Conway Stewart Churchill Fountain Pen Review

This review from my friends at Fountainpen Geeks (FPGeeks) is of a pen I sent Dan for a nib tweak. He did a fabulous job; and it's great to see my pen highlighted so generously!

IF you don't already know about Fountainpen Geeks; find your way there; you won't be disappointed. FPGeeks

Pen-Ultimate: a pen shop in Sydney (and a colourful side trip)

I had to travel to Sydney for work, so popped down at lunch time to see what the retail world had to offer and stumbled onto this:

Pen-Ultimate is a fabulous pen shop in the beautiful Queen Victoria (QV) Building in George Street in Sydney (level 3). The window immediately tells you its owners are discerning; and certainly the fellows I spoke to all knew   their stuff!

Here are a few of their window wonders:

Krone Le Mans (lovely hand-painting on Mother of Pearl)

Pelikan Maki-e Fantasia

Krone again - Duke Ellington LE (and a couple of others behind it)

Mont Blanc Da Vinci

Not so long ago, I reviewed a Campo Marzio design pen (with a USB in the end). It was a great colour and a good idea; but not such a good pen. Even so, I started to follow Campo Marzio on Instagram and love some of the pics and colours that come up. So imagine my surprise when I should find the Campo Marzio shop also at QV!

Again I was impressed with the colours. And just look at this pen display:

All manner of pencils, rollerballs and various size and colour pens up to around $AU145 and even one that used an acrylic (I assume) very similar to Brian Gray's Edison pens Persimmon Collier.

But Brian has nothing to fear. The quality of the pen was way off the mark! Even the brand on the base of the cap is just a little tacky. Such a shame. The colours are great, the presentation fabulous, the product? Not so hot. As for the ink...

A little hard to tell.

So I popped back to Pen-Ultimate and bought some Iroshizuku :D

But more on that, another tine!

Transehe Design, Scrivere - a heavy pen in Copper, brass or steel (but no steal!)

Here is a brand I know nothing about but had my interest peaked at the Melbourne Pen show. Transehe.

Transehe Design "Scrivere" call themselves a premium range of pens from the studios of d.Von Transehe - Transehe Design. These pens are the result of a co-operative effort between Transehe, Schmidt and Lufthansa to create a pocket sized pen, that has a perfect ink flow and won't leak, even on an airplane. Like the Kaweco, The "Scrivere" are designed to be pocket size when capped, however, they use the exposed thread to cap and post the lid so that when posted the pen becomes more of a standard size and is perfectly balanced for writing. Very much like a Kaweco. The pens are 11cm when capped and 12.5cm when posted.

PURE METAL:
A key point of difference that really sets the Scrivere apart is the use of pure metals. Stainless steel, pure brass and pure copper make up the range. These are solid pens, and being solid metal are pocket safe (won't crack if sat on). All three are over 50g with copper being the heaviest at 56g. The metals are pure and will behave as such. Both the brass and copper pens will develop a patina as the metals react with the air and the oils of your hands and fingers. 

And here is a pic:

They are quite an attractive pen (especially the copper - although I'd have a gold nib). I like heavy pens so that's a plus. But the price! A brief web search has them at 215 Euros (about AU$329 or US$295).

Here is a link to their website: 

transehe