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Aurora 88K, Possibly An Aquila


Skyre

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I've just been lucky enough (and I think I'm very lucky) to purchase an Aurora 88k as my first vintage pen. She's also my first gold nib, my first piston filler and my first Italian. I think that her gold sleeve body and cap also makes her an Aquila, but I'm not certain of that.

I'm currently trying to get used to her, but at the moment she's being a bit of a diva and suffering from ink starvation issues after a paragraph or two of writing. I'm going to give her a soak in some warm water with a little dish soap to see if I can coax any old ink residues out that might be causing issues. If I can get her to behave herself I'll certain be writing a review.

I just wanted to share what feels like a good pen morning to me and see if any one has any suggestions as to the cause of her bad behaviour or similar experience with other 88s.

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My 88K had issues with ink drying out quickly too, so I have an empty ink bottle on my table that I filled with water, so I could dip it in to "revive" the flow.

 

Perhaps you could try that, and even put a small bit of sponge (that has been soaked in water) into the cap. The water from the sponge should keep the nib from drying out.

 

Good luck and enjoy! The 88K is a lovely pen.

 

 

 

~Epic

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1348/557449480_2f02cc3cbb_m.jpg http://null.aleturo.com/Dumatborlon/Badges/5EH4/letter.png
 
A sincere man am I
From the land where palm trees grow,
And I want before I die
My soul's verses to bestow.
 
All those moments will be lost in time.
Like tears in rain.
Time to die.

 

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Sounds like a lovely pen, can we see a picture?

 

I have an Aurora 88P - my only Italian pen too. It's been inked since I bought it near the end of last year. It has also been sitting unused this last week, nib up in a cup. Just pulled it out and it wrote straight away. Unless there is some natural variation causing the drying out I would suggest checking the seal on the piston.

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I will try to remember to take a picture. She really is gorgeous in my opinion. I'm probably biased though.

Sadly it looks like I've solved one problem and found another one in the process! A good soak has managed to clear a lot of old ink out of the feed, but... the joint between the section and the barrel is now oozing ink. A quick twist has shown that the sealant has failed completed and the section can be unscrewed. That did mean I was able to force flush a speck of blue something out of the feed that I think was blocking it. Unfortunately it also means that the pen can't be used at the moment either.

Now it should be a fairly simple repair, but this is a pen I plan to keep for a long time and I don't have the necessary materials or skill, so I'm going to take the opportunity to get her overhauled completely instead and have a couple of other niggling issues resolved at the same time.

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  • 7 months later...

I meant to update this ages ago. I have had the pen professionally repaired. The repairer confirmed to me that section and barrel should be permanently sealed. He also told me that the nib has been dropped and repaired, not very well and that it started life as an oblique nib. he was able to work on the alignment of the nib, grind it to suit my handwriting and seal the barrel and section up. This one repair has fixed issue with the oozing ink, the poor flow through the feed and the piston not drawing a good fill of ink.

My advice here is to get someone who knows Aurora 88's to take a look if you're having problems. That is what I did and it was money very well spent. If you're into repairing pens yourself I don't think they're too fiddly, but then again if you are you probably don't need to read this thread to work out the problem you're having!

 

In any case this one Aurora 88K has totally got me into vintage pens, gold nibbed pens, piston fillers, Italian pens and just changed the way that i think about so many things about pens and writing. I will never ever be parted from this pen. She is not perfect and some of her plating is wearing and flaking now, but I use her everyday and love her every time that I do. If you don't have an Aurora 88 in your life, try one. just leave me at least one original 88 with a silver cap please! One vintage 88 isn't enough for me.

 

I will try to get a picture up, but I'm currently without a personal computer, so that is tricky.

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  • 1 year later...

I just came across this while searching for other information. Quoting from Skyre's last post, "The repairer confirmed to me that section and barrel should be permanently sealed."

 

What? I have never known that for a vintage Aurora 88. On the contrary, they are meant to disassemble so the piston seal can be adjusted or replaced, or the nib knocked out if really needed. I have opened all of my old 88s at least to grease the barrel and in near half the cases replace the seal. I hope no-one is really going around glueing them up for eternity.

 

edit:editing error

Edited by praxim

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When I say permanently sealed I mean that the thread between barrel and section should be sealed with something like Shellac that can be removed if necessary, as the threads are not tight enough to prevent ink leaking out of the pen otherwise, as my inky fingers were showing. I'm not saying the threads should be sealed with something like glue so it can never be opened again.

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Good. Although I have never used shellac either. Pure silicone grease does the job, just like plumbers use it on taps, yet makes it easier to unscrew when needed.

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I'm sure that would work just fine too. They were originally sealed by the factory and I have no intention of fiddling with a pen, so having it sealed as per the factory is fine for me. I don't pretend to be any kind of an expert on these pens and I'm sorry if my choice of words was ambiguous.

 

As for the pen in question, I can't use her everyday because the office I work in buys cheap bad quality paper and she is much too wet a writer for it. It just feathers and blobs into a mess. I do have her inked up permanently though and I use her whenever I can. She is still my pride and joy and working for her living seventy years or so after she was made. She has also been joined by another vintage hooded nibbed pen in the form of my late Granddad's Parker 51 which has a nice medium broad nib. it doesn't write anything like the Aurora though. That Parker nib is a nail. I'm deeply attached to both, but for very different reasons.

