Visconti Homo Sapiens Corsani 90 Limited Edition, Broad Nib

[MCWB]

Visconti Homo Sapiens Corsani 90 limited edition, broad nib

Stylograph Corsani is an Italian shop selling pens, watches, leather goods and accessories since 1924. For their 90th anniversary in 2014, they commissioned Visconti to make a limited edition of 79 fountain pens (corresponding to the shop's street number) and 11 rollerballs (to make 90 pens in total). These pens are based on the Homo Sapiens, using the grey stacked celluloid as used in the Wall Street (and others). The Visconti Homo Sapiens probably needs no introduction for many people here, and if it does there are many reviews in this forum alone, so I will try to focus on things particular to my pen and gloss over things that are common to other Homo Sapiens models.

 

I purchased this pen in June 2016. I had certainly seen it before and contemplated buying one, but given its rarity and the time since it was first offered for sale, I just presumed that it would have long since sold out. To my surprise, an email from Stefano Senatore at Stylograph Corsani revealed that this was not the case!

 

1. Appearance & Design (10/10)
I am a massive sucker for the Visconti stacked celluloid, and it goes beautifully with the Homo Sapiens design. A functional bonus of using this material is that it is partially transparent, so you get a very subtle ink window through which you can inspect the remaining ink level (unlike the lava Homo Sapiens, which doesn't have an ink window).

 

 

The trim ring just above the section has "Corsani 1924-2014" instead of the usual "Homo Sapiens", which is a nice touch.

 

 

Instead of the normal Visconti logo, Stefano personalised the pen with my initials on the end of the cap (at no charge, using the Visconti MyPen system). He also included the normal Visconti logo with the pen; this can be easily swapped in or out using a magnet. This is a nice additional personal touch.

 

 

2. Construction & Quality (10/10)
Not much to say here, everything works as expected and the cap latch system ensures that the reflective surfaces in the celluloid all line up when you cap the pen in a particular orientation. This is excellent attention to detail and is certainly not always the case with pens made from these stacked celluloids.

 

3. Weight & Dimensions (10/10)
Like the Homo Sapiens, this is not a tiny pen but it's not ridiculously big and heavy either. For a size comparison, from top to bottom: Homo Sapiens Corsani 90 LE, Wall Street LE, Opera Master LE, Skeleton (titanium).

 

4. Nib & Performance (6/10)
This pen comes with Visconti's 23 K Pd "Dreamtouch" nib. It's a dual tone nib, which is fine, but I think an all-rhodium nib might have suited this pen better asthetically. Not a massive deal either way though.

 

Nibs are where Visconti falls down far too often IMO. I asked Stefano if he had this pen with a broad nib that didn't have a case of baby's bottom (as I have had on other Visconti B and BB nibs). He tested 3 (!) for me, and reported that he had found one that didn't hard start. Fantastic customer service, but says a bit about Visconti's QC! When the pen arrived, it indeed did not hard start, but it was quite scratchy. A quick investigation revealed that the tines were misaligned. I am confident enough with adjusting tine alignment, so I sorted the problem out myself (took me about an hour all up, over a couple of days). It now writes very well, but at this price point I don't think that's really good enough.

 

 

The other thing I didn't expect about this nib is that for a broad Visconti nib it's actually very stubby (in the writing sample below, compare the figure 8s against the WSLE 18K B nib). I like writing with stubs so don't mind this but if I was expecting a rounded broad nib (and I was) then it's something a bit unexpected and potentially undesirable. Again, it doesn't exactly inspire confidence in Visconti's nib QC procedures.

 

5. Filling System & Maintenance (9/10)
Visconti's Double Reservoir Power Filler has been discussed at length elsewhere; I like it overall. It certainly allows a lot of ink to be taken up in one fill (especially if you push out the air remaining in the barrel after the first fill and fill a second time), but it can be a bit of a pain to clean out. Great if you need to cut the ink supply off from the nib (e.g. if you're flying).

