I got this pen today

[DvdRiet]

15 minutes ago, BlueSquiggle said:

I’ve have a terrible ‘accident’ and got three new pens after been pen purchase free for about a year. If I’m going to fall off the wagon I might as well go face first!

 

Boy, when you said you fell of the wagon, you *really* fell off the wagon, didn't you?  Beautiful pens!! Hope you enjoy them for all they're worth!

[PithyProlix]

20 minutes ago, BlueSquiggle said:

Not exactly today but yesterday I’ve have a terrible ‘accident’ and got three new pens after been pen purchase free for about a year. If I’m going to fall off the wagon I might as well go face first!

All Sailor pens L-R Anniversary Shirogane, KOP Sakura Nagare, and KOP Tamenuri ‘Aodame’

 

 

The Anniversary Shirogane has a lovely smooth MF nib, seems to be somewhere between a western F and EF. Good ink flow too but keeps the fine precise line. While the pen is rather heavy it’s balance is great and the silver barrel does seem to ‘stick’ to my hand and sit happily without trying to slide about. The step down to the section is a bit jarring looking but it’s more comfortable than it looks.

The nib has the usual Sailor feel and feedback and writes out of the box without any issues and is about the same size as the profit of 1911 nibs.

 

 

The Sakura Nagare is a beautiful pen, just beautiful!  If you care to take a few moments you can get the patterns on the cap and barrel to line up. The gold flake and shell are covered in clear lacquer but you can still feel the bumps from them through it. Lovely light weight pen, perfect balance and that nib! Wowzers! I’ve never had a King Of Pen before only a pair of Profits and the nib on a Cross Peerless 125 I had a few years back. The KOP nibs are a genuine revelation to me, I’m shocked just how good these pens are! The nib is a ‘M’ so closer to a European fine (or something between ’F’ and ‘EF’ if you’re Montblanc!). Very smooth but with the usual Sailor feedback, it’s neither wet nor dry just good flow. Personally I’ve been in love with the Sailor nibs since I had the Peerless but I am truly shock just how good the KOP nibs are. This is almost a perfect writer - feels feather light in the hand, perfect balance and fantastic nib. Only negative (if I can even call it that, but more on this later) is the feel of the lacquer in you’re hand. It’s not perfectly smooth due to the raden and gold dust underneath and it feels a different temperature to your hand. Still lovely though.

 

 

KOP Tamenuri ‘Aodame’ - this is the big boy! Of the three I purchased yesterday this is the one I actually went to the shop to get. It’s my second urushi pen, Pilot 845 being the first, but this is on another level. All the same thing that I said about the Sakura Nagare belong here too except there are not negatives, this is the first pen I have ever used that I can truly say, for me at least, is genuinely perfection!

The weight, the diameter of the section and barrel, the size of the nib are all just perfection! What is even better that the other KOP is the feel of the urushi, it’s warmth means that I vanishes into my hand and I don’t notice it as I write, but same with the other KOP the nib is incredibly good!

Just to compare this pen to a MB 149 (or even the WE Homer I have) the MB just does not compare to how the KOP feels, the FOP feels more organic, more natural and almost blends into my hand as if it’s just another part of me, the MB (as with any other pens) always feels like it’s there, the Sakura Nagare is the same as I know it’s in my hand but still works beautifully. The Tamenuri on the other hand just just vanish as it’s warms to body temperature. I’ve not tried other KOP urushi pens so they might be the same too.

 

Please forgive the photos as I took them late last night so they’re not the clearest but hopefully they give a decent impression of the pens.

 

Oh my. You dropped the mic and I dropped my jaw on the floor.

[christam]

@BlueSquiggle What a fabulous shopping spree!  Did you visit Write Here by any chance?

[OldTravelingShoe]

@BlueSquiggle, thanks for sharing and enjoy these pens! Now I'm wishing you'd continue this shopping spree, so we all benefit from these lovely pics 😄

[BlueSquiggle]

3 minutes ago, christam said:

@BlueSquiggle What a fabulous shopping spree!  Did you visit Write Here by any chance?