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I do not believe that the factory used anything at all. :) Those of mine which have arrived gummed up have clearly shown dried ink on the threads rather than some other sealant. I have a dozen vintage 88s, because I love the pens.

 

Your pen will be around 1953-57 so about 61-65 years old. If you send me the serial number I can date it fairly precisely. I believe the Aquilas were late production for the 88K.

 

Have you tried a drier ink, such as a Pelikan 4001 or Lamy Blue? I agree with you about the pleasure of the slight flexibility in the Aurora nib over the Parker, not to mention the large capacity with piston fill. They are very comfortable and practical.

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Well I can't comment on your pens, but the threads on mine were not tight and wept ink until it was closed with Shellac. That is all I can say and case on what the restorer who looked at my pen told me. Whether or not he is correct I cannot say.

 

In terms of wetness, she just seems to be a wet writer by nature and poor quality paper can't handle the amount of ink she lays down. Given that the wetness and shading is part of what I like about the pen I don't actually want to lose that characteristic to a drier ink and I also know from using other considerably drier fountain pens on the same paper that the paper is just poor quality from a fountain pen perspective, rather than the pens being the problem.

 

I tend to have the Aurora filled with a blue ink that was made for the defunct Conway Stewart company by Diamine that shades absolutely beautifully on good paper. The ink shares the same name as my wife, so it reminds me of her when I use the pen. I would say its a reasonably dry ink. It certainly is drier than some of their other inks that I have and use.

 

The Parker 51 is a relatively early Vacumatic. I can date her precisely to 1948 as that is engraved on the pen, so she also hold quite a lot of ink for that model. The writing experience is vastly superior on the Aurora even with a damaged and reground nib, but obviously I am deeply attached to the Parker for sentimental reasons.

 

The serial number for the Aurora is 2190006 and it is definitely an Aquila.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Skyre, thank you for the inspiration. I splashed out on an Aquila too, a 1957 model which appears to be in excellent condition.

 

After cleaning I added a smear of silicone grease to the barrel wall for the piston seal, and a little more to the section threads. No leaks from there. Whether the piston seal may need replacement is something I will find out in use. It feels smooth enough after lubrication, but may have worn or shrunk in which case I will replace it.

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  • 9 months later...

I've just bought an Aquila as well. My goodness, it's a beautiful pen. It arrived today. It's also the first 88 I've bought (and I've had about 10 of them) that I can actually write with - I seem to have finally lucked into a nib which has virtually no flex - hallelujah! I've been looking for an 88 I can actually write with for about 5-6 years! ;)

http://www.aysedasi.co.uk

 

 

 

 

She turned me into a newt.......

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  • 9 months later...

"should"?

 

It depends on what is asked, one's patience and desire. Mine cost a bit over 50% more than the average price of my other two 88K. Is that still market relative valuation? I do not know. Mine came without box or papers. I see only one on ebay at the moment, a boxed set with papers at a very significantly higher price than I paid. I happen to place low additional value on boxed sets. Sorry about all the equivocation but I do not know what your answer is. I tend to favour patience, if I can manage it. :)

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"should"?

 

It depends on what is asked, one's patience and desire. Mine cost a bit over 50% more than the average price of my other two 88K. Is that still market relative valuation? I do not know. Mine came without box or papers. I see only one on ebay at the moment, a boxed set with papers at a very significantly higher price than I paid. I happen to place low additional value on boxed sets. Sorry about all the equivocation but I do not know what your answer is. I tend to favour patience, if I can manage it. :)

You danced around my question like a professional politician :)

You know what I mean, too. lol

The reason I ask is I never really see these all gold beauties around and someone I know says the one he has was a limited edition of 100 and is asking $500 for it. He says they were mainly made for one specific retailer in Naples, Italy in the 50s?

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Apparently they were made for the jeweller, Leonardo Aquila, hence the common name. I recall seeing his name pop up in relation to other limited-run pens. Unless the one you are considering is a special-on-special, it should be one of 3000, not of 100. Personally, I would want that price to be lower. I bought mine from UK about 18 months ago for half that number, in A$. Given they are limited in number there is potential for the price to rise so it is hard to say what is happening at the time. The ebay set to which I referred is 495 €, about three times what I paid. However, if prices are up on an appreciating object then old sales do not count any more.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Apparently they were made for the jeweller, Leonardo Aquila, hence the common name. I recall seeing his name pop up in relation to other limited-run pens. Unless the one you are considering is a special-on-special, it should be one of 3000, not of 100. Personally, I would want that price to be lower. I bought mine from UK about 18 months ago for half that number, in A$. Given they are limited in number there is potential for the price to rise so it is hard to say what is happening at the time. The ebay set to which I referred is 495 €, about three times what I paid. However, if prices are up on an appreciating object then old sales do not count any more.

He dropped it to $450. Cheapest I have seen was $230 but that was in Italy which means high shipping charges and other charges that might get added in once it hits the shore. I haven't seen any others within the US in quite a while.

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