Nettuno Skipper

April 24, 2005

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Background:

I do not know much about Nettuno brand except my initial newbie encounter with a Dolphin steel nib in caramel swirl rubber. Initially it was a red marble Skipper with an impressive smooth FINE nib that caught my attention.

I have been into colorful pens lately—thanks to the Taccia Imperial Portuguese. A very good offer came through that I could not resist even though it was for a brown marble Medium nib. So I bit the bullet and got one regardless.

First Impressions :

The brand new unlinked pen arrived in a simple thin Navy leatherette box with grey suede lining. The Nettuno was plainly secured by a clip underneath the suede.

It came with a booklet on Nettuno and Skipper with detail description on the materials used e.g. resin barrel that was hand-turned, a serial number, Vermeil or Sterling clip, etc.

Quite official IMO when it also has an ID card with the serial number of the pen indicated. You can also find the serial number engraved on the cap lip.

Measurements :

5 5/8" capped

0.5" internal cap diameter

5" unposted (nib tip to end of barrel without cap)

6 1/8" posted

Cap and Clip:

It is black resin with a vermeil clip and cap band. I like this cap because the cap lip has a 3/8” matching brown marble resin overlay. The serial number and ITALY were engraved on this thin matching resin band.

The clip and trim are in vermeil as stated in the booklet. There is a faint “925” hallmark on the underside of the gold-plated clip.

Barrel and Section :

As I mentioned I am not a brown pen person, but there is a certain red tone that makes the black cap and vermeil trim come together very nicely. I like the mosaic caramel, reddish brown and black composition of the resin.

There is a subtly placed barrel end trim ring.

When I opened the barrel to fill the pen, there were remnants of the hand-drilled resin that came out. There were shavings and I suspect the craftsman did not bother to ensure that the flakes were all cleaned out. Very neat surprise.

The section is black resin and there is a trim ring that separates the black with the brown marble. There is a less than 1/16” barrel step at the barrel/cap thread

Posting :

The pen is well balanced when posted. I do not post my pens but trying it posted only caused a slight awareness of top heavy. I think it is caused by the sold clip more than anything else.

Nib:

The 18kt monotone nib has a triangular border engraving with engraved “N”-logo, “Nettuno”, and “18kt 785 engraved”.

Initially, the nib was choking and starving from ink. I rinsed it with a solution mixed with a ding of dