Posts filed under Visconti

Visconti Homo Sapiens Elegance: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

The Visconti Homo Sapiens Elegance is an over-sized pen made of black resin with silver trim. It is meant as a less-expensive option for those who like the Visconti Homo Sapiens style. Thus, the pen is made of resin instead of lava or special acriloid and it utilizes a screw-in converter rather than Visconti’s high-capacity power filler.

The Homo Sapiens Elegance comes in a standard Visconti clamshell box with cream interior.

The pen is trimmed with shiny silver rings on the cap and barrel, a silver Visconti finial, and Visconti’s signature arched clip.

However, the large ring on the barrel sports a matte look with “Homo Sapiens” engraved in shiny silver.

The cap uses Visconti’s hook safe lock system which makes it easy to get on and off and makes the cap secure.

Over-sized means that this is an extra large pen, measuring 145mm capped, 170mm posted, and 132mm unposted. At 43 grams, the Elegance is just as heavy as the Homo Sapiens Bronze Age which surprised me considering that one pen is made of lava and the other of resin.

The converter is a nice screw-in model with metal trim. It holds 1.03 ml of ink and is much easier to clean than the power filler pens.

My loaner pen came with the 1.3mm 23k Palladium stub nib. It’s a beautiful nib with Visconti’s classic scroll work.

Unfortunately, this nib is not a smooth writer. There’s a small sweet spot, but even when you’ve got the pen positioned correctly, you can hear it scratch the paper as you write (and not in a pleasant way). I found myself having to hold the pen at an awkward angle in order to maintain some semblance of consistent writing.

My experience with Visconti nibs is not positive. Out of all the Viscontis I’ve owned (and I’ve owned at least eight), only two wrote well out of the box. My Homo Sapiens Bronze Age with a 1.3mm stub had to go to two different nibmeisters before it started writing reasonably well.

The nib on this pen is inconsistent and skips often. As I wrote with it over the past three weeks, I had hard starts that required pushing ink into the nib using the converter. For my handwritten review, I refilled the converter and started fresh. Even with that, I experienced lots of skipping and rough writing.

Although I like the resin version of the Visconti Homo Sapiens Elegance, I think it is still priced too high at $595.00 retail. And, at this price you should get a perfect nib right out of the box. Honestly, if you want a Visconti, I’d suggest saving up for a Bronze Age (which is $200 more) or one of the more colorful versions. And I would make sure that your retailer tests the nib before shipping it to you.

*Left to right: Visconti London Fog, Homo Sapiens Bronze Age, Homo Sapiens Elegance, and Divina Elegance*

You can purchase the Visconti Homo Sapiens Elegance from Goldspot Pens. Their retail price is $595, but if you log in and add the pen to your cart you’ll see a significantly reduced price.

Pros

The Visconti Homo Sapiens Elegance is a nice alternative for anyone who finds the Homo Sapiens Bronze Age to be too expensive at $795 retail.
The Elegance uses a cartridge/converter filling system that is much easier to use and clean than the power filler system used by more expensive Visconti models. Even though the power-fillers hold more ink, I like the convenience of a converter filling system.
Visconti offers their premium 23k Palladium nib with this pen.

Cons

Although the Homo Sapiens Elegance is $200 less than the Bronze Age, it is still an expensive pen.
The nib on my loaner pen was finicky and an unpleasant, scratchy writer. Unfortunately, this is typical of my experiences with Visconti nibs, and I always think very hard before purchasing this brand because of it. I recommend asking your retailer to check your nib before shipping.

(Goldspot provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on January 5, 2018 by Susan Pigott and filed under Visconti, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Visconti Rembrandt Silver Shadow Fountain Pen: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

The Visconti Rembrandt Silver Shadow is a variegated resin pen in a silver/grey color. The resin is meant to evoke Rembrandt’s use of chiaroscuro (tonal contrasts that create a 3-D effect) in his paintings. You can see that effect in the photo of the resin below:

The pen comes in a large Visconti clamshell box in brown with a soft cream interior. A Visconti booklet is enclosed. My loaner pen came with two different converters, but I’m sure it normally arrives with just one.

