QUOTE(Martius @ May 21 2008, 10:34 PM) [snapback]618467[/snapback]
It is my understanding that "modern" Paragons all come stock with 18k nibs (c. 1980-present). However, I recently received a Royale Blue Paragon that was originally bought from John Mottishaw's shop that has an extra-flex customized 14k Paragon nib (it is not the smaller Milord nib and is the correct two-tone Paragon arrow style). Am I right in assuming that the 14k nib was originally the Omas flex nib, which Mottishaw flexed up even more?
For the 90s the standard nib for the Paragons were 18k nibs. They were readily available in xf-b, but there were special nibs available, such as obliques and italics, and the 14k flex nib. It was specifically billed by Omas as a flexible nib. Oddly enough, though, there was a fair amount of variation. Some were just as firm as the 18k nibs, others were practically vintage.
I sent my Scarlet Celluloid back to Omas for the 14 k flex nib swap during the Marcovici days. The 14k nib I got back was just as firm as the 18k nib that was on it originally. I came to find out that back in those days, all the Marcovici repair work was done by nibmeister Jerry Trafford. I guess whenever they got a shipment of nibs from Italy he'd go through the nibs and pick out the most flexible ones, which he would later customize. I ended up contacting him and asking for one of those especially flexible nibs on my Arco in a nib exchange. What I got back is a dream- incredibly smooth, flexible, and still with great inkflow. It really sings. I guess they'd put the flexible nibs on your pens by swap, but you really had to emphasize that you wanted it to be FLEXIBLE.
Omas made a special LE pen using the 14k flex nib, the Italia '90. The experience I've had with those shows again that there's a big spread between the most and least flexible. Frankly, it's true of their 18k nibs as well. Some are much softer than others.
