Delta Roma Imperiale Oversize

[Betweenthelines]

http://i.imgur.com/h7mJU06.jpg

 

 

Intro

 

Delta has never been a brand that has been on my radar. In fact, Italian pens in general never interested me too much I found them to often be too gaudy for my tastes, write too broad, have poor QC, and be well out of my price range. Well, as happens in this hobby, especially for someone newer to it as I (going on 3 years or so), tastes change. I have gravitated away from Japanese fines and into broader nibs, I have grown to really dislike C/C filling systems and gravitated to piston/vac/eyedroppers, and I find myself moving from a larger number of lower priced pens to a small culled collection of higher priced pens that are all keepers. Oh and those Italian pens I swore off ages ago? Well Im finding them more and more attractive. It just goes to show never say never. Every time I think I have my tastes figured out, they open up and change. And I have spoken from ignorance far too many times. It happened with Montblanc and my scoffing of the brand until I held a vintage 149, and now I have my second Italian pen and am strongly considering a 3rd (the first being an Omas Arco Brown, that became a grail as soon as I laid eyes on it). I guess I really need to do a better job at practicing the Beginners Mind that the kanji on my Naka-ai preaches.

 

Anyhow where were we? Ah yes the Delta. So how exactly did I end up with this Delta I had never heard of before, from a brand I had never given the time of day? It was pure happenstance, actually. The dangers of perusing the FPN classifieds without any direction. Its like going into a casino with a pocket of cash and no escape plan. Things will happen that will be inevitably dangerous for the wallet. I stumbled upon this behemoth beauty in the FPN classifieds at a surprisingly reasonable price. I looked at the photos, was enraptured by the red brown ebonite (probably my favorite color, my spirit color earthy red brown), as well as the sterling silver and rhodium trim, saw that it was a piston filler, big 14K nib, made of a material I love, oversize, and a now hard to find limited edition. All checks on the list of what I look for in a pen. I have large hands, so its hard to find a pen that is too big. And I am a sucker for gigantic gold nibs. I was previously considering a Sailor KOP Ebonite but it was far out of my price range, and as I said I now have a distaste for C/C fillers, especially on large pricey pens. This seemed the perfect solution, a more interesting Italian Kingly pen.

 

However, upon trying to research this pen I found very little online. There are zero reviews of this model. And in fact very few Delta reviews. But from what I gathered it was a good brand with great writing nibs. So I said screw it and took the plunge. How did it turn out? Well, pull up a chair and Ill tell you.

 

 

First Impressions: 5/5

 

This pen came with the highest quality and most impressive packaging Ive seen for a pen. Im assuming its because its a limited edition (though I dont have any other Deltas to compare it too. The pen box is solid (its heavy, with a glass insert on the top and the soft velvety interior). I really like the slot the pen fits into that gives the impression of being held up by swaths of cloth. Very luxurious. The pen came with various documentation, including a little booklet on the Roma Imperiale series that goes over the history of the Roman Empire and their inspiration for the pens. In this they mention the design on the sterling silver cap band being a Greco-Roman design from Pompei, and that ebonite is one of the oldest materials to be used for writing instruments. Im too lazy to fact check any of this, so Ive decided to believe them with many an ooh and aah.

 

http://i.imgur.com/7JrcFWv.jpg

 

Also included are certificates of authenticity, warranty, etc. Removing the pen from the box, the size is immediately impressive, and the heft of the pen tells you its quality. The dull colors of ebonite are hard to match the iridescent qualities of, say, celluloid, or other plastics that pop with color, but after some adjustment the subtle beauty of the swirls can be appreciated in their own right.

 

http://i.imgur.com/23ycHJG.jpg

 

Appearance & Design: 4/5

 

This is a beautiful pen. The swirls of red-brown-black ebonite on this particular pen are quite varied and stunning.

 

http://i.imgur.com/VJe29zd.jpg

 

As I said, the colors dont pop the way colors on resin, acrylic, or celluloid pens can, but if taken on its own, the subtler beauty of ebonite can be equally appreciated. Additionally, the feel of ebonite in my opinion blows resin and acrylic out of the water. It is such a wonderful tactile sensation smooth, warm to the touch, and not plastic-y at all. Ebonite just feels higher quality than resin, plain and simple. I love the sterling silver and rhodium accents against the ebonite. And the nib is huge, and lovely.

 

http://i.imgur.com/pKB98f5.jpg

 

However there are two things that prevent a perfect score: 1. It appears that while the cap band with the roman print is sterling silver, the clip and other accent rings are rhodium plated. I could be wrong, but it appears so because they dont match. The clip is shiny while the cap band has that more raw metal look that sterling silver gets. If Im wrong then I probably owe the pen 0.5 back. The other 0.5 is taken off because of the nib design is not very interesting. When compared to the impressive nibs of, say, Pelikan and Montblanc, its pretty dull and boring. Oh and it would have been nice have an ink window, though perhaps it wouldnt have gone well with the ebonite design.

