Visconti Van Gogh Anxiety

[MHBru]

I will be in Amsterdam this summer and it seems fitting that a Visconti Van Gogh is a suitable souvenir. I dont have any Visconti's but do have 3 Pelikan 800s that I love and a couple of LAMYs that are surprisingly good (esp the Aion). I have heard many stories of poor quality and required nib work associated with the van goghs but if i buy it there (most likely PW Akkerman) I wont have the ability to have it serviced. So here are my questions... anyone have any ideas about how to "test drive" the pen in the store? any experience shopping at this store? any recent experience with this pen? TIA.

[fabri00]

Fill it and test it in the shop.

This is the advantage to buy a pen in a shop instead of buying it online.

[TheDutchGuy]

I've got one, and while I like it, I don't love it. The design is awesome. Irresistible. Very well made with those 18 facets and the wonderful colours. The packaging is also nice, with a sort of rough, home-made look. As a writer, mine started life bone-dry. Almost unusable. Over time, as I used it more, it became wetter and now it is wet enough that I can only use dry-ish inks in it. The feel on paper is OK, smooth with some tactile response, but also a bit sterile. The nib is solid stainless steel and feels more rigid than concrete, though if you press harder it will show a hint of line variation. The nib seems to have a touch of stubbishness to it which gives a bit of character to the writing. It's subtle, but it's there. The metal section bothers me. It's too smooth for me, makes my fingertips get sweaty and it's too narrow for a comfortable grip. Of course this is very personal, and might not be an issue in your case.

 

All things considered, I love the design, it's a well-made pen that will last a lifetime, but as a writer I usually pick one of my Japanese pens or my old MB 146.

 

Akkerman is a good store. Note that dipping the pen in an inkwell will not tell you anything about wetness, it will only tell you if the feel of the nib on paper and the dimensions of the pen are right for you. Once you get home, you might fight the pen to be very dry (as mine was), but that will pass.

 

Enjoy Amsterdam and good luck finding your van Gogh!

[Cordovian]

I have three...sort of. I have two actual Van Gogh FPs; a Starry Night (the faceted version) and a Crystal Maxi. I also have a Michelangelo Back to Black which is, basically, the same pen as the Starry Night only in all black.

 

The Starry Night and Back to Black are steel nibbed and wrote wonderfully out of the box...both are wet and smooth. The Maxi...no so much. It has a gold nib that is tempermental as #%@& and requires constant tweaking. The only reason I still have it is because it looks so good and occasionally writes great.

[Honeybadgers]

You can feel a lot safer about the nib than you would a 23k palladium one. The steel nibs are reliably good quality.