England v Italy

10 Saturday Jul 2021

Tags

Conway Stewart, Delta, fountain pen, Helix Oxford, John Twiss, leonardo officiano italliana, musings, Nettuno, onoto, SCRIBO, visconti, Yard-o-Led

You would have thought there was an important football coming up tomorrow (soccer to those of you from across the Atlantic), so for a bit of fun I gathered together a handful of pens to represent each side, along with suitable inks (with caveats). Some of these pens were already in my daily rotation/desk set, and some were an excuse to use up some samples I have taking up space.

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A Tale of Two Delta Dolcevitas

15 Friday May 2020

Posted by dapprman in Pens

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Delta, Delta Dolcevita, Delta Dolcevita Frederico, Italian, musings

When is a Dolcevita not a Dolcevita, when it’s a Frederico, or is it? Towards the end of Delta, in 2014, a range of ‘cut price’ pens was offered through a partner site, Martemodena, both direct from their website and through certain auction platforms. Visually these were very similar to the originals, so how was the price brought down? In the last eight months I’ve been fortunate to pick up the stantuffo (piston filler) version of both the Dolcevita and the Dolcevita Frederico allowing me to compare.

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

24 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by dapprman in Pens

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Delta, Delta Dolcevita, Dolcevita, fountain pen, italy

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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