Omas Galileo Galilei LE

[omasfan]

As many of you know, I needed to stay my Paragon celluloid hunger. I believe that with the seven Paragon colors and the this Galileo Galilei, my insatiable hunger should be slaked for good, so I hope.

 

Here we go: I have always been partial to the "wild" celluloid by Omas. It just looked so beautiful to me like bolts of lightning rushing through a pitch-black nocturnal sky. I learned that this material was easily available in the 360 model. As I do not have any hankering for this triangular shaped pen and as I just do not connect with it when writing, I decided to not buy the 360 in wild celluloid. I wanted a pen with this celluloid that I could use. I then learned that Omas produced the Galilei Galilei in 1993, a Paragon-sized pen with the material that I was yearing for.

 

After a successful ad in the marketplace section I got in touch with a person from Australia. When the pen arrived I had to learn that it had several shortcomings: the nib colar that holds the nib and the hard rubber feed was broken, the pen had had some nasty brownish ink in it which had discolored the section of the barrel (the white parts, to be precise). Also, the pen's surface had lots of microscratches. Fortunately, the seller agreed to pay for a necessary trip to John Mottishaw. I chipped in for the rush order fee as I didn't want to wait six months to get my beloved pen back.

 

Well, I knew that when I opened the box today, I could expect only the best from John's repair skills. And sure enough the pen looks almost new now. John Mottishaw polished the celluloid so that it looks as if it had just left the factory. He could also almost completely remove the nasty brown stains. The only spot where you can still see them just a tad is at the threads of the pen body. A marvelous job! Celluloid stain removal is always tricky. Once the stains have penetrated the material, it is almost impossible to remove them. I was fortunate enough that they are nearly gone now.

 

The nib is now in place and I will test-drive the nib soon. This is a medium nib that John has geared towards wet ink flow. So I can rightfully claim that it will write wonderful!

 

Most of you know the old-style Paragon model and its virtues. It hold 2.5 ml ink in a piston filler and it is very light (20 grams) and therefore a pleasure to use. If necessary, the cap posts wonderfully. I normally don't post, but in the posted position the Paragon is very impressive without losing its balance. The pen's trim is HT and gold. The Greek key band is silver, the clip, the two small adorning rings next to the Greek key ring and the little ring at the end of the barrel are gold. Although I would have prefered a uniform HT trim, this is manageable. I am normally not a fan of gold plating, but this looks somwhat classy on this pen.

 

As you can see, the pen is simply and unobtrusively engraved with "OMAS Galileo Galilei." I have no. 3235 out of what I believe is a total of about 4200 pens produced.

It comes in a plexiglas receptacle that looks like a gargantuan lense (this is the pedestal on which the pen rests in the pictures). The plexiglas lens also has the engraved serial no. on it that matches the pen's.

This pen naturally doesn't come cheap. But I found it to be so beautiful that I just had to have it. It will be used on a regular basis.

 

Enjoy the pictures....

 

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q313/wlueckel/DSC_0208.jpg

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q313/wlueckel/DSC_0213-1.jpg

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q313/wlueckel/DSC_0203.jpg

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q313/wlueckel/DSC_0205.jpg

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q313/wlueckel/DSC_0236-1.jpg

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q313/wlueckel/DSC_0218.jpg

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q313/wlueckel/DSC_0217.jpg

 

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q313/wlueckel/DSC_0219-1.jpg

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q313/wlueckel/DSC_0224.jpg

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q313/wlueckel/DSC_0229.jpg

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q313/wlueckel/DSC_0225.jpg

Edited October 25, 2007 by dupontfan

[alvarez57]

 

Beautiful pen!!!!! I've always admired it for its very elegant design. I like the crispness of your pictures. Although not strictly a review, I did enjoy reading it. OMAS are great pens...are you sure your nickname (spelling?) is dupont fan or OMASfan?

Keep showing more pics!

Edited October 25, 2007 by alvarez57

[acfrery]

Congratulations for the fantastic collection of OMAS pens.

 

Alejandro

[greencobra]

All I can say is WOW! Maybe I live a sheltered life, I've never seen a Paragon with that celluloid before.

 

Good job telling us about your experiences getting this back to its splendor, enjoyable reading.

[Ghost Plane]

I'm glad it found a good home with someone who'll love it and feed it pretty ink that doesn't stain and take it for long writes. :clap1:

[Shelley]

Wow, whilst not normally a fan of faceted pens, that colour and material would make me change my mind, er when you say doesn't come cheap what are you talking about roughly?

 

Also love the stand that comes with the pen-amazing!

[omasfan]

Thanks for all of your nice comments...

 

 

Also love the stand that comes with the pen-amazing!

The stand is pretty cool although I doubt that I will have much use for it.

Shelley, I didn't like the faceted pens when I started collecting pens. However, once I had one (bought out of curiosity), I started gradually falling in love with them. And now I cannot stop using and collecting them. And the black and white pattern on this one is really dramatic despite its simplicity. Simplicity always fascinates me the most in good design. I am not a fan of these pens laden with all sorts of adornments. In my view, Omas has shown that simplicity and elegance go hand in hand. That's why I am fully enamored with them.

 

alvarez: You are right. I really should reconsider my handle, All the while I have been collecting Omas pens whilst just owning one Dupont pen. I will contact the admins about a change... :roflmho:

 

 

greencobra: I didn't know about the Paragon's availability in this color either. I chanced on it. But life (and Omas) is always good for a surprise. They even produced commissioned models you never hear or read about. So it's always exciting to find a new old Omas model.

[alvarez57]

...They even produced commissioned models you never hear or read about. So it's always exciting to find a new old Omas model.

 

 

Wolfgang:

Where can I see those models?

[gylyf]

Another beauty, Wolfgang. How does the Mottishawed nib write? Regards,

David

[omasfan]

Where can I see those models?

 

Well, I dread they are scatter to the fours winds, so to speak. There is a club at the University of Bologna, for instance, that commissions pens for their members. And for so and so many years of membership you will get a certain pen. They produced a pen from the Arlecchino celluloid which was pretty nice.

 

David: The nib writes extremely well. Mottishaw didn't alter it, in fact he just reset it and adapted it to my writing characteristics (which are: wet and very light touch). The nib's a medium point, fortunately more on the finish than on the broad side (with Omas medium nibs you never know).

[bdngrd]

Absolutely lovely pen! Thanks for sharing, I like the 360, I am going to have to track one down.

[RedRob]

While visiting the Bittner store in Carmel, CA, in August I've noticed a pen that looks like the Galileo sticking out from a pen shelf. It turned out to be the prototype of a special edition pen Bittner comissioned from Omas for 2008 (celebrating some anniversary of the store?). The pen was the same "wilde" cracked-ice type of celluloid in the old Paragon model, but the trim was fully HT, with an old style roller-type clip, with an additionnal greek key band on the barel near the section (like on the celluloid 7 pen set) and a monotone non-arrow design white gold or rhodium plated nib. Needless to say I've put my name on the list to get a piece. I don't know how many pens they will have made and how much they will sell for. If anyone knows more about these special "Galileo" Bittner pens please let us know.

 

PS Isn't it surprising that Omas still manufactures old style Paragons in supposedly discontinued celluloid colors? I hope that the Chinese will have them revert the regular production to the old style.

Edited November 3, 2007 by RedRob

[handlebar]

Beauty!! Thanks for the pics.

 

Jim