I ordered the pen from www.pensellers.com, and the specific page can be found here:
http://www.penseller.com/pages/stipula.htm

No affiliation with them, but it was a smooth transaction and I placed the order Thursday night of last week and received it today, so definitely a quick delivery. I received number 144 out of 188. A big thanks to the FPN member "TheTimeTraveller" who was kind enough to answer all my questions in regards to this pen as he already had it and I was interested in his opinions/thoughts on it.

To begin with, I have to say the box is nothing special (unlike with some other pens that I've bought). From the right side comes out a small compartment with the "manual", a converter, and one cartridge which is in the pen at the moment.




The pen itself is fat, not too long, a little shorter than a Sailor 1911 and the OMAS 360 that I have. It is quite heavy though, probably twice the weight of the Sailor 1911 and I would say it's equal in weight to the MP5 Michel Perchin of which I did a review a few weeks ago. I bought it with a 1.1mm Italic nib which I'm finding interesting to write with. I only have F and M nibs on all my pens so this was a pleasant surprise. It was a bit hard to get the pen started, I want to blame it on the cold? But I'm not sure, after 20 or so minutes it began to finally write . The clip is nice in that you can twist it around to whatever position you like so that it won't affect your writing when you get down to it, so a plus there.






The nib up close:


It's a beautiful nib and very smooth. It will probably get a little easier to work with as time goes by but right now I'm 'struggling' a little with it. It isn't a consistent writer at the moment, lots of skipping going on and the ink, as I'll point out below, isn't my favorite by far.

The only problem I'm having so far is with the converter which I cannot figure out how to put in place. The cartridge I had to push in and felt it go into place, but I can't say the same was evident with the converter when I tried to push it in. So if anyone has any input in regards to how best to use the converter with this pen it would be much appreciated.

The price is available for all to see, a bit over $550 with the shipping. It's a beautiful pen and I'd say the price is something I would pay for this pen (and I have ). The ink inside the pen now is a bit washed out, which I hate. So if anyone has any input to ink (in cartridges) that is "thick" and which would fit this pen (any of the international ones) it would be much appreciated as well!

Overall, very pleased with the pen and would definitely recommend it. The looks, the originality, the nib, I'm impressed with all of it. I got rid of the Pilot VP that I bought previously as I wasn't that happy with it and this is something I consider as its replacement .

Very nice. Having recently gotten my first Stipula, I'm totally in love with the box.

I really love their retractable nibs.

Fantastic,I have been drooling over this pen for a while but I'll be honest I cant see myself buying it right now because I have the Pelikan Majesty and maybe a nother MB before it so I can only look and drool.

The pen looks like it is very well made is that true ? how is the overall quality of the pen ?

Funny but just like you I had a PilotVP and I didnt like it too much and sold it.

I think the box is actualy nice,much nicer then the Delta Israel 60.

Enjoy

I definitely like the pen's quality, beautiful colors, nice feel, the material is quite smooth, and overall just a pleasure to hold and write with, especially since the nib is so smooth . I'm definitely considering the MB VW for my next pen as I told you, just have to really start saving up!

About the skipping - got a lot of that at the beginning with an italic nib on my Stipula Etruria Volterra, as well. Have you taken a loupe to the nib to see if the tines are aligned or if they need a little tweaking to allow more ink to flow? Enjoy your lovely new purchase!

I'll be the last person to even try to do anything with the Nib, too afraid I'll do something wrong and will regret it

We are more and more alike.Last time I tried to touch a nib I screwd it completly.

If the skipping wouldnt stop try Aurora Black ink,it helped my Omas Paragon and might help your pen too.

The Stipula does try out a bit since it isn't sealed 'air tight' but after a few strokes it begins to write pretty well, so no real complaints so far!

I missed this review, but anyway I loved this photo essay that came with the review. Nice review too. A DV is something I want to get at some point.

I like the Stipula brand. I own 7 Stipula Etruria's in different configurations including one each of the stub nibs. I sometimes have a problem too with skipping, although minor, with my 1.1. Fooling with nibs is not in my vocabulary. I'll leave that to a professional and I'm getting mine ready to go out.

I bought one of these pens with a 1.1 italic. I was lucky enough to get a tour of the factory and try one of the Da Vinci pens; however, at the time, they did not have these pens available in amber celluloid. When I saw that Weaver managed to get the last few of this limited edition, I immediately ordered one.

Like you I experienced some skipping issues, so I sent it back to the factory. I thought it was an issue with the 1.1 italic nib or something inherent with the pen design. I loved the nib, as it was so smooth for an italic nib and I was even willing to try another nib size to avoid the skipping. Thankfully the folks at Stipula simply replaced the feed and saved the nib. It has been a wonderful writing pen ever since.

Send an email to Stipula, you'll find they are great folks to deal with. Like most things (especially pens) things take a little extra time to get done in Italy, but it is worth the wait.

Enjoy your pen.

Kind of a bummer to have to pay such money and yet encounter such problems. I'm still giving it some time before I decide to send it to "somebody" to see if anything can be done, but thanks for the suggestion. I was told that Stipula had a 'service' center in Colorado, I believe, so it might not have to go all the way to Italy.

That address Stipula gives out in Colorado Springs belongs to an establishment called "The Mail Center" so says Verizon Wireless' 411 service. It's either a mail drop where the service center picks up the repair pens or a central location where the pens go in and out of the US to reduce the amount of customs paperwork. I know for a fact one of my Etrurias was in Italy for a repair. But, the return address was from Colorado when I got it back. Stipula Italy, while very helpful, was pretty secretive when I kept asking for info for the US service center, which is where I assumed my pen was. I wanted the phone number to check the satus. Their answer was they'd check the status and get back to me. Should I give you more good news, when I got my $400 pen back it was in a sandwich baggie thing and tossed in a padded envelope.

Thanks, I'm feeling better already