Ancora Perla Frankenpen

[flodoc]

This will be a brief description of a conversion I am very happy with. Of the four Ancora's that I own, three have Bexley nibs; two fines and a broad.

 

 

The pen pictured here is the blue cracked ice which originally had a rhodium plated 18k fine nib. The original was scratchy and did not flow well. I have successfully adjusted flow and smoothed other nibs but the Ancora did not respond well to my efforts. I like the unique appearance of the Ancora Perlas and wanted to keep the pen if I could make it a pleasant writer as well. The tapered section with threads at the base of the nib does not bother me and I like the balance of the pen uncapped. Enter Brian Gray. He had a fine 18k Bexley nib and two 14k plain Bock nibs (He had commissioned his own nibs and had some leftover non-Edison nibs). Brian also included several section adapters so that I would have flexibility to install the nibs on varioius brand pens. I went crazy swapping nibs to get the combinations I desired. More about the other pens later.

 

 

The Bexley nib makes all the difference in the world. It does not lay down quite as fine a line as the original nib, but it does lay down a medium-fine and wet line which suits me well. It is also very smooth, with just the right amount of feedback, which is minimal. The bi-color Bexley nib does not look out of place with the silver furniture and its proportions are just as good, if not better, than the Ancora nib. The only difference in appearance that I see is the Ancora nib is slightly wider at its widest point than the Bexley.

 

The bottom line is that I converted two Ancoras that I would have otherwise sold and rescued one whose nib was so badly mangled when I received it that I could not resusitate it. I really do not consider these Frankenpens so much as pens with nib replacements. All of the nibs in question were produced by Bock, they just have different names and engraving on them than the originals. It is kind of like swapping Warrented nibs on vintage pens.

 

More nib swap examples to come.

Edited May 22, 2009 by flodoc

[Deirdre]

Wow. Ancoras have my absolute favorite nibs, so I can't imagine having to replace them.

[flodoc]

I buy most of my pens on ebay, not having access to a nearby brick and mortar store. That may explain why I end up with so many pens that need either TLC for the nib or a replacement.

[FrankB]

First, thanks for an interesting review.

 

I know Bexley nibs write excellently, so I can imagine you are very content with your Frankenpens. Like Deirdre, I cannot quite grasp why one would want to swap out original Ancora nibs, which I have found to be very good quality. However, if the original nibs were damaged or otherwise nonfunctional, that is "a bird with completely different colored feathers" (Babe Ruth).

 

Enjoy the Anchorleys (or Bexcoras).

Edited May 23, 2009 by FrankB

[MikeW]

The only reason why there may have been a problem is that I read somewhere that the Ancora nibs were all set by hand, however, their quality control was not the best. This led to some inconsistency in the performance of the nibs. It was bad enough that the information that I read suggested not buying an Ancora pen unless you were able to try it first. Whether there is any truth to this, I don't know. I have a near- mint Ancora Perla in red and it has a fabulous nib (the only problem is that the cap will not post to the barrel - which I can't seem to get a definitive answer on either). I have been trying to selling it but no takers yet.

[AndreaDuni]

I have the same pen, an Ancora Perla cracked ice, as you can see on my flickr album. I have to still review the pen, and I hope to not have the same problem with the nib. Also because in Italy is not very easy to find a nib replacement with feed adapter of any kind.

[Bobby Check]

I have the same pen with an original B nib that I bought on the internet.

 

Nice juicy writer.

 

Now... where did you put those nibs?

 

Bobby