Nettuno Shark

March 13, 2016

Y'all know me. Know how I earn a livin'. I'll catch this bird for you, but it ain't gonna be easy. Bad fish. Not like going down the pond chasin' bluegills and tommycods. This shark, swallow you whole.

...and it almost did. I chased this Shark for quite some time before laying my grubby little hands all over it. I was promised a lovely medium version but I got a foul mouthed broad. I marveled at its huge bulk and pondered the the amounts of liquid it might hold in its sleek body, but woe is me, it held but a few little drops. I almost gave up. I had it on the line, but it tugged and tugged away from me and I almost let it go. Like an old man of the sea, baked on the salt of many months of longing I finally appealed to another for help. I sent my Shark off to another penfarer who worked a miracle, a wonder! When it arrived back it had a filed tooth and a thirst for a quarter bottle of fluid. Not only had I the Shark on the line, now I had landed and netted the damned beast. Why had I waited so long?

Nettuno is probably best known for its Trident pens and boasts about being the very first fountain pen ever to be manufactured in Italy back in 1911. The recent pens all seem to be very substantial, but I have also seen a few of the older pens which are not exactly small. Today the brand continues under the auspices of Aurora and they are manufactured in Torino although I think - but could be wrong - that the Shark was manufactured by Delta for sale in Vechietti Pens in Bologna. The Shark is a limited edition of 400 pens with grey and white celluloid resembling a real shark in colour and in shape, minus the fins. At one time it was fairly easy to find them, but nowadays they seem rarely to appear for sale. It is a lovely pen to look at and for some time I thought that was all I would ever do with it. It didn't write well, skipped, seemed to hold but a mere three drops of ink before going dry. I think at one point I may have even complained loudly about it on this very forum. Turned out I had a bad nib and a jammed piston. I had it fixed and I am so glad I made the effort.

The pen is large with the cap extending to almost half the length. It posts securely and despite its dimensions and considerable weight it still writes well and feels well balanced. The Nettuno brand is quite literally writ large and the pen cap has a magnetic closure which works via a series of small circular magnets around the base of the cap. These magnets are coated with metal but sadly there was a lack of attention paid to the quality of these and they tend to degrade very quickly and the little circular magnets can look a bit untidy and even appear as if they are rusting slightly. The magnetic closure works quite well though. When closed there is a very neat double white metal ring at the cap seal. The clip is the same as the Trident clip, representing Poseidon's weapon of choice.

The pen is a long extended cigar shape, but the piston end is flat and encased in silver, The pen number is engraved here and the piston nob is somewhat short and stubby. Mine was jammed for a long time, but even though it has been fixed, it is still a bit fiddly and stiff - enough to give you a bit of hand cramp when changing inks and tying to flush out the last one. The finishing of these sections is very good quality and I can't report any issues.

The grip is a little curious in shape with a significant step from the barrel, but it is a comfortable hold if a little strange. The nib is a very wet writer with a white metal plated gold nib that has a fair bit of bounce. I have had this one reground to a medium from a broad. As a broad, it was extremely broad yet also managed to regularly skip. Now it writes a medium and very wet line but is still on the broader edge of medium nibs. It's quite a large nib too, with a double diamond engraving and the Nettuno 'N'.

I like the pen a lot, but it has many faults. It is a little clumsy in some aspects and it feels like the pen creators have been a little overly ambitious. I like the magnetic closure, but dislike the fact that they have overlooked the quality aspects of this. I'm not a great fan of the step down and feel the pen would have looked better with a more tapered grip rather than the weird shape it is that looks like it came form the mind of Giger. I dislike the fact that my piston was jammed and that my nib was sub par. All that said, I still love it. It's like going to the rodeo and secretly enjoying it and in that respect it is a bit of a posers pen so I tend to be careful if I use it out and about. One aspect of the pen they got absolutely right is the celluloid. This pen has the best celluloid of any pen I own. It has a depth and richness that is really very pleasing. It certainly draws attention! When one does appear in the wild it tends not to be cheap, but if you do stumble across one for a reasonable price I wouldn't worry too much about taking the plunge as the joy of it and the sheer brassy ambition of it go a long way to forgive its faults. It's a fun pen and a pleasure to own; I'm only sorry it took me nearly three years of ownership before I began to see its beauty and what a great writer it could be.

I must apologize for my poor pictures, but the good ones were too big to load. Google will provide many beautiful images of this pen.

March 15, 2016

I left out some vital info:

The pen weighs 48 grammes is 6.2 inches capped, 6.9 inches posted and 5.25 inches unposted.

It is of similar length and girth to the Laban Mento if you are familiar with that pen.

March 16, 2016

An interesting read Uncial! Something tells me I might have to hunt down more of your reviews...

It's a shame FPN's photo shrinking has put pay to you sharing images of the pen in its entirity, but as you mentioned, I was able to find a couple by doing an image search on Google. That celluloid really does look very shark-like. And those magnet studs together with the shape of the section somehow remind me of Tin-tin submarines or deep-sea diving suits! I can almost smell the salty sea air...

Thanks for this review.

March 17, 2016

Thank you, I was beginning to think that there was no love for Shark pens just as there is little love for real sharks. The grey in the celluloid has the same silvery quality as real shark skin.