Received today my Tibaldi impero, together with a huge maple pen box with room for 7 pens.
Will review and post pics later. First impression is the photos do not do justice to the extraordinary colour of this pen. If it writes likes it looks, I am going to be a happy (if somewhat poorer) man!
Full Version: Tibaldi Impero
QUOTE (youstruckgold @ Jul 24 2008, 09:52 AM) 
Received today my Tibaldi impero, together with a huge maple pen box with room for 7 pens.
Will review and post pics later. First impression is the photos do not do justice to the extraordinary colour of this pen. If it writes likes it looks, I am going to be a happy (if somewhat poorer) man!
Will review and post pics later. First impression is the photos do not do justice to the extraordinary colour of this pen. If it writes likes it looks, I am going to be a happy (if somewhat poorer) man!
I look forward to seeing it. BTW,you might be somewhat poorer,but the cost is richer than I can bear!
John
I also have an Impero which I dearly love. I still got one with the original rhodium-plated nib with Tibaldi imprint but with no numbers engraved. Those were the times when Regina Martini was still selling them on ebay. I got mine for $300 which was not a steal but well worth the money. What did you pay and did you get the original nib? Later versions tend to have the unimprinted gold nib which I think is a bit of a mismatch in color.
This is one of the most spectacular celluloids, second to none!
This is one of the most spectacular celluloids, second to none!
Congrats, just pulled mine out of the pen drawer last evening and inked it up. Mine has the white gold/rhodium plated nib. Unfortunately it is an EF and these nibs are just unfindable on the open market. Heck, I would even put a yellow gold nib in it to be able to use it more.
Congratulation on a wonderful pen. The colors are wonderful. IIRC mine also came from Regina.
Congratulation on a wonderful pen. The colors are wonderful. IIRC mine also came from Regina.
Mine is the yellow gold, Fine, with Tibaldi imprint (yes not the perfect match, but I'm not unhappy with that), and also came from Regina (but not on ebay). Cost was $499, which I think is pretty good considering. It's not a numbered pen, but still looks supurb, and I'm looking forward to inking and trying it out. I'll take photos of it, (and the box) once I've inked - just trying to use a few of my other inked pens first, before inking another (oh the pressures of expectation!)
Seems like we all got the pen from the same seller! 
And yes, I think $500 is still fair considering the recent surge in price for the Impero.
And yes, I think $500 is still fair considering the recent surge in price for the Impero.
No review yet, holding back from writing until I'm ready - relishing the wait. But here are the photos:
http://s278.photobucket.com/albums/kk107/y...baldi%20Impero/
http://s278.photobucket.com/albums/kk107/y...baldi%20Impero/
The Impero and the Iride are both fantastic pens!
OK. The pen is here and inked so here goes:
FIRST IMPRESSION
Whoever takes the photos, just cannot capture the sheer beauty of the celluloid in this pen!
In different lights, the blues, the pearl, the grey, just sparkles - magnificent! (*sigh) - I know, get a life!
The Impero is a large pen, beautifully presented in a large maple box that doubles as a holder for 7 pens - nice touch.
APPEARANCE/FINISH
The pen has 12 sides similar to Omas (and great for stopping it slipping off the desk) with a silver clasp and three silver rings around the base of the cap. It would probably look better with a rhodium nib as the gold nib doesn't match as well with the silver, but not such a big issue.
The finish is at the top of my lists: a truly gob-smacking giant of a pen!
No surprise for my score here: 5/5.
DESIGN/SIZE/WEIGHT
4/5
It's big!
I like to write with the cap on the back, making it even bigger! 170mm. Without the cap, it's 130mm. The nib is also huge (see pics).
I like big pens, so this one clearly fits the bill.
The Impero is a well balanced, large, lightish pen, but still a good weight for writing. I would still prefer it to be a little heavier.
NIB/FILLING AND WRITING
3.5/5
The pen is a piston filler, my preference; and filling was easy and smooth.
