For those unfamiliar, Romeo is Itoya’s store brand and under than name they sell pens and pen related items. The products I have seen bearing the Romeo name are all of very high quality unlike typical store brand products.
The Romeo A5 spiral notebook is designed for use with fountain pens and even has a nib and ink bottle embossed in gold leaf on the textured black cover. The interior contains 70 sheets of cream colored paper with a grey ruling and a rather precise 102.9 g/m² weight. This is heavy weight paper and by comparison Rhodia’s paper is only 80 g/m².
As you would imagine that paper handles fountain pen ink link a champion. There was no bleed through in my test and only some minor feathering. Compared to other papers/notebooks I have tested this one is one of the best in terms of ghosting; there is almost none to speak of.
The ghosting is more apparent in the picture than in person
The paper is smoother than Rhodia’s, so if you like a lot of feedback, steer clear. I normally prefer a bit of feedback but it is nice to have a Rolls-Royce smooth ride every once in a while. I like to pair this paper with my fine and extra fine nibs as it makes them feel smoother than normal.
The double spiral binding is made out of brass wire and feels quite sturdy as does the stiff 600 g/m² cover.
This is a great notebook that I have been enjoying using. They cost only 800YEN (or about $6.5USD these days) and for that price you get a lot of notebook. They also come in blank and grid versions and I have seen them for sale on Rakuten (no affiliation).
After finishing a very nice meal in Osaka I received the bill and inside the folio I found an Hermes Nautilus.
The Nautilus is a capless pen produced by Pilot for Hermes and when it was released in October of last year for an eye-watering $1,670 USD I wrote it off (pun intended) as an overpriced Pilot Vanishing Point.
Well I was wrong…the pen amazed me to the point that I felt compelled to shoot a quick video of it:
[wpvideo 3jbB6jVM]
It really feels wonderful in hand and the mechanism is butter smooth. The rollerball version I used is slightly cheaper at $1,380 USD but if you are going to spend that much money you might as well get the fountain pen.
I am quite smitten with this pen but $1,670 is simply too much. If they did a Pilot branded version for half the price I would buy it.
Today I returned home from Seoul after spending a couple of weeks in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea.
Here is what I bought back:
Pens (left to right): TWSBI Vac 700, Stylo Art Karuizawa BO, Platinum Izumo Yagumonuri, Nakaya Portable Writer, TWSBI MicartaI already have too many notebooks but these managed to follow me home
Thanks to the favorable exchange rate in Japan there were a few pens that I couldn’t pass up. While shopping at Itoya in Tokyo I noticed that prices for Pilot and Sailor pens were more or less the same as they are in the United States BUT prices for Platinum and Nakaya pens did not seem to be adjusted. This Platinum Izumo Yagumonuri was just over $600 USD (after tax refund).
This Nakaya Portable Writer was just over $400 (after tax refund).
While in Osaka I stopped by the Hankyu department store and to my surprise and delight they were having a pen fair!
The ink display was absolutely drool worthy, unfortunately my friend’s patience at the hour and half mark waned and it was time to go before I had a chance.
Sooo many Sailor inks (´ q ` ” )
I came across the Stylo Art Karuizawa table and was blown away by their beautiful wood pens. I got to meet the pen turner, Motoshi Kazuno, and he showed me through the model lineup. Depending on the model, the pens can be fitted with Platinum, Sailor or Pilot #10 and #15 nibs.
Stylo Art Karuizawa Water Buffalo Horn Fountain penStylo Art Karuizawa Water Buffalo Horn Fountain pen
He also had two beautiful buffalo horn pens and I ended up taking one home with a Sailor Naginata Togi nib.
Naginata Togi nib point
In Taipei I stopped by T. Y. Lee’s pen shop and picked up a TWSBI Vac with a 1.1mm stub and a Twsbi Micarta. I only planned on buying the Vac but when I saw the Micarta I had to have it
These pens have a distressed look and are lovely to touch. It is my understanding that TWSBI stopped making the Micarta because they were too costly to produce and there was not enough demand.
