Artus Favorit

[chrevbel]

First Impressions (6) -- Before I'd bought it, I figured I was overpaying for this Artus Favorit. I found it at a flea market, and about five seconds after I'd inquired about the price, my four year old said that he had to go to the bathroom. My time and options now appearing limited, I accepted the vendor's offer of 12 Euro (about $18). It was covered with small paint splatters (Sorry, no pix of that; I scraped them off with my fingernail on my way out of the market.)

 

Appearance and Design (7) -- I like this pen; only my second venture into the world of vintage. As far as I can tell, it's a Lamy product from the early 70s. It's marked 40FK if that helps date it; I couldn't find definitive info online. Of the dozen pens on the dealer's table, this one drew me to its nice clean lines, and as I looked more closely I was impressed by the almost indiscernible joint between the blind cap and the barrel. The Favorit isn't going to win any design competitions; it doesn't wow. But utilitarian is more my style.

 

Weight and Dimensions (6) -- I'm not overly picky on pen size, though I tend to prefer them heavier. At 11mm, this pen is right in the middle of the diameter range I'm comfortable with, and at 12cm unposted, it's short enough to allow for effective posting, which is usually not the case with my heavier pens.

 

Nib and Performance (8) -- The nib felt great from my first try; no tweaking or tuning necessary at all. It's marked "R", and I'm not certain what that means -- perhaps regular flex (regelmäßig), as there is some definite flex to this nib, even under relatively moderate pressure. I like it! It's my first experience with a flexible nib. With minimal pressure (and thus no flexing), it lays down a nice fine line, which I prefer. Not being used to flex nibs, I'm not sure how to comment on how it writes under pressure, but I've shown a small writing sample if you wish to judge for yourself.

 

Filling System (8) -- The piston filling system works flawlesly, either a testament to quality engineering, or an indicator that the pen is younger than I'd estimated. My purchase was hasty, but I was in luck -- the piston isn't leaking a bit. There was a lot of dried ink in this one. Even after multiple flushes with ammonia, I don't think any of it actually dissolved. The flushes merely helped it flake off bit by bit. But ultimately, the bathing resulted in a reasonably clean ink window and nib.

 

Cost and Value (9) -- In retrospect, it's difficult to imagine many pens exceeding this Favorit's value/cost ratio. Fully expecting that this would have ended up being a "project pen", I was quite pleased when a mere cleaning and filling got it fully operational. The clip was already broken, so I clamped the washer portion between two coins and filed it smooth. I admire the clean, simple looks of this basic pen. I like the subtle highlighting that a brass washer commonly gives the tail end of other pens, so I tried a cardboard one to see the effect. I definitely like it, though I have no idea how one comes up with a brass washer where all three dimensions are just so. I'll keep my eye out, I guess.

 

Conclusion (7.3) -- I wrote up these notes a few weeks ago, and pulled them out tonight to write this review. In the meantime, the Artus Favorit had made its way into my three-pen holder as one of my daily users. That fairly well captures my overall impression of this pen. I don't think I need a second one, but if I ever downsize, it'll be one of the last I part with, if at all.

[watch_art]

That's awesome! A cardboard washer. Genius!

 

And I love the way you clamped the pennies on the clip ring to smooth it out.

 

Very good.

Thanks!

[piembi]

Very nice review. Thank you very much!

 

I am a big fan of those old German piston fillers and their nibs. With most of my vintage Lamys a thorough cleaning did the job. And yes, the clip can be an issue . Took me more than a year to find a clip (=parts pen) for a Lamy 27 with a great OB nib.

 

Last week I won a Lamy Artus 25 with a 14K nib off ebay. Has not yet arrived but your review makes me looking forward the try the pen.

[sirksael]

Hi there,

 

 

Very nice pen indeed. It is older than you think, it is from the fifties; I have some magazine clippings from that era advertising it. I have several of these, and also identical pens with other brand names on them. It seems they were manufactured for the in-between market as well.

 

As far as I have been able to piece together there are twe 'eras' of Artus, i.e. the first era where Lamy as a brand did not exist yet (so there the company was called Artus), although Artus and Lamy have co-existed as brands for at least a little while. And the second era, where Artus was used mainly for the Lamy-produced schoolpens, aka. Artus-prinz and so on. These are cartridge fillers. This period seems to have come to an end with the introduction of the Lamy Safari.

Your pen is from the first era.

Edited July 11, 2011 by sirksael

[chrevbel]

Your pen is from the first era.

Wow, I'd never have figured that. Thank you for the info. It's definitely a good pen. It's one of only two I have inked and using at the moment!