the company went under. It would be a piston filler. And it would have two sections, one to take Pelikan M800 nibs and the other to take Esterbrook and Osmiroid nibs. I suppose each of those specifications could be the subject of an essay, but I will spare you. Shawn and I also discussed various ways his pen could include the Reed College mascots. We finally decided on a broad, sterling silver cap band. Shawn would hand “carve” the griffin and owl at 180 degrees from each other in wax that his jeweler would then cast in silver. Shawn had never done anything quite like that before, and the challenge clearly excited him. As a pediatrician, I love that he hasn’t lost that child-like curiosity and attraction to novelty. Nine months later, my pen was finally finished and delivered. It meets my every expectation and exceeds several. When it arrived, I fitted it with a spare M800 B nib that Michael Masuyama had ground to a 0.7 mm crisp cursive italic. I loaded it with Akkerman Groenmarkt Smaragd ink - a grayish green that complemented the Pistachio resin beautifully, I thought. I then wrote a long letter to one of my pen pals (about calligraphy nibs, of course). The pen’s section is a millimeter or so thicker than most of my pens, and that makes it less tiring to write with, at least for me. This is Shawn’s “Orville” model. it is a flat top with mostly straight cap and barrel. The barrel does have a slight taper. It is a large pen - longer than almost any I have. The photos compare it to an M800, a “standard” for large but not over-size pens, in my opinion. It is nicely weighted for me. It weighs 38 g. Un-capped, it weighs 17 g (inked). It posts but is too long and top heavy to be comfortable for me when posted. As indicated, it is exceedingly comfortable to write with. The piston works very smoothly. The joint between the blind cap and the barrel is invisible with perfect pattern matching when the piston is fully up. Overall, fit and finish are flawless. The CS Pistachio resin is even harder to photograph than most. It includes many colors of flakes, with reddish-brown, gray-green and a pearlescent tan set in a black matrix. I find it very attractive. The cap band is just awesome. It is also a challenge to photograph, but I think you can appreciate Shawn’s work from my amateurish pictures. In summary, this is a beautiful pen with an unique cap band that has a lot of meaning for me. It is also a wonderful writer. I expect to get much enjoyment from using it often. Shawn has posted his photos of this pen on his web site and on various social media. Here are some photos I took today, for your enjoyment: Griffin on band Owl on band The M800 was originally a black/black with a green ink view window. It now has a custom binde in "Night Jewels" resin which Shawn had made for me a couple years ago. And for the other nib people: Happy writing! David