 

http://i.imgur.com/uhJzrnl.jpg

 

Construction & Quality: 4.5/5

 

You can tell the pens quality as soon as you pick it up. Beautiful seamless design, nice heft in the hand, and a very cool piston fill mechanism that Ill get to later. They did very nice work with the ebonite, and it has nice touches like spiral swirls on both the cap end and the piston knob end. It really feels high quality and I havent found any faults yet (knock on wood). And, most importantly, it wrote like a dream write out of the box (Ill get to that later). This pen does the Italian reputation good when it comes to QC. There are only two very small things Ive found to bring the score down 1. The clip moves side to side a bit when pressed sideways, and 2. The threads arent as smooth as they could be. Maybe Im spoiled by Nakayas threads, but my Ranga ebonite pen does have smoother threads than this one.

 

Filling System & Maintenance: 4.5/5

 

This Delta has a unique piston-fill system. You remove the ebonite cap on the end of the pen to reveal a metal piston knob. There werent any instructions so I didnt really know what to make of it, but eventually I figured it out (I think). It seems to work like a normal piston except for one cool feature when youve withdrawn the piston all the way to fill the pen it keeps turning but clicks to tell you its full. Er.. I think. Im just making things up because as I said there werent any reviews online of this pen. But I think thats whats happening. Or maybe Im just breaking the pen. One of the two. Im taking 0.5 off for no ink window and the fact that the filling system mystifies me a little (people fear what they dont understand).

 

http://i.imgur.com/jyoe3mZ.jpg

 

Weight & Dimensions: 4/5

 

This pen is freaking huge. Here it is next to a MB149, a Pelikan m805, and Lamy 2000.

 

http://i.imgur.com/FBgVrJK.jpg

 

I have large hands. I love big pens with big nibs (oh my). But dang.. this pen truly is oversize. And I do love it, I really do. It has a great length unposted (which is hard to find for me and why I post a lot of my pens). For example, I find the MB 149, the Naka-ai, the m805, and even the Custom 823 to be too short unposted. But this one is a great length. The girth of the body is great too. BUT (yes, heres the but), the section diameter.. its too damn thick. I feel like Im trying to wrap my fingers around a small bat. And it takes some getting used to. It doesnt ruin the writing experience by any means, I think if I wrote enough with it I would adjust to it. But I do think that overall if they had narrowed the section a bit it would have been a closer-to-perfect oversize pen. The pen is also pretty heavy, but not overly so. I enjoy it. But if you are used to lighter resin pens, or say the lightness of a Nakaya, it will definitely be noticeable. The balance is nice, tending a bit towards the back of the pen, but feels good while writing. This is not a pen to post.

 

Nib & Performance: 5/5

 

http://i.imgur.com/B79vzgd.jpg

 

Ok, so when I bought this pen, I figured I would get it ground into a stub, as a western medium, especially on an Italian pen, would surely be too broad for me. Im gravitating to broader nibs, yes, but I would say Western Fine is my ideal size. However, my Omas Milord is a medium and I have been enjoying that and accepting the broadness surprisingly well, so as I said, Im really opening my horizons to what I like in a pen. Well, when I inked up this Delta and put it to paper, I was blown away. WOW. This nib writes like a dream. Wet (but not a firehose), buttery smooth, but with just a hint of feedback that is oh-so-pleasant. It is a mostly firm nib with just a tiny bit of spring to it. I would say on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is Nail and 10 is full flex, this nib is a 3. But man does it write well. This pen is one of the best writing out of the box, if not the best out of the box, that I have tried, and one of the best nibs overall. It is far smoother than the nib on my Omas, though the Omas is very springy and expressive, so there are trade-offs. Its so satisfying to put that huge nib to paper.

 

http://i.imgur.com/upBgJoB.jpg

 

As you can see it stacks up well to the nib on a MB149 and Pelikan m805, and in fact is actually slightly larger than the 149s nib. I dont think I have the heart to let a nibmeister touch this already perfect nib, especially considering this is a limited edition pen. I will leave it as is and just enjoy it in all its broad-writing glory.

 

http://i.imgur.com/ziY2noq.jpg

 

Cost & Value: 5/5 (for what I paid)

 

This part of the review is always hard, because I rarely pay MSRP for pens. For what I paid, it was a steal. I think MSRP was something like.. $900? If I had paid anything close to that, I would still rate the value pretty high (maybe a 4), because you get a lot of bang for your buck.

 

Conclusion: 4/5

 

Huge oversize pen made from beautiful ebonite, piston filler, massive 14K nib, limited edition.. its a whole lotta pen! I honestly feel like Delta may be a bit underrated, though I am rather put off by their gimmicky and tacky fusion nibs. Regardless of their other models, this one is killer. I really feel like I found a diamond in the rough and am lucky to own it.

 

Well, thats about it! At the very least theres now a review of this pen swimming in the ether in case someone else is lucky to stumble upon one of these.

Edited October 13, 2016 by Betweenthelines

[Mastiff]

Thank you for the excellent review of a beautiful pen.

[Feanaaro]

I believe the clicking in the knob is just a clutch, so that you cannot actually break the piston system if you try to turn it past the maximum, like theoretically you could if you tried to force a normal piston filler without a clutch.

[jchch1950]

[Heldin]

What a beauty!

