Diplomat Excellence Help

[un_dac]

Hello,

 

I want to acquire a Dimplomat Excellence fountain pen from an add. The price is decent, the pen looks ok (in pictures), the seller informed it was gifted and never used and that he still has the warranty certificate. However, I have two concerns:

1. I noticed that the nib is slightly bent downwards from a profile picture (attached). I never saw the nib up close, apart from store windows. Is this how the nib should be? Is it possible that the pen was dropped on its nib and has damages?

2. The nib size is M. How is this compared with the M from a Sonnet for example? I have a Diplomat Traveller M which is ok and a Sonnet M which writes too thick for my needs.

 

What do you guys think? I have the option to return it upon first inspection, but I don't have time to try it so should I get it?

 

Thank you,

Edited April 17, 2018 by un_dac

[The Blue Knight]

That nib is bent. Unless it's a very good price I wouldn't buy it. It's fixable but it might look deformed after a repair.

 

Diplomat nibs alone are quite expensive more than they really should be for steel nibs.

 

Out of curiosity how much are they asking for it?

[un_dac]

Thank you,

 

Guess I'll keep looking

 

The seller is asking ~€30.

[The Blue Knight]

Thank you,

 

Guess I'll keep looking

 

The seller is asking ~€30.

 

That's quite a good price straightening the nib wouldn't be very difficult at that price I think it would be fair.

[un_dac]

Personally, I've never straightened out a nib and I'm not keen on trying it. There is no official service near me, however I found some small business services that claim they can recondition pen nibs.

 

Maybe if I can get the price even lower, I would be tempted to buy it. I don't know if a restored nib will write the same as a new one, however the loss would not be that much.

[un_dac]

I looked up replacement nibs. A new nib for Diplomat Excellence is €55 + shipping, so you are better off buying a new pen.

[un_dac]

In the end, I found the same pen on sale for ~€65, so I got it new.

 

I like the way the nib slides on the paper when writing, I don't think I have ever wrote with enithing similar. I wish it was a fine nib, but overall I'm happy with it.

[The Blue Knight]

In the end, I found the same pen on sale for ~€65, so I got it new.

 

I like the way the nib slides on the paper when writing, I don't think I have ever wrote with enithing similar. I wish it was a fine nib, but overall I'm happy with it.

 

How do you find the weight of the pen? As much I try to like the Excellence A I just find it a bit too heavy for anything but a brief note. What finish did you go for?

[langere]

I love my new Excellence A, which I bought in the red Skyline trim.

 

Yes, it is a bit heavier than many pens its size because of the metal, but it is well balanced. I prefer not to post it - that makes it less heavy. With it posted, it is a bit back heavy, but without it posted, it's almost as good as a Sheaffer Balance.

 

Erick

[oneill]

FYI I don't know if it is important or NOT but there are Calligraphy Nibs which are bent the OTHER way I have had pens which are bent like this one for what reason I do not KNOW, maybe it has some meaning,Trust Me, Oneill

[un_dac]

 

How do you find the weight of the pen? As much I try to like the Excellence A I just find it a bit too heavy for anything but a brief note. What finish did you go for?

 

Yes, it's heavy. It's the heaviest pen I have. After writing one-two pages, you need to pause. The experience is a bit stranger, when you pick it up it feels like this is the pen Conan would use but then you get this soft feather-like writing experience.

 

The finish is black lacquer and the nib is stainless steel with gold plating. The model is Excellence Lord (or something like this, I think it's the cheapest from the Excellence line of pens). From my appreciation, it is exactly like the one in the first picture from the add. I'll post a picture with it later.

 

I also ordered a Lamy Safari with an F nib, and switching from one to the other is strange. With the Diplomat is like you write with an ice cube on a shining wet floor, it is heavy, but it writes well on its own weight and helps it to slip better. When I switch to the Lamy, I don't even feel the pen in my hand and the nib is scratchy as a needle. Looked into it and the it seems that the nib will smoothen out over the time, anyway, it's not fair to compare a Safari with an Excellence.

 

Now I'm looking at the Diplomat Esteem, found it with F nib. I think it's going to be lighter and smaller however, I don't expect the same writing experience as with the Excellence.

 

And there is also the Diplomat Magnum which compares to the Safari, I think I'll get that as well.

Edited May 2, 2018 by un_dac

[un_dac]

And here is the pen:

One more thing, the black lacquer finish is a fingerprint magnet.