Have I said it's a big pen? Yes, well clearly ink capacity is large. This pen won't run out in a hurry.
The nib (all yellow gold) is marked with Tibaldi Extra 750, and marked as F (fine). As opposed to my recent Tibaldi Modello 50 purchase which also boasts a fine nib (but smaller) and writes smooth and wet, this is a very large nib with a very dry output. Unfortunately, this was the most disappointing part of the pen.
Where the ink in my Modello 50 glides like silk across the page, this one, also producing a medium width line, is very scratchy, to the point that I can hear myself writing, and quite stiff/inflexible . I'm not sure if this is the ink (I'm using Herbin Lie de The for the first time for me) so I'm going to flush it out and change inks to see if I get a smoother response from my Waterman Florida Blue.
COST
5/5
On ebay, this was a $499 pen. Given the difficulty in finding Impero's now, and the beauty of the pen, I think this was still a good deal,- but IO'm hoping to improve on the nib and would welcome suggestions from the FPNers out there in the know.
CONCLUSION
A beautiful, pen that stops just short of meeting it's "grail" potential.
FIRST IMPRESSION
Whoever takes the photos, just cannot capture the sheer beauty of the celluloid in this pen!
In different lights, the blues, the pearl, the grey, just sparkles - magnificent! (*sigh) - I know, get a life!
The Impero is a large pen, beautifully presented in a large maple box that doubles as a holder for 7 pens - nice touch.
APPEARANCE/FINISH
The pen has 12 sides similar to Omas (and great for stopping it slipping off the desk) with a silver clasp and three silver rings around the base of the cap. It would probably look better with a rhodium nib as the gold nib doesn't match as well with the silver, but not such a big issue.
The finish is at the top of my lists: a truly gob-smacking giant of a pen!
No surprise for my score here: 5/5.
DESIGN/SIZE/WEIGHT
4/5
It's big!
I like to write with the cap on the back, making it even bigger! 170mm. Without the cap, it's 130mm. The nib is also huge (see pics).
I like big pens, so this one clearly fits the bill.
The Impero is a well balanced, large, lightish pen, but still a good weight for writing. I would still prefer it to be a little heavier.
NIB/FILLING AND WRITING
3.5/5
The pen is a piston filler, my preference; and filling was easy and smooth.
Have I said it's a big pen? Yes, well clearly ink capacity is large. This pen won't run out in a hurry.
The nib (all yellow gold) is marked with Tibaldi Extra 750, and marked as F (fine). As opposed to my recent Tibaldi Modello 50 purchase which also boasts a fine nib (but smaller) and writes smooth and wet, this is a very large nib with a very dry output. Unfortunately, this was the most disappointing part of the pen.
Where the ink in my Modello 50 glides like silk across the page, this one, also producing a medium width line, is very scratchy, to the point that I can hear myself writing, and quite stiff/inflexible . I'm not sure if this is the ink (I'm using Herbin Lie de The for the first time for me) so I'm going to flush it out and change inks to see if I get a smoother response from my Waterman Florida Blue.
COST
5/5
On ebay, this was a $499 pen. Given the difficulty in finding Impero's now, and the beauty of the pen, I think this was still a good deal,- but IO'm hoping to improve on the nib and would welcome suggestions from the FPNers out there in the know.
CONCLUSION
A beautiful, pen that stops just short of meeting it's "grail" potential.
I would recommend you to check the nib with a magnifying glass. On almost every Tibaldi nib that I had the tines were missaligned. After adjusting them they became relatively smooth. I mean, F and finer nibs are always somehow toothy, at least for me.
It must have been reading my notes, as after the flush and a turn of Florida blue, it seems to have come good. I checked the tines and all seems aligned, so we'll just have to see if we continue on the right path.
Either way, no regrets and a beautiful pen.
Either way, no regrets and a beautiful pen.
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