[Ghost Plane]

You'll want the blue and green colors as well. (Enabler mode) The wider section relaxes your hand for writing marathons. The clutch is a feature of the Delta pistons. I have the red/brown in a stub and the other two in B nibs. They're in my "you'll never pry these away from me" portion of my collection.

 

Isn't the balance awesome?!

[Betweenthelines]

I believe the clicking in the knob is just a clutch, so that you cannot actually break the piston system if you try to turn it past the maximum, like theoretically you could if you tried to force a normal piston filler without a clutch.

So I was correct! That's a pretty cool feature. I think I over tightened a Lamy 2000 knob and stripped the Piston rod threads so it's definitely a useful feature.

 

You'll want the blue and green colors as well. (Enabler mode) The wider section relaxes your hand for writing marathons. The clutch is a feature of the Delta pistons. I have the red/brown in a stub and the other two in B nibs. They're in my "you'll never pry these away from me" portion of my collection.

Isn't the balance awesome?!

I was wondering if you would post it here.. Your posts on this pen were the closest thing I found to reviews and helped enable me to buy it. So thanks for that you've already been a successful enabler! This is indeed a worthy pen to collect all the colors of.. both the blue and the green are quite beautiful as well .. But I'm not sure if that's in my future. We'll see. How do you like the stub? What is the line with on it? Yes the balance is quite nice.. I noticed that it leans a bit towards the back and I wonder what it would feel like to be closer to Center or even a little towards the nib. Regardless it is quite comfy to write with.

[PAKMAN]

Oh my, beautiful pen and great review! But wow is it big!

[JemC]

I picked up the blue version on the classifieds here a little while back. I wanted a large pen but didn't really know what I was getting myself into. Especially closed, there's still a lot of shock value to me.

 

I'm slowly determining whether I'll adjust to and keep it, or if it's just too big. A concave section and 7.5mm shaved off the back would probably bring it right into my sweet spot.

 

Aside from that, totally agree on the quality & value of this pen.

[Ghost Plane]

The stub is a white gold with a kind of coppery red gold decorative trim to go with the ebonite and writes the same width as the plain gold stubs found on Deltas before all the nasty fusion nonsense ruined a great writing experience. I've seen a few demonstrators out on the 'Bay at eye watering prices in colors like yellow and red.

 

Forgive the fuzzy quality of my phone pic in my office.

[jmccarty3]

I have one of these beauties, but with the magnificent Marmo Incrinato celluloid finish. The oversize 14k stub nib is a delight. Congratulations on your exceptional pen!

 

http://imgur.com/TpwwsJP

[Betweenthelines]

The stub is a white gold with a kind of coppery red gold decorative trim to go with the ebonite and writes the same width as the plain gold stubs found on Deltas before all the nasty fusion nonsense ruined a great writing experience. I've seen a few demonstrators out on the 'Bay at eye watering prices in colors like yellow and red.

 

Forgive the fuzzy quality of my phone pic in my office.

 

Wow, interesting nib. Not sure if I dig the bicolor look on this particular pen, would probably need to see it in person. Thanks for sharing

 

I have one of these beauties, but with the magnificent Marmo Incrinato celluloid finish. The oversize 14k stub nib is a delight. Congratulations on your exceptional pen!

 

http://imgur.com/TpwwsJP

Holy moly that is gorgeous.. Had no idea they made it in a celluloid

[jmccarty3]

Holy moly that is gorgeous.. Had no idea they made it in a celluloid

 

Bryant Greer at Chatterley Luxuries lent this pen to SBRE Brown--see his review here: http://www.sbrebrown.com/2015/08/chatterley-luxuries-delta-stantuffo-marmo-incrinato-fp-review/

 

I ended up buying the pen from Bryant. Steven and Azizah also did a Serious Nibbage video on the pen here: http://www.sbrebrown.com/2016/08/serious-nibbage-part-50-delta-stantuffo-le-fountainpen/

[visvamitra]

Very nice pen. Thank you for reviewing it.

[zaddick]

Thanks for the review BTW. Reminds me of my style of writing. Deltas can be quite nice pens. I have a few with the large nibs and they are a good value.

[bobje]

Thank you, BTL, for creating a review that takes us on a tour of a rare pen. Nice work..

[TassoBarbasso]

What a massive nib. Who makes it? As far as I knew, Delta nibs are Bock-made, but this looks like a custom work. Any ideas?

[zaddick]

It is a Bock nib. They do custom imprints, flexibility, etc. if you order enough.

[mehandiratta]

this is an amazing review....

I second you on the fact that ebonite has simply no competition when it comes to feeling in hand while writing... it just clings on your hand...

 

as far as the nib and clip color mismatch is concerned ... I have found that many Japanese pens trim don't match with the gold nib colors... and the difference is quite noticeable ...

 

the other thing that bothers me is also the blind cap over the piston-fill mechanism ... what if i loose that small blind cap ...

[Betweenthelines]

Just a little update: I am in love with this pen. This Delta nib is glassy smooth with perfect flow, and the giant beauty just calls to me to pick it up and write with it. Definitely in my top 3 favorites right now. I think Delta is underrated.