I purchased this pen in 2005 after meeting Kevin Cheng (winedoc) in San Francisco and purchasing a raw ebonite Densho from him. The Densho impressed me so much I wanted more DaniTrio pens. When I saw photos of this prototype I needed to add it to my collection.
The pen arrived in a wooden box with a cardboard sleeve. The wood box was nice, but when I opened it, the pen stole the show. Neither Kevin’s excellent pictures nor my poor pictures capture the depth of the acrylic. Three years later I still catch myself twirling the pen and looking at how the design seems to move.
Appearance (5/5)
The blue/black acrylic has depth and character. It almost looks like there is velvet folded under glass. The gold plated furniture add a touch of elegance to the pen. This is definitely a pen that people notice.
capped
open
Design/Size/Weight (5/5)
I consider this pen to be cigar shaped, I may be wrong, but to me, this is the classic pen shape. It is 5.5” capped, 5” open, and I don’t know about posted as I don’t post. Because it is acrylic, the pen is quite light. I enjoy pens that are at least 5” capped, and this falls into that category. It is large enough to be very comfortable in my hands uncapped, and I imagine most people would find it comfortable to write with either capped or uncapped. The diameter at the section is approximately 7/16”, which gives me a very relaxed and comfortable grip.
Nib (4.8/5)
The reason for the deduction in points from a “5” is the nib is steel. I’m not a ‘nib snob’, many of my pens have steel nibs, but a gold nib would have made this almost the perfect pen. That being said, this pen is the standard for smooth. It has a medium IPG nib, and while writing the pen comes close to the feel of wet ice sliding on ice. Very little feedback, no tooth, but, unlike wet ice on ice, the pen never feels out of control.
nib
Filling System (4/5)
Cartridge/converter...very functional, not very exciting. Someone else has used the similie of a baseball third base coach, never mentioned unless it isn’t working well.
Cost and Value (5/5)
The pen was a great deal. Combine a low selling price with winedoc’s legendary service and a fantasticly smooth nib, and you have a great value. Add some eye-candy acrylic and now the pen is an exceptional value.
Conclusion (28.8/30)
I feel completely remiss for waiting almost 3 years to review this pen. Everytime I take it from the pen case to ink and use I’m impressed and I fall in love all over with it. I find it a bit funny, but when I’m giving my collection a ‘reorganization’ (euphimism for selling a bunch of pens then buying a bunch of replacements-- we all do it, don’t we?) I ink this and then it immediately goes back in the case. I’m not saying I’ll never sell it, but, it would be one of the last to go.