The Micarta came in this great hollowed out notebook!
That’s all for now…I will be posting in-depth reviews of these items as soon as I get enough time with them. Next week I will have a review of my Romillo Essential No 9…stay tuned.
There are a couple of cheap fountain pens on the market for around $3-$4 but in my experience there is only one good one and that is the Pilot Varsity (or V-Pen as it is know in other markets).
The Pilot Varsity is cheap disposable plastic-bodied fountain pen with a stainless steel nib. They come in seven colors and in only one nib grade: medium. [Edit: It has been brought to my attention that the Pilot “V-Pen” branded version is available with a fine nib (thank you Mark for the tip).]
The problem with most cheap fountain pens is a lack of quality control (and at $4 what do you expect?). Most of them work very poorly; the Platinum Preppy and Sailor Clear Candy immediately come to mind.
I have been using Varsity fountain pens for years now and I have only had one bad one. I have had closer to a 50% success rate with the Preppy.
The Varsity’s laser cut stainless steel nib is very smooth and quite springy. You can also write just as easily with the nib upside down. The medium point is on the finer side and should be agreeable to most users.
The ink is not waterproof and to my knowledge there is no way to refill a Varsity. Because of the rollerball-style feed you don’t have to worry (as much) about leaks or spills. These pens are as airplane friendly as your standard issue rollerball.
The body has a translucent grip section allowing you to see the feed and the body has a small ink view window.
The Varsity I photographed is the old pinstriped livery but everything else is the same on the current model.
The Varsity looks and feels inexpensive and as long as I can remember they have always been quite ugly. The new design is hideous as are the V-Pen branded models but they work well and that’s what counts.
If you want a cheap worry free fountain pen it’s hard to beat the Pilot Varsity.
The Brasstown in Nock Co’s most unique design, combining a pen wrap with a zip pencil case.
The pen slots in the wrap are generously sized and I am able to fill the slots with some relatively fat pens.
When you roll the wrap up into the case you will notice that there is quite a bit of extra room. I am able to fit a number of extra pens as well as a pencil sharpener and a small ruler.
How not to load the extra item in a Brasstown case.
I have found that the best way to load this case is to put all of the extra items (the ones not in pen slots) underneath the wrap as you will be able to unroll the wrap without any interference.
What makes this case unique is that you can carry and protect six expensive pens along with some cheaper pens. If that appeals to you, you wont find a better case. At the moment I have six pens in slots and another 10 loose in the case.
The steel 1000D nylon exterior looks great with the blue contrast stitching. The interior is done in a blue nylon pack cloth which is great for a pencil case but I think the wrap portion would be better off in a softer organic material like a cotton felt.
Nock Co. cases tend to have a blobby look and the Brasstown in no exception; I do wish that it had a bit more of a structured shape.
The Brasstown is a great case and even though I didn’t know I needed it, I can’t live without it now. The Brasstown retails for $35.00 and is handcrafted in the USA.
Here are some great reviews of the Nock Co. Brasstown:
(Please note I am not affiliated with any of the websites posted below)
Il Papiro is an Italian company that has been producing hand decorated paper products since the 1970s. While in Rome earlier this month I spotted their shop and the street and ventured inside. The small shop was filled with beautiful books, stationery and rubber stamps.
The marbleized books immediately caught my eye.
I picked one off of the shelf and the friendly saleswoman proceeded to show me the same book in a couple of sizes and in many different colors.
Because the books are marbleized by hand no two books are exactly the same.
I selected a green book with 10cm x 15cm pages.
The blank pages are of an excellent stationery-grade paper. The paper is watermarked with “Il Papiro Firenze” and their logo.
The paper holds fountain pen ink very well and you should have no problems writing on both sides of this paper.
The paper provides pleasant feedback while still feeling smooth.
