Good Evening!
I would appreciate your thoughts/advice on something I've observed with my new Etruria.
I got it from Bittner last week and am in love with how it writes and the amber/deep red colors, BUT I have noticed that the section and cap look considerably lighter than the barrel. The 'amber' plastic in the barrel is quite dark but the same plastic in the cap is much more yellow. It almost looks like a mismatched barrel and cap. This pen was never used and has all its papers.
Funny thing, though. I've looked at Etrurias on several web sites and some of the amber Etrurias show a similar color difference. Some don't.
Is this a characteristic of this particular plastic? Does it have anything to do with the barrel being thicker than the cap? Should I send the pen back for exchange?
Any help would be appreciated.
Tom Connell

Hi, Tom. I can't help with your particular question, but you may get more responses by posting this in the Writing Instruments sections, as this section is usually reserved for reviews. Best,
David

Tom,

I second David's advice to get your question on "writing instruments." Recreate a topic there, or better yet send a separate message to admin and ask it/he/she to move the current topic from Reviews to writing instruments.

My $0.02 on your question: I do not observe any color difference on my Etruria between the cap and the barrel. The difference you notice could result from a statistical effect. Could just be a fluctuation in the statistical distribution of the spatial distributions of colors. (Note: I deal here with two kinds of distributions, the first kind, being the disriibution in an abstract space of the second kind (colors in real-celluloid space). If randomly spatially-distributed, the lighter spots will be found evenly in the Etruria's celluloid (please, Tom, do not use the P word about your Etruria ) in most of the times (i.e., in most pens) but not all the time.. Some lighter spots can bunch together anywhere, for example in the cap. In other words, the statistical distribution (of the fist kind) should take the form of a bell curve peaked around the homogeneous spatial distribition (of the second kind) of dark and light elements. This bell curve is not infinitely narrow. it has some width accounting for unbalanced pens, such as yours. If this hypothesis is correct, one should observe an equal amount of pens with lighter barrels (the bell curve is symmetric), unless those are removed manually at Q/A. One can argue that pens with visible color differences should never have reached market. aone can also argue otherwise.

So, Tom, I am afraid I did not help you much. I probably confused you--I knowI did a sp;endid job confusing myself.

Good luck on writing instruments.

-Gerard

I've seen an OMAS Paragon in royal blue recently whose barrel looks almost violet whereas the rest has the normal color. Incidentally, for what it's worth, the pen is also offered by Bittner. Maybe the Californian sun in Carmel has had its way with these pens and they got a tan... Just kidding!

Tom, I do not observe any color difference on my Etruria between the cap and the barrel. The difference you notice could result from a statistical effect. Could just be a fluctuation in the statistical distribution of the spatial distributions of colors. (Note: I deal here with two kinds of distributions, the first kind, being the distribution in an abstract space of the second kind (colors in real-celluloid space). If randomly spatially-distributed, the lighter spots will be found evenly in the Etruria's celluloid (please, Tom, do not use the P word about your Etruria ) in most of the times (i.e., in most pens) but not all the time.. Some lighter spots can bunch together anywhere, for example in the cap. In other words, the statistical distribution (of the fist kind) should take the form of a bell curve peaked around the homogeneous spatial distribution (of the second kind) of dark and light elements. This bell curve is not infinitely narrow. it has some width accounting for unbalanced pens, such as yours. If this hypothesis is correct, one should observe an equal amount of pens with lighter barrels (the bell curve is symmetric), unless those are removed manually at Q/A. One can argue that pens with visible color differences should never have reached market. and one can also argue the other way. So, Tom, I am afraid I did not help you much. I probably confused you--I know I did a splendid job confusing myself. Good luck on writing instruments. -Gerard

Good Lord, what did he say?!

I think it is the luck of the draw, and I sincerely doubt the cap and barrel are mismatched. You could always contact Stipula customer service and inquire - about the color; and about a replacement if it bothers you. My own amber Etruria does not have any color variations.

That said, the Etrurias do write wonderfully well, don't they? The oversize Etruria is one of my favorite pen models for ergonomic comfort and writing quality. The pens themselves are works of art and I enjoy them.

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Thanks for the input. It may, indeed, be 'luck of the draw' so I probably won't worry about it any further. This is my fourth Etruria. The other three show perfectly 'balanced' color density between barrel and cap. Oh well...

gvy: No, you didn't confuse me at all. I'm familiar with the concepts involved. Regarding the use of the word 'plastic'... Well at least I didn't call it 'precious resin'.

I would have preferred that over plastic

You know, I'd send it back to Stipula. Those pens aren't cheap and my way of thinking is they should be perfect or pretty close when they get to the ELU. I sent an Etruria back because my vermeil (sp?) clip was off color out of the box. A lot of people here said it turns color with time, etc, etc, but....after a 3 month wait to get it back, I'm glad I did it.

It's up to you though depending on if you can live with it and not keep thinking about it every time you go to use it.

My Etruria has a slight mismatch from barrel to nib sleeve.But very slight.
Also,as has been brought out before,sometimes ink gets under that nib sleeve and dries,discolouring a bit.I just take it apart,clean it out and all is good,

Yes,my favourite pen for certain.Also adore my Florentia.

I don't see many of these around,the Florentia.Hard to find.

Jim

I bought a Pelikan Piccadilly Circus a while ago and had the same problem. The cap colours were much duller than the barrel. I emailed the seller (Peninasia) and was told the reason was that the cap and barrel are made from resin rods and hence the colour differential. Not too sure if it was a cop out or not really.

HELP!!
I cannot refill my Etruria: both the blind cap and the section are stuck.

What should I do? Thanks for any advice. -gyv

Moderator's note: The two parallel threads have been merged.