The Rembrandt is one of the smaller Visconti pens. It is 140mm capped, 160mm posted, and 125mm unposted. It weighs 33 grams.

The cap is adorned with the Visconti finial (and you can replace this with Visconti’s “My Pen” system), the arched Visconti spring clip, and a beautiful cap ring engraved with Rembrandt’s name and etchings that are based on the artist’s work. The cap snaps on using a magnetic system that is rather unique.

Unfortunately, my Rembrandt came with a faulty finial. It fell off the moment I removed the pen from its cellophane wrapper. It looks as though the glue that holds the magnetic base for the finial came loose. This is one of those things that could be a fluke, or it could be an indication of quality control issues that seem to be common with Visconti pens

In addition to that issue, I noticed what might be a flaw in the resin. It’s tiny, but noticeable and looks like a crack in the resin. It feels smooth to the touch, however, so it may simply be a place where darker resin pooled.

One beautiful detail that I almost didn’t notice is a ruthenium (I think) bottom finial. It is barely noticeable from the side, but from the bottom, it shines like a mirror. It provides a nice balance to the cap finial.

The nib is a fine stainless steel coated in black with Visconti’s lovely scroll work. It is really quite beautiful and goes well with the grey color of the pen.

The grip is ruthenium-coated. As with most metal grips, it can become slippery if you have sweaty fingers. But, because this pen is light, I found it easy to write with in spite of the fact that I normally don’t like metal grips.

The pen fills with either short international cartridges or the enclosed converter.

I found the Rembrandt to be quite comfortable for writing. The pen is a little small, but not so much that I found my hand cramping. The stainless steel nib was smooth and exhibited no problems like hard starting or skipping. It is, however, a very stiff nib and offers absolutely no flex or give. Although the nib is labeled a fine, it wrote more like a medium with Iroshizuku Take-Sumi ink.

I wrote a portion of the first chapter of The Hobbit in my Clairefontaine French-ruled notebook to put the pen through its paces. It wrote flawlessly, and by the end of the page my hand was not fatigued.

You can purchase the Visconti Rembrandt fountain pen in Silver Shadow from Goldspot Pens for $175. I found the Rembrandt to be a sweet smaller pen that wrote well and looks quite classy, but I think $175 is rather expensive for this pen, considering that it is plastic, has a steel nib, and is not a piston filler. The Rembrandt comes in other colors as well: red, purple, blue, and black. Not all have the black nib, however.

Pros

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this little Visconti. I love the grey/silver color and the black nib.
The nib on this pen is unyielding but smooth. The fine wrote more like a medium, so if you like a finer line, you might see if you can get the nib in extra fine.
The pen is comfortable in the hand, and, despite the metal finial, I didn’t have trouble holding the pen even when my fingers got sweaty.

Cons

My pen arrived with two flaws: a faulty finial that fell off the pen upon removal from the cellophane and a possible small flaw in the resin (which could just be where a darker portion of resin pooled).
This is not a pen for people who have large hands or who like large, hefty pens.
Visconti pens can be hit or miss in terms of nib quality out of the box. I was pleased that this steel nib wrote smoothly. But if you can, have your retailer test the nib and tune it before shipping.
For a plastic pen with a steel nib and converter system, $175 seems too high pricewise.

(Goldspot loaned this product to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on September 8, 2017 by Susan Pigott and filed under Visconti, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Visconti Divina Elegance: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

The Visconti Divina Elegance is one of those pen models that is distinctive. It is a spiral shape based on the divine proportion 1.618.

The pen arrives in typical Visconti packaging: an outer cardboard box enclosing an inner brown plastic clamshell box with a satin-like interior holding the pen. A booklet is included.

The Divina Elegance comes in a pearlescent green resin with gorgeous shimmer. The solid bronze trim complements the green resin perfectly.

