Taccia Reserve Eggshell Maki-E Le

[jandrese]

Recently, I visited my not so local local pen shop, Dromgoole’s in Houston, TX and unexpectedly picked up this Taccia pen. I’ve only ever had one other Taccia pen and I can’t remember when it was the last time I inked it up. On plenty of occasions I’ve picked up a Taccia Tanto LE urushi pen only to put it back down again. Not my cup of tea. Then I read in the April 2018 Pen World about Taccia, its founder, and its acquisition by a big Japanese company. The article featured some really good looking urushi pens in normal pen shapes. I did want to see them but was not expecting to see them. To my surprise Dromgoole’s had upwards of a dozen of these new Taccia Reserve urushi pens in various finishes. Oh goodie!

 

These past couple of years my fountain pen infatuation has waxed and waned, but one constant is my increasing preference for urushi pens. For the most part I’ve picked up Danitrio and now have way too many of those. There have also been some Pilot/Namiki and Dunhill and Platinum and Nakaya oh my! Not good for the wallet. Based on my prior experience with Taccia and since I’m accustomed to the likes of Danitrio and Nakaya I was not expecting much from the Taccia urushi lineup. They were, however, very good pens with very competently done urushi in various techniques. Take this pen for instance.

 

 

Over an ebonite substrate this pen has a base color urushi called bengara, which is kind of a brick red. Pressed into that and polished down are eggshells in a maki-e technique known as rankaku. Could be quail eggs or hens eggs but probably is quail eggs. There is a polished top coat of urushi to seal it all in and the overall impression is of a cracked lacquer surface showing veins of color running throughout the off-white ground. Rankaku is a time-honored maki-e technique but it seems Taccia uses it more than most makers of Maki-e fountain pens save perhaps Namiki. Urushi itself is slightly amber tinted and powered eggshells were/are used to make it white. Anyway, it is a super cool looking pen and unique in my urushi collection.

 

 

 

Aside from the urushi quality several other things are surprising to me about this pen. First, is the size. This is a long pen of moderate and very manageable diameter. This is in contrast to many a large urushi fountain pen, for example, the Danitrio Mikado. It is super comfortable to hold and write with and looks smaller than it actually is. Second, is the nib. At least on these Reserve pens Taccia uses Sailor nibs/feeds that are branded Taccia. This pen came with a hard extra-fine (H-EF) 14k gold nib. Normally, I would run away from an EF nib but this one is just perfect. It’s also a small nib compared to many expensive urushi pens, but it fits this particular pen well. A bit of wet writer it lays down a steady line with no pressure, which is good because with pressure this needle of a nib would penetrate and tear up the paper. Third, it seems to have a spring-loaded slip n’ seal cap mechanism. I don’t know this for sure, but it seems to be the case very much like a Platinum 3776 Century pen. Should keep the nib from drying up and indeed I’ve not had any hard starts or ignition issues even though I’m using Noodler’s Texas Black Bat ink.

 

 

Another cool thing about this particular pen is that it is the artists proof. The LE number is 00/12 and as is normal is signed by the artist. I’m not sure why exactly but I take some satisfaction in having the artists proof. Seems like Taccia should have kept that for themselves or something. While I’m thrilled to have such a nice, unique, urushi pen that is tempered by the foreknowledge that I’m gonna have to spend even more money adding Taccia Reserve urushi pens to my collection.

 

 

 

 

 

[jchch1950]

Very nice pen. An urushi pen in a special combination of eggshell and red.

[Tseg]

Wow! That is way cool. Congrats!

[Fatalpotato]

A very cool pen with pretty interesting features. Wish you enjoy it!

Ps. Sailor caps also have the slip and seal tech for as long as I can remember, just like the platinum pens

Edited May 3, 2018 by Fatalpotato

[jandrese]

A very cool pen with pretty interesting features. Wish you enjoy it!

Ps. Sailor caps also have the slip and seal tech for as long as I can remember, just like the platinum pens

Interesting regarding Sailor pen caps, I'll have to check mine, I can't remember that.

[Fatalpotato]

Interesting regarding Sailor pen caps, I'll have to check mine, I can't remember that.

 

There is a white/beige colored silicone inner cap inside the cap, it's easiest to touch it with your pinkie

[Tseg]

There is a white/beige colored silicone inner cap inside the cap, it's easiest to touch it with your pinkie

 

I believe only the Realo and KoP caps have the spring loaded inner cap.

[MomoShinChan]

It seems Taccia have coolest pens, don't they? My favourite from all of their LE collection is this onehttp://taccia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/TANTO_Blue_03.jpg