Monteverde Icona

[Brerarnold]

My new Monteverde Icona arrived from Colorado Pen today. Monteverde lists it as "retired" on their website.

 

It has the red barrel, and for fun I got some "Ruby" cartridges to go with it. It comes with cartridges, two black and a blue, which is a nice touch; if you hadn't bought any ink, you'd be able to start writing immediately. Two of them are in a small plastic zip-lock, and one is in the barrel (but not affixed to the nib.) After flushing the nib with some lukewarm water, I inserted a Ruby cartridge and got down to business.

 

First impression is very favorable. This pen has heft. It's actually larger and heavier than what I usually prefer, but it is very comfortable to write with. The soft rubber grip is pleasant to hold.

 

It has a stainless nib tipped with iridium, which lays down a fairly dry line. I prefer a wetter line in most of my pens, but I have a few (such as a Platinum) which are on the dry side, and I enjoy them too. I also prefer a nib to be more broad than fine; this one is a medium, but might be a fine or medium-fine in some other manufacturer's line.

 

On the whole, it writes smoothly. It had a bit of scratch at first. I looked at the nib in a magnifying glass and it was very slightly out of alignment. It took only a bit of pressure on the right tine to ease it back into line. It is a subtle difference but no longer what I'd call scratchy. A fairly stiff nib on the Fine-ish side is going to be a little toothy IMO. I may use some 8000 mesh to see if it can be smoothed out a tad more; we'll consider it after a proper breaking-in.

 

I haven't tried it unposted. In real life I write with a posted pen so seldom as to make no never mind, so it's not something that I usually experiment on with a new pen.

 

The Ruby ink is a bit disappointing. I had thought it would be a richer red. It has a bit of orange in it to my eye. Perhaps there is just a little residual water in the section from when I flushed it out before inking it. It did get somewhat deeper as I wrote with it, so maybe this will continue. Otherwise, I will look at some other colors. It takes the standard International cartridge so there are many choices. Or, I might get the converter and use bottled ink.

 

I'm not that impressed by expensive pens. One of the best writers I've ever had was a Waterman Phileas I bought for $25 at Staples. This looks like another winner in the "doesn't have to cost a bundle to be a great pen" category.