The cap attaches with the Visconti hook and lock system, and for you OCD folks out there, the system means that the spiral accents line up perfectly every time (I love this!) I much prefer the hook and lock system to typical threads because the cap is quicker to open and close and it is absolutely secure.

*See how the spirals line up perfectly?*

The cap is adorned with a gold finial engraved with the Visconti logo.

And it has the spring-loaded Visconti clip that is effortless to use.

This Visconti fills via a pull and turn piston which is actually a captured converter. There’s no ink window to view your ink level, but an ink window would ruin the beautiful aesthetic of this pen. The converter holds approximately 1.1 ml of ink, which is fairly small considering how large this pen is.

Weighing 41 grams capped and 25 grams uncapped the Divina Elegance is heavy. But, it is so comfortable in the hand you don’t really notice the weight. The pen is well balanced unposted. I don’t recommend posting because the cap puts too much weight on the end and throws the balance off. The pen measures 152mm capped, 138mm uncapped, and a whopping 180.5mm posted.

The Divina Elegance is fitted with a 23K Palladium nib plated in rose gold. The rose gold is gorgeous with the green resin and bronze accents. The nib is engraved with Visconti’s beautiful scroll work.

This fine nib wrote perfectly straight out of the box. In my experience, Visconti nibs can be hit or miss, so I was very pleased with this one. It is rigid, unlike the Palladium nib on my Visconti London Fog, which verges on being semi-flexible (see my review here). Even though this nib doesn’t have any bounce or flex, it is wonderfully smooth.

I currently own two other Viscontis: the Homosapiens Bronze Age Maxi and the London Fog. I love both of those pens and each is beautiful in its own way. But I have to say that the Divina Elegance is one of the most beautiful pens I’ve ever held. There is something special about the shimmery green resin combined with the bronze and rose gold accents.

If you want to own this incredible beauty, you will pay a premium price. It retails for $1,195.00 at Goulet Pens. It’s always hard to say whether a pen is worth that much money, because worth is such a subjective thing. Is this pen extremely well made? Yes. Are the materials top notch? Yes. Does it write well without any problems such as skipping, blobbing, and inconsistent ink flow? Yes (though that is always dependent on the nib you get). Would I pay $1,195.00 for this pen if I had the money? Yes, for this pen I would. But, again, I realize not everyone would be willing to do that.

The only semi-negative thing I have to say about this pen (other than the relatively small ink capacity) is that the bronze accents will develop a patina over time. In fact, after just a few weeks the bronze accents on my loaner pen are starting to discolor. This isn’t a huge deal since you can easily polish and remove the patina. And, some people might actually like the patina as it develops.

You can order the Visconti Divina Elegance from Goulet Pens in various nib sizes, including EF, F, M, B, and 1.3mm stub. I’ll be honest, sending this beauty back is going to be very difficult.

Pros

In my view this is the most beautiful pen Visconti has produced thus far. The green resin has depth and shimmer and the bronze accents and rose gold nib complement the color perfectly. The spiral Divina shape is stunning.
I found the pen to be perfectly balanced in my hand. Even though it is a hefty pen, I was able to write page after page without any hand fatigue.
I like the filling system. Even though this model doesn’t hold as much ink as the Homosapiens or London Fog (which are vacuum filled models), the pull and turn system works just like a piston and is easy to use.
The fine nib on this model is smooth and trouble-free. I wish it had some bounce to it, but I was thrilled that it wrote so well. As stated in the review, I’ve found Visconti nibs to be hit or miss. I had to have my Homosapiens worked on twice. One of my Van Goghs had a troublesome nib. But my London Fog nib was perfect out of the box.

Cons

Obviously the biggest con for the Divina Elegance is the price.
People who require light pens will likely find this pen too heavy for sustained use. I’ve grown to prefer heavy pens, and I found this model extremely comfortable. If possible, try before you buy.
The bronze accents will develop a patina over time. If that bothers you, you’ll need to get a polishing cloth (I didn’t find one included with this pen, though one came with my Homosapiens).

Thank you to Goulet Pens for letting me borrow the Visconti Divina Elegance for this review.

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