I am submitting two questions to the experts here:

- please can you tell me if the Auroloid from Aurora is really an acetate celluloid or is it just a normal plastic? I have the Premavera LE pen that is made of Auroloid but it neither has the normal camphurous smeall nor the "soft" feel of celluloid?

- The Stipula Etruria Volterra: Is it made of the same Ambre celluloid as the normal Etruria or is it made of the Tibaldi Modello 50 red/gold/green celluloid? I have seen different pictures floating about and I am a bit confused.

Thank you very much for your informed opinion!

According to John Mottishaw's website, www.nibs.com, the Aurora Optima pens in Auroloid are celluloid pens and I trust John's knowledge. The Mare and the Primavera are resin pens.

As for the Stipula Volterra it is made of the Tibaldi celluloid (red/gold/green) and is a beautiful pen. If you manage to find one, I highly recommend getting it, as they were a very limited edition.

Lterry,

Thanks for the information. I am thinking of getting the Optima now. As for the Stipula, I just missed one on the green board today. However I havw a Bexley prototype that was made of the exact same material so at least that's not a total disaster.

Best Rgds

The Auroloid is a celluloid acetate, not a celluloid nitrate. I have the blue Optima, and its material is nowhere near as deep or warm as that of my Tibaldis, OMAS, etc. Still, it's a very nice pen. Best,
David

I second cellulophile's comment. I have a blue and a red Auroloid Optima, and although they are nicer to the touch than, say an Ancora Perla, it is not as warm and inviting as my Stipula Etruria (Alter Ego). The color is not as rich or deep either.

I do think the color mix of the red Auroloid is deeper and more attractive than the blue, especially in the sunlight. They are excellent pens, however.

One of the reasons why I love the celluloid pens so much is that irresistible camphor smell. I gather that the celluloid acetate does not have that distinctive smell... Of the celluloid pens that I had, the Bexley Owner Club prototype that was made from the same Tibaldi Modello 50 celluloid is the pen that gave the strongest scent. The Marlen and Stipula only carry a faint whiff ... Pity...

The blue and green Optimas, as well as the earlier LE pens are Cellulose Acetate. The newer burgundy marble is resin.

I noticed on a recent trip to Bertram's that Aurora has switched to a slightly different variant in the blue marbled material. The blue now seems much brighter than before, and it's in a field of blue-violet, whereas the older color used a darker blue-black as the main color, with flakes of deeper but darker blue. So I'm not sure about the newer blue material....

Fwiw, I just got a used Optima (Green), and it definitely seems like resin. Qualitatively, it feels like the Mare and the Minima Fuoco, and it does not feel like the cellulose acetate I've got on a number of pens (e.g., Stipula and Retro 51). Let's just say none of the Auroras pass the "scroop" test, which, imho, makes Stipula even more of a value leader in the Italian gold-nibbed piston filler market.

As an example (prices yanked from Swisher):

Aurora Optima Blue, Piston Filler, Resin (?), 14k nib: list $625, street $469
Stipula Etruria Ambra, Piston Filler, Cellulose Acetate, 18k nib: list $590, street $443

Edited to add: my used Optima is quite new vintage: it has the new cap design (where the greek keys do not go all the way around).

I can only wish that the Optima was made of celluloid nitrate (with an ebonite section). If one day I can get a custom pen that would probably be it.