Category Archives: Pens

Pilot Vanishing Point

09 Sunday Feb 2020

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Click, click, clickity, click …. if ever there was a fountain pen to distract the wielder and annoy colleagues it is Pilot’s Vanishing Point/Capless/Decimo (depending on country and width). Until very recently no other fountain pen had been on sale for a long time with a ballpoint type clicker mechanism. Sure it’s not the only retractable fountain pen out there, and even around the time of launch there were JDM rivals, but for single handed ease of use there has been nothing comparable until this month (February 2020) with Platinum’s launch of the Curidas.
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Pens in Rota – Do we use all our pens enough?

31 Friday Jan 2020

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Here’s one to think about on a Friday.  How you decide what pens you use.  I was considering an update on my daily carry, except I realised there was no change from last time, which was back last November.  Personally, where things have changed is at my PC/desk, where the number of pens grows and shrinks depending on what’s new and if I’m reviewing something. Continue reading →

Update on the Yard-O-Led Astoria Grand

29 Wednesday Jan 2020

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Just a few weeks back I posted my review of a Yard-O-Led Astoria Grand I picked up at last October’s London Pen Show.  I mentioned how I had contacted YOL over the history of the pen and the possibilities of replacing the clip band with the correct sterling silver one (with hallmarks).  Within a day I had a reply.

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Worcester Pen Company Serenity

25 Saturday Jan 2020

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People tend to mistakenly think that when Parker moved their manufacturing to India and Platignum (not to be confused with Platinum) appeared to cease to be, that fountain pen production in the UK had halted.  However, even before that time, a number of small craftsmen were already starting up.  One of these, in 2003, was Bryan Lucas at the Worcester Pen Company.
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Yard-O-Led Astoria Grand

17 Friday Jan 2020

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These days most people associate Yard-O-Led (YOL) with a range of sterling silver writing implements hand crafted from a workshop in the Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham, UK, however back before the 2015 buyout from their previous owners Letts, they had other pens in their inventory.

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Namiki Nippon Art Mount Fuji and Ship

04 Saturday Jan 2020

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I’m far from alone in liking maki-e and appreciating the skills and processes that go in to the creation of this form of art.  As with many I often thought that my only options would be the ‘cheap’ commercial screen print pens, which are approximately £100 a pop, as the far more attractive alternatives I saw were all high end in the four figure price range and with releases been limited to single digit numbers of pens.  Discovering the Namiki Nippon Art range was a revelation.  Sure these pens are still £400+ outside of rare deals, but they are also much more affordable for a hand drawn piece of work.

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Delta Dolcevita Oro Stantuffo (from the last days of Delta)

24 Tuesday Dec 2019

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Delta were around from 1982 to 2016/7.  During that time their most famous model was the Dolcevita.  Traditionally available with an orange body and black cap, grip, and blind cap, a latter day alternative was launched, the Oro, in a stunning crushed orange resin.  Available in silver and vermeil trims, it also should have come with either a 14k gold nib, or the infamous Delta Fusion nib (steel with a gold triangle glued on top ‘for heat dissipation’).  In the last days of the company, pens were fitted with what was available just to try and get money in.  The result, a Dolcevita Oro Stantuffo with a steel nib.

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The Edge – a budget pen from Kickstarter

06 Friday Dec 2019

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Back in December 2015 an interesting pen appeared on Kickstarter, the VENVSTAS Carbon V.  Designed by architect Lucio Rossi it was of an unusual design and construction and suffered from a troubled start.  Some people loved it, others had great problems.  One was leant to Stephen Brown who infamously lambasted it, which Lucio Rossi did not take too well on the FPN forums.  Still it resulted in a growing range of pens, ending with the D’Art.  I’m not sure what then happened as the company is still going, but the Kickstarter account was suddenly deleted and Lucio Rossi started a new company and Kickstarter account, U75 as well as a new pen, The Edge.

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