Special Japanese Pens

November has been a fruitful month for Japanese pens. In a very short period I have acquired several pens I have wanted for some time now! Most of these are stainless steel Sailor pens which are not too common.

The most magnificent pen of them all is the Sailor Egyptian Hieroglyphs model.
I was very lucky to be able to add the Hieroglyphs pen to my collection, and once again, such a thing was made possible by the wonderful Stan Klemanowicz, who has provided me with some of my best-loved Japanese pens.

Another interesting pen heading my way is a Limited Edition Sailor Professional Gear - in a Red Metallic lacquer finish!

More about the Sailor LE later... ;)

A Quiet Day...

Life in pendom has been quiet of late, but I have a couple of small pen and ink notes to report:

• I've ordered two bottles of the FPN Dumas Tulipe Noire ink, which is a dark red-violet shade possibly resembling a mixture of Noodler's Red Black and PR Burgundy Mist.
• I recently acquired a vintage Sailor 'Egyptian Hieroglyphs' pen, which is a model from the mid 1970's or so. Striking design! It is a rare short-long version of the full-size Hieroglyphs pen. (Picture to come.)

More news next time, I hope!

Lovely Paper

This morning I discovered the online store of a Melbourne-based retailer which carries my favourite paper, Original Crown Mill! The store is called The Source Online.

This is exciting stuff - The Source have a good range of OCM products, especially concerning the Pure Cotton items which I could previously only mail-order from Monograms in Brisbane.

Nakaya Piccolo II

Earlier this week my spectacular Special Order Nakaya Piccolo arrived! It is gorgeous.

A full Review has been posted over at the Fountain Pen Network. :)

Pens Arrived

My Aurora Fuoco Mini arrived today, and it's GORGEOUS! Here it is posing with some Mini siblings:
In addition, I have also received my Pelikan M400 Tortoise & Dark Brown, as well as my Pelikan M450 Tortoise & Vermeil!
And last but certainly not least, a beautiful 1976 Platinum pen made from solid Silver with Silver/Vermeil relief - the workmanship is beautiful, and this is quite a special pen.
I'm a lucky girl. :)

Aurora and Pelikans Incoming!

As is always the case, weeks pass with no sign of any interesting pens, and then suddenly all the pens I'd like to buy pop up at once! I really hate when that happens...

Anyway, the following pens will soon be arriving:

• Aurora Fuoco Aurea Minima LE
  
  This will arrive next week - maybe even by Tuesday! My preference is usually toward gold trim, but this particular intense red is perfectly offset by the white trim.
  
  Proposed Ink: Levenger Fireball.
  

  Pelikan Souverän M450 Tortoise-Vermeil
  

  I really love my modern M400 in Tortoise-White, so of course I have been eyeing off the M450 for some time. The M400 and M450 use different Tortoise celluloids, with the M450 celluloid being slightly greener.
  

  Proposed Ink: Stipula Verde Muschiato.
  

  Pelikan Souverän M400 Tortoise-Brown
  Another Pelikan! This pen completes my Souverän 400-series mini-collection of the modern Tortoise celluloids, as I have all three now!
  

  Proposed Ink: Pelikan Brilliant Brown.

Once again, I am building up a number of pens which will require nib modifications. I think the two Pelikans above bring the total to seven... :)

Pilot Goodies

Today I finally ordered a few Pilot pens I have been meaning to buy for some time. I'm always apprehensive of buying pens with Fine nibs instead of Extra Fine nibs, but the general consensus is that these Pilot F nibs write like an EF nib does.

If that's the case, great! If not... well, they'll end up on eBay at some point.

1. Pilot Prera - Lime Green, F nib.
The Prera has been recommended to me by more than a few people, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I had a tough time deciding between the Ivory and the Lime Green, but in the end my love of the colour green won out over good taste. ;)
Pilot Legno 89s - Deep Red Cherry Wood, 14K F nib.
This pens looks soooo cute! Like the Prera, it's a very small pen with the flat-top styling that I love.
Pilot Desk Pen - Red, EF nib.
I have a couple of these pens already, but the EF nibs are just so amazing that I had to have another - the line these pens lay down rivals that of my 0.2mm/XXXF Needlepoints.

Now, what colour ink do you fill a Lime Green pen with...?

The Waiting Game

I think the waiting does it. I mean, I don't mind the waiting for my FPs to arrive in AU - the postal system always take ages, but this is more about waiting for ordered pens, or to be able to order certain pens. Too much waiting makes my interest fade...

• Example 1: The Aurora Fuoco Mini. I ordered one over eight weeks ago, but now my order is not able to be confirmed and I don't know why – it’s probably because there are no EF nibs available... Sigh.
• Example 2: My second Nakaya Piccolo. The wait for this has been considerable.
• Example 3: I have a few inexpensive Pilot pens on my wish list that I haven't bought because I only want to order from one place - I don't like having to use three separate vendors to acquire four simple pens.

In the midst of all this waiting, I did try to amuse myself by buying another Omas Princess in Senape (Saffron) Blue, but of course I forgot that the pen will be unusable until it goes to a nibmeister. So, I *was* enthused about this pen, but now it has arrived, I have admired it and soon I'll put it away unused... what a shame.

The one bright spot of interest is two Platinum pens from the 70s which are on their way to me - these I am looking forward to, as I will be able to use each one immediately.

A very big thank you goes to Nikolaos for helping me acquire these excellent Japanese pens. :)

New Astura, New Sailor

Two nice pens arrived in the mail this week!

The first was a NOS 1970's Sailor with a neat chequered motif around the cap. This is a stainless steel short-long pen with a very smooth 14K F nib.


Next is a little Italian button-filler made by Astura. This is such a gorgeous little pen - M300 size, and with the original Astura 14K XF nib! This pen was also NOS, and remarkably, the sac was still good!


The photo above doesn't do justice to the celluloid, which is a marbled blue-green with a beautiful metallic shimmer. I've inked this pen with Diamine Umber - a near-perfect match for the celluloid.

Delicious. :)

OMAS Disappointment

I heard back from The Pen Shoppe today, as my Omas Dama has returned from Italy. No paperwork was included by Omas, but it seems that they have replaced the clip.

Unfortunately, they have also sent a bill for US$75. The Pen Shoppe seems to think I'll be paying that bill - but since the pen is still under warranty, I'll disagree.

I'm really quite unimpressed with Omas and this whole fiasco. The clip developed hairline cracks in the gold plating after the pen was *casually* used over a six month period. The clip plating was inferior, and the problem isn't a new one, so I can't believe they actually charge people for the clip replacement! :(