If you look closely you can see the stitching.
The book has a stitched binding and small signatures, though not as small as those seen in high-end Japanese notebooks.
The cover has a nice texture that is pleasant to the touch. I really am enamored with this notebook.
So what are the drawbacks? As I am sure you can guess, it’s the price. My little notebook cost me 27€ (or about $30 USD at the time of this writing). I will buy more of these in the future but as a fountain pen user these notebooks are a luxury and not a necessity.
Would you spend $75.00 on a pair of household scissors? After getting fed up with cheap office store scissors, I did and I am never going back.
Side note: I have been gone for a little while with the Holidays and a three-week trip to Europe. While I have continued to work on quality content for TUW, I have not be able to properly post until now. You can expect regular posts twice a week going forward.
The model I bought is the DOVO 255 706, a 7″ household pair of scissors. DOVO is a 100-year-old company based in Solingen, Germany. They produce all of their products, in-house in Germany.
Everything printed on the blade is etched so you will know these scissors are a DOVO even
The model 255 is made entirely out of hot-forged stainless steel with a matt finish. No plastic handles to break apart on these scissors.
The blades are hand sharpened and very sharp as a result. DOVO also offers a sharpening and repair service should the scissors become dull or damaged.
In hand the scissors feel great and the edge has held up favorably compared with my Fiskars. While most people (including myself) don’t really need scissors this nice, the occasional indulgence can be worthwhile and I will likely be adding a 9″ pair in the near future.
The LIFE Airmail letter set (LIFE L1096 + E26) offers both retro styling and an affordable price. I paid approximately $7 USD for the set which contains 10 “VIA AIR MAIL” envelopes and 50 sheets of onion skin paper. Purchased individually the pad is $5 and the envelope is $2.
For those not familiar with onion skin paper, it is a durable but thin transparent paper that resembles, you guessed it, the skin of an onion.
I wouldn’t dare use a fountain pen on a standard tracing paper but this LIFE onion skin paper is of excellent quality.
There is some very minor feathering with all of the fountain pens and the Pilot Hi-Tec Point gel pen but it is not enough to bother me.
I experienced no bleed through as evidenced by this perfectly clean template I used for the writing sample.
The guide sheet is double sided to accommodate different writing styles.
Because this paper is transparent you aren’t likely going to want to write on both sides.
The envelopes are my favorite part of the set.
They look great.
The envelopes feature self adhesive and have a security pattern on the inside which reads “TOKYO LIFE”.
Like all other LIFE products I have come across, the Airmail letter set is well executed and of a high quality. I would have liked to see a blotter page in the pad but that is a small gripe.
The Aurora 88 is one of the best Italian fountain pens ever produced and is, without question, the most commercially successful Italian fountain pen of all time.
The 88 was designed by architect Marcello Nizzoli in the late 1940s and features a streamlined style with a hooded nib and a metal slip cap much like the Parker 51.
Because of its commercial success the Aurora 88 is not a rare pen and as such prices are reasonable (unlike most vintage Italian pens). Nice examples of the original 88 model can be had for $100-$200. I particularly like the Nikargenta capped version as this silver material was only available on the original model unlike the rolled gold, chrome and solid gold versions.
The Aurora 88 is a true workhorse and makes an excellent everyday pen. Compared to the standard-size Parker 51, the 88 is slightly fatter and heavier. The added weight and girth make the 88 feel more expensive than the 51.
The 88’s 14kt hooded nib is more exposed than the Parker 51s allowing more flexibility and line variation. The 88 also features a piston filler with an ink view window.
I had a hard time coming up with negatives for the 88…it’s a really good pen all around. It’s (relatively) affordable, it’s hard working, it writes well, it looks and feels good…
I suspect that the (aerometric) Parker 51 is a slightly tougher pen with it’s ultra durable filling system and more protected nib but the Aurora is more fun to write with.
