Maiora Everest Celestia

Maiora is one the of the brands that fall under Delta Pen Company co-founder Nino Marino’s Maiora Pen Company alongside Nettuno 1911 and the new Delta. it is an odd combination as they all seem to compete for the same market but it does result in some rather interesting pens including this ebonite giant.

I was leant this pen by the bleach and ink artist mystro himself, Nick Stewart.

With the Everest models Maiora have basically made a pen to fit a 14K gold size 8 nib. The body, which is perfectly proportioned to the nib, is made of a ‘luxury’ ebonite. I assume either Japanese or Italian, I could not find the source. There are actually two models, the Celestia in blue (this one) and the Vulcania in red. Certainly take a sniff within the cap and if you had any doubts about the material then the smell is a dead give away.

It is said ebonite has a warmth to it. This is only partly true. A better description would be that it warms up and retains the heat. Pick the pen up after you have not used it for a while and it is as cold as anything from acrylic or resin, but quickly it will warm in the hands unlike the other materials. You may have heard that you should not post the cap of ebonite pens. This is not the case unless the material has been made really thin and this is the situation with a lot of Japanese pens that are used as the base for urushi work, such as from Nakaya, here there is a decent thickness so there should be no worry.

The patterning is nice though no attempt had been made to use parts from the same rod and to try and line them up. The section is actually at 90 degrees to the rest with the way the pattern flows. This is a shame when you consider the cost of this pen and the fact that Maiora are meant to be artisans.

The section has a very slight curve to it as it angles down to the finger rest/protector, which itself appears to be mores steeply angled than it actually is. This is a very comfortable pen to hold and despite its size does not feel too large in my average sized hands. My thumb does rest on the threads, but they are fine enough to not cause discomfort. Ebonite is hard so sharp or badly cut threads can be an issue. Not so here. The balance point is towards the back and it is the piston unit that seems to add the real weight to this pen.

The barrel gently curves out very slightly before heading back in towards the piston. The piston knob itself is not quite straight having a slight curved bump. It is a shame it does not flow with the body. Without noticing this everything looked fine, now I’ve seen it the back looks a little clumsy (to me).

The cap is perfectly proportioned and shaped to match with the pen. The three metal bands work well as a break in the ebonite. It can be posted and posts deep, but with a pen this size why would you want to (I know some do). The cap finial on this pen is superb with its rings round the middle. At the back it is stamped (rather than the more common and much cheaper laser engraving). At the top is MAIOTA and -ITALY-. Towards the bottom is CELESTIA and 100, I assume this is the number in the limited range but I can not find just how many Everest Celestia were actually made. What does surprise me is the allignment of the 100 to the model name. Instead of being central, it is the 1 that is around the middle mark of Celestia. Also while stamped and generally in line with each piece of text (assuming the 1 of the 100 was meant to be in the middle) these markings are not opposite the clip, but actually at an angle and additionally are not straight. I would suggest a dye was setup to stamp all the text in one go but not carefully applied.

There is an issue with the cap on this particular pen. There appear to be three sets of threads and one appears to not be cut properly or has been damaged. Some of the time when I cap the pen it will not close fully. I have not tried forcing it but there is a definitive stop about 80% closed. With the other two starting points I have no issues and the cap winds on fully with no problems.

The clip has a nice look to it and a disk at the end to help it move over pocket seams. It works very well and as someone who does carry pens in a jacket pocket I would have full confidence in this keeping it in place. I did test it out and I could push it out off the material it but needed some work. Simply putting a jacket down with the piston end of the barrel being pushed up would not cause the pen to fall out (unlike with a Visconti – from hard experience).

The nib is arguably the star of the show. A medium size #8 14k gold unit almost certainly made by Bock with a blue ebonite feed. Looking online the Vuclania model unsurprisingly has a red feed. I would say this nib is on the wet side, my wording is on purpose. When it arrived the pen had the dregs left of some Maoira Blue (from the bottle that came with the pen). On cleaning out the pen, which allowed me to check the capacity, I loaded it with ScriBo Verde Mediterraneo. I chose this ink on purpose, partly because it is a good match colour wise and partly because ScriBo inks are on the dry side due to ScriBo nibs having a higher flow than most. It was a perfect match. The pen rights smoothly and the ink flow is perfect. Note one other review of this specific pen suffered some burping. I did not and the pen has been in my possession through a couple of thunderstorms so I think she was just unlucky.

The markings on the nib are nice, with a line art Everest where you would normally see the flourishes. It has been stamped rather than laser engraved and looks so much better as a result.

The filling mechanism is piston and with a large capacity. It is quoted as being 5.5ml. I managed to expel 5ml when cleaning the pen but there will be slight variations between each pen and I think that the 5ml I saw was perfectly fine for a pen of this size. Certainly you are not going to quickly run out of ink. The piston was smooth to use.

In the hand, as mentioned above, this is a comfortable pen to use though you need to be happy with larger pens. It is towards my limit. The nib, while smooth, is too stiff for my personal preference. I suffered no skips or issues with it and you can get some line variation, but not with regular writing if like me you have a lighter touch.

So my views. Depending on where you look this pen and its sister can still be bought new for around £840, €1000 or $1000. This is a lot for a pen so it needs to be able to justify the cost. Now it could be argued that the nib counts for about £270/€300/$300, about double that of a size #6 14k gold nib. Even taking that in to account it is a lot of money for arguably not a lot of pen. Sure it is large in size but there is nothing unusual or intricate about the design. It is attractive to look at, well until you notice the shape of the piston knob. It writes well, but then note how many ‘however type’ comments I made above. This certainly is hand made but the lack of the ebonite pieces coming from the same rod, the fact the section is cut from a piece at ninety degrees to the rest, the stamping on the cap not being straight nor being central, and then the failed thread inside the cap. It is all small little imperfections that add up, some making little difference to the experience, some mildly annoying. I think the thing I am trying to say is I am glad this is not my pen. I would argue this should really go for around £400-£600 even taking in to account the size #8 nib. At that price I might be somewhat more sympathetic towards the issues.

Would I recommend this pen to anyone? Well at this price most purchasers will be serious buyers who will know what to expect. Many will be fine, some may be disappointed. It could be argued that I have been harsh, but I can only give my honest views on this pen.

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