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Friday snippets: Conid, Conway Stewart, Leonardo, Edelstein Star Ruby and more…

It’s been a quiet week on the blog, but a busy week in my mailbox. Here’re the headlines.

The return of the Conid

In my review of the Conid Regular you may remember me complaining about the slippery Delrin section. A friend on Instagram recommended that I order a separate titanium section, which would solve the problem. I did so, and it arrived this week, along with the replacement for the dodgy cursive italic nib.

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I’m pleased to say that, on first impressions, the Ti section does indeed fix the slippery section problem, and looks great, too. Not quite sure about the new nib, though.

More rare pens landing

The same generous benefactor who supplied the Yard o Led and Izumo landed another phenomenal set of pens on my doorstep this week, including an Aurora Optima Blue Mare and a Tibaldi Iride.

The standout for me though is the Conway Stewart Churchill, a lever filler in ebonite fitted with a simply wonderful Italic Broad nib, with the old-style Conway Stewart branding. It immediately set me out hunting for one, until I saw the prices they go for…

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Look out for reviews soon.

Edelstein Star Ruby

I have a soft spot for Pelikan’s Edelstein inks. Both Topaz and Aquamarine see regular use, perform brilliantly, and have some of the classiest bottles out there. I was bitterly disappointed by Ruby, though, which came out as a super soft pink. The new Star Ruby was the colour I was looking for. It’s vibrant, legible, and performs really well so far. I got mine from The Writing Desk.

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Karas Re-Entry

Orange and blue are my two favourite colours, so of course I was a sucker for Karas Pens’ new re-entry special edition. I’m taking advantage of an imminent trip to the US to have a re-entry Starliner XL with #5 Ti nib shipped to my hotel. It should be fun!

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What wasn’t fun was the ordering process. Karas’s site kept rejecting my payment, no matter which card or PayPal I used. I gave up, and the next morning woke to a shipping confirmation. I still don’t have an order confirmation email!

The edition is sold out, but you can find out more here.

The decadent Decoband

Using the proceeds of my recent sale I splurged on a Wahl Eversharp Decoband, in the beautiful “jade” (read: turquoise) that I saw at the pen show. I went via a vendor I trust: Chatterley Luxuries. Bryant supplied my Wall Street, Montegrappa and others, so I know the pen will write perfectly from day one. And if it doesn’t, I’m confident he’ll look after me.

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A faceted Vanishing Point at last!

I’ve dabbled with Pilot’s VP family a couple of times, most recently with the twisty Fermo. I don’t like the fat modern Vanishing Point, but I have always hankered for the sleeker, more elegant faceted Vanishing Point of the past. I managed to snag a used one on Facebook this week, and if luck is on my side it will arrive tomorrow.

Leonardo Izods Dark Hawaii special edition

Last but not least, this week I’ve been enjoying the new Leonardo Momento Zero Dark Hawaii special edition, made for Izods. This is the usual steel-nibbed Momento Zero that I liked so much, but it’s a piston filler, has Izods gold branding, and a unique Dark Hawaii acrylic of blue and brown.

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I’m not normally a fan of gold trim, but it works well with the blue resin. The piston filler was a bit stiff, but it’s nice to have compared to the C/C mechanism. Unfortunately, the EF was really really dry and scratchy out of the box. A bit of time with the hairdryer and I could pull the nib, razor the feed, shim the nib and smooth it out. Now it’s still an EF, but a wet and smooth one!

As of last night Roy tells me there are 15 left of the limited run of 50, at around £230 if I remember correctly.

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2 Comments

  1. rupertarzeian

    Wow, that’s quite a week. I can’t wait to see the Decoband sometime! It looked awesome at the pen show. The glimpse of the Leonardo looks nice and I am glad you were able to do the necessary surgery.

    • Anthony

      I’m so excited about the Decoband! A real beast 😊

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