6. Cost & Value (9/10)
As mentioned, Stefano included my initials on the cap using the Visconti MyPen system for no charge; he also included a Markiaro leather pen case as a gift (unbeknownst to me). Added to the excellent customer service already mentioned, I think these add some value to the experience.

 

 

As a non-EU customer, I paid € 483.61 for this pen. This is certainly not a cheap pen by any stretch of the imagination, but for a rare and attractive pen I think it's fair, especially considering the normal cost of Homo Sapiens LEs. Shipping to Australia was by DHL Express and cost € 45. Again this is certainly not cheap, but I finalised payment on Tuesday night Australian time and had the pen in my hands on Friday afternoon, which is seriously impressive.

7. Conclusion
The Homo Sapiens line includes quite a few different limited edition materials, including the Crystal, Florentine Hills and London Fog. Pairing up the Homo Sapiens body with the beautiful stacked celluloid is genius. If this pen also came in the blue, green and red celluloids I would be seriously tempted to buy all of them! After a bit of work the nib is now to my liking, so there's now nothing I don't like about this pen. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely.

Edited July 17, 2016 by MCWB

[zaddick]

A lovely pen. May it bring you many years of happiness. Congratulations.

[mulrich]

I got one of these this month and while I love the look of the pen I'm really disappointed with Visconti's QC. The cap doesn't smoothly come off (I have other Homo Sapiens so I know how the cap should work), the trim read above the section is loose (not an issue on other HSs), and the nib (F) is just bad (scratchy, very dry; it looks like the tines are too close together). Needless to say this will be heading to Coles for a pretty hefty warranty service. Hopefully Visconti will be able to fix each of these problems though I'm sure it will take a couple months.

I still really like the looks of the pen and when it's working as it should I expect it to be used regularly.

[dr saleem ali]

Thanks for a nice review. I wish you enjoy your pen in best of health and peace of mind.

[MCWB]

Thanks zaddick and Dr Ali!

 

I got one of these this month and while I love the look of the pen I'm really disappointed with Visconti's QC. The cap doesn't smoothly come off (I have other Homo Sapiens so I know how the cap should work), the trim read above the section is loose (not an issue on other HSs), and the nib (F) is just bad (scratchy, very dry; it looks like the tines are too close together). Needless to say this will be heading to Coles for a pretty hefty warranty service. Hopefully Visconti will be able to fix each of these problems though I'm sure it will take a couple months.

I still really like the looks of the pen and when it's working as it should I expect it to be used regularly.

 

Bummer, hope that gets sorted out soon! Yes, I've gotten to the point where if I'm thinking of buying a Visconti pen, I mentally factor in the cost of a trip to a nibmeister into the total cost. That is not a good thing.

[mallymal1]

Great review MCWB.

 

I think you could be right about the rhodium nib. Would suit the pen better.

 

I just received a HS Bronze Age yesterday, and thankfully the broad nib is a 'dream'.

[s_t_e_v_e]

Nice review of a very nice pen! I had the opportunity to test drive this very pen while I was in Rome last year and Corsani pen shop was just a block away from my hotel. I had never ever used or tried Visconti's Pd nibs before and Mr. Stefano pulled out one in broad for me to try. I was excited but the minute I uncapped the pen, my enthusiasm was punctured by the visibly misaligned tines. The pen is gorgeous but so many problems with a very expensive pen is unacceptable to me. A $10 Jinhao is allowed to make mistakes but not a $500 pen from any manufacturer. I have only one Visconti with a 14K nib. That pen is a dream! I keep telling myself that the risk might be worth it but at the same time I don't want to deal with the frustration of an expensive brand new pen not writing out of the box.

[dunivanb]

That looks really awesome!

[phentrek]

It's such a shame about all of the nib issues. When a Visconti nib is in proper alignment I find it to write like a dream.

[neotobeo]

Excellent review - beautiful pen.

[Jackokun]

I got a similar experience from Stefano and looking forward getting the pen all the way out to Canada, highly recommend it

[MCWB]

Excellent, I hope you enjoy it! I have now swapped the original two-tone B nib in mine for a rhodium-plated B nib... looks and performs like a dream!

[Ghost Plane]

Pretty!