I did, and John took all my money 😂

 

If anyone wants a Sakura Nagare with a B nib they had one left yesterday (they have a B nibbed KOP Tamenuri ‘Aodame’ too I think) -John found a pair in M and B nib that he didn’t realise he had, after I’d asked him about what’s the deal with ordering one.  Since I was asking about ordering anyway I jumped at it.

 

Great service from Write Here in Shrewsbury as always!

[ruby.monkey]

5 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

Haha, getting good nibs even before the pen is a new experience for me. Much appreciated, @JulieParadise, and please let me know how this could work. (In any case, I'll ping later in the year.) 

 

Inspired by this discussion, I asked a seller from Germany I trust if he could ship a Pelikan Level L65 over to me; it comes with the original 'bottle' (Tintenflasche). 

 

I am now wondering if the larger L5 in the series:

1. Uses the same nibs as the L65. 
2. Can be filled with the same 'bottle' as the L65. 

If so, perhaps I could acquire (also) the L5? (I would do this in time, because right now I'm really trying to stop buying everything that catches my attention, and surely slow down on pens above €100 for at least a couple of months. 

Unless you like pens with much narrower sections than barrels, you'll likely find that the L65 feels better in the hand than the L5 (L5 got junk in its trunk). I appreciate my L5 for its build quality and its mechanical details, but I'd rather write with any of my L65s.

 

The L5 should fill from the L65 bottle; but the L5 bottle fits in a stand that holds and shows off the pen.

[OldTravelingShoe]

21 minutes ago, ruby.monkey said:

Unless you like pens with much narrower sections than barrels, you'll likely find that the L65 feels better in the hand than the L5 (L5 got junk in its trunk). I appreciate my L5 for its build quality and its mechanical details, but I'd rather write with any of my L65s.

 

The L5 should fill from the L65 bottle; but the L5 bottle fits in a stand that holds and shows off the pen.

Thank you for this analysis, @ruby.monkey. Both because I prefer pens with a balanced ratio between the body and grip widths, and because the inker could be reused, I will pursue the L65 and defer the acquisition of an L5. Let's see if I can get one in a reasonable amount of time - starting with the seller I contacted today. 

[amberleadavis]

21 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

@mallymal1, @PithyProlix, thank you for your kind words. I'll try to do justice to this pen, report back how it went.

 

@amberleadavis, I've heard much about the Pelikan Level, and the closer the people talking about it are to me, the better their opinion of this series. Oh, so tempting! 😄

 

I love mine.

[Paul-in-SF]

I posted this in the "impulsive purchase" thread, and yesterday it arrived. 

 

A Parker "51" double-jewel Vacumatic from 1944, in Buckskin Beige. I understand that this is a pretty rare bird, which is nice. This one is not intact and is in fact missing at least one part (blind cap jewel) that may be very difficult to replace, but the rest of the pen seems quite solid. The pen had been disassembled and cleaned, which was nice of the seller. The sterling cap has a few dings, not deep, and that can be fixed. But I'm probably going to need patience on the missing part. Happily, that part doesn't affect the ability of the pen to write, and as soon as I install the new diaphragm, it will be ready to go. 

[amberleadavis]

58 minutes ago, Paul-in-SF said:

I posted this in the "impulsive purchase" thread, and yesterday it arrived. 

 

A Parker "51" double-jewel Vacumatic from 1944, in Buckskin Beige. I understand that this is a pretty rare bird, which is nice. This one is not intact and is in fact missing at least one part (blind cap jewel) that may be very difficult to replace, but the rest of the pen seems quite solid. The pen had been disassembled and cleaned, which was nice of the seller. The sterling cap has a few dings, not deep, and that can be fixed. But I'm probably going to need patience on the missing part. Happily, that part doesn't affect the ability of the pen to write, and as soon as I install the new diaphragm, it will be ready to go. 

 

Congrats!

[inkstainedruth]

On 8/10/2022 at 7:49 AM, DvdRiet said:

Got another boring Diplomat today...  

(the yellow one in the middle just arrived and found it was already in good company!)

The blue one and red/pink one to the right of your new one look quite nice.  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Misfit]

On 8/10/2022 at 10:13 AM, BlueSquiggle said:

 

Great service from Write Here in Shrewsbury as always!

That’s the online store I ordered a Fine Writing International Jupiter pen from. It’s currently (evidently) languishing in Chicago for a week now according to tracking.

[Number99]

For me, who is used to seeing product images on ebay, the blue coronet looks surprisingly good.

 I thought it would be a lighter blue.

 

 One more pen to complete my Parker 45 Coronet collection.

 It's a secret what color pen I'm waiting for.

 

 

[mallymal1]

1 hour ago, Number99 said:

For me, who is used to seeing product images on ebay, the blue coronet looks surprisingly good.

 I thought it would be a lighter blue.

 

 One more pen to complete my Parker 45 Coronet collection.

 It's a secret what color pen I'm waiting for.

 

 

 

Superb.

[ruby.monkey]

Came home from holiday to find these waiting on my doormat:

IMG_6010 by Jean-Yves, on Flickr

The Vacumatic has a (double?) broad left oblique from a Senior Duofold, the Regal came with a medium nib but now sports a broad left oblique italic, the Pelikans both have broad nibs.

 

It's a real shame that the Platignum swappable-nib pens died out. That oblique is a far more pleasant writer than it has any right to be.

[PithyProlix]

14 hours ago, ruby.monkey said:

Came home from holiday to find these waiting on my doormat:

IMG_6010 by Jean-Yves, on Flickr

The Vacumatic has a (double?) broad left oblique from a Senior Duofold, the Regal came with a medium nib but now sports a broad left oblique italic, the Pelikans both have broad nibs.

 

It's a real shame that the Platignum swappable-nib pens died out. That oblique is a far more pleasant writer than it has any right to be.

 

Very nice. You might like Osmiroid nibs, another brand that died out - I think their pens bodies are (bleep) but fortunately you can put the 1st generation Osmiroid nibs in Esterbrook Js and the like.

 

(Where can I find a magic doormat like yours?)

[mallymal1]

4 minutes ago, PithyProlix said:

(Where can I find one a magic doormat like yours?)

 

I want one too! 🙂

[PithyProlix]

A sterling Pierre Cardin, 18k nib, made by Aurora, based on their Hastil model.

 

Cleaned, flushed, and polished a bit - now to ink it up. Somehow that little blue band makes me feel compelled to use a blue ink, more so than with a completely blue pen ...

 

 

 

EDIT: Just realizing that the top of the cap sort-of looks like it is wearing a tiny French beret, which seems somewhat appropriate.

 

EDIT #2: Bah! I've just found out that the cartridges (Parker) and converters (a converter from my Aurora Magellano and a Parker slide converter) that fit an Aurora Hastil do not fit this pen because the inner diameter of the section is too wide. Unfortunately this pen came without a cartridge or converter. I've written Aurora and hopefully they can make an appropriate suggestion. I think the worst case is that I wrap teflon tape around the mouth of a Parker cartridge or slide converter so that it fits snugly in the section.

[ruby.monkey]

4 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

 

Very nice. You might like Osmiroid nibs, another brand that died out - I think their pens bodies are (bleep) but fortunately you can put the 1st generation Osmiroid nibs in Esterbrook Js and the like.

 

(Where can I find a magic doormat like yours?)

Indeed I do. I have a few 65s (the later model is not bad) and Esterbrook J of various types. I find that the Esterbrook nibs are usually too long to fit under an Osmiroid cap, but the reverse works just fine. An SJ with a sketch nib makes an interesting pocket pen.

[PithyProlix]

1 hour ago, ruby.monkey said:

Indeed I do. I have a few 65s (the later model is not bad) and Esterbrook J of various types. I find that the Esterbrook nibs are usually too long to fit under an Osmiroid cap, but the reverse works just fine. An SJ with a sketch nib makes an interesting pocket pen.

 

Yes, the later 65 seems to have more stable plastic than the earlier ones. The Osmiroid sketch, copperplate, extra fine italic, and fine italic nibs are among my most used nibs.