I highly recommend the Aurora 88, it is excellent.
About a year or so ago I saw the Pilot Super Ultra 500 on the Fountain Pen Network and I was blown away by its beautiful design. The hunt began and in September I was able to locate one in Italy.
The filling system needed a new sac so I sent it over to John Mottishaw for refurbishment. Now that I have had it in my hands for a few months I thought I would share my thoughts on this awesome pen.
Side note: It has occurred to me on a number of occasions that it is a bit silly to use a point rating system in my reviews as they are arbitrary despite my efforts to be objective as possible. I have found reviews of vintage pens to be the most problematic as the qualities of the same make and model can vary dramatically from one pen to the other and as such, it would be a mistake to fully extrapolate my experience (of one example) to another
Appearance
The black plastic version is the most beautiful (and luckily the most common) 500. The ones with gold filled caps lose the wonderful mirrored design that make this pen so fantastic.
The inlaid gold nib is gorgeous and despite all of this beauty that I keep harping on about the pen is a reserved and understated elegance that I find very appealing.
Gold tassie at the end of the barrel.
This pen ticks all of the design boxes for me.
Score: 5/5
Build Quality
The majority of products that come out of Japan today are of a very high quality and I am certainly happy to pay a premium for a “made in Japan” product but in 1958 the sentiment was different; Japan was considered an emerging market that produced more affordable products. Does this have an affect on the quality of pens coming out of Japan in the late 50? I don’t know BUT I can confidently say that the 500 is of a high quality. Would consider it superior to a Montblanc or OMAS from the same time period? No, not really.
The black plastic body has held up quite well and the rolled 14kt gold trim is well done, though there is wear on the bottom of the cap ring.
From reading Bruno Taut’s wonderful articles on the 500 (please see the links to his site, Crónicas Estilográficas, at the bottom of this review) I learned that the 500 was considered to costly to manufacture and as a result was only produced for a couple of years.
Score: 3/5
Size & Weight
The 500 measures 14.1cm long capped and 12.7cm uncapped and 1.2cm at its widest point. The 500 weighs a comfortable 18.3 grams. This is a very nicely sized pen that I have had no problem writing with for extended periods of time.
Score: 4/5
Performance
The nib writes with an extra fine line by western standards but find the nib to be quite smooth despite it’s point size.
With a bit of pressure the solid 14kt gold nib does offer some line variation, though I am cautious not to push too hard as any damage to this nib would be a small tragedy.
I have not had any issues with hard starting or skipping. It is by all accounts a great nib.
Score: 4/5
Filling System
The 500 has what is known as a “switch” or “quarter turn” filling system. To fill you insert the nib into a bottle of ink and move the notch 90 degrees, this makes the pressure bar squeeze the sac just like on a regular lever filler.
When I received the 500 I tested the mechanism and the sac had dried out. I asked a couple of well known restorers/nib meisters and to my surprise the first three said they wouldn’t work on the pen, not having worked on one before. John Mottishaw agreed to do the work and upon return the pen functioned beautifully.
When the pen ran out of ink I flushed it a few times and RATS! the pressure bar detached from the switch and back to Mottishaw again it went. This time he beefed up the internals a bit and it seems to be working.
This pen holds a good amount of ink but I wish the mechanism was more robust.
Score: 2/5
Value
I picked up this pen for right around $600 and that is quite a lot of money for an old black pen. I have consulted with a few collectors and I was told that I got a decent deal.
The pen is beautiful but you really have to appreciate the design to justify spending the money. I want to use and enjoy this pen but if it breaks on me again I may have to let it go because what good is a pen that you can’t use?
Score: 2/5
Bottom Line
The beautiful and rare 500 is a great writer that’s only hitch seems to be it’s fragile filling system.
Final Score 20/30
I would like to thank Mr. Bruno Taut for his excellent articles on the Pilot Super Ultra 500. Here are links to those articles (including disassembly instructions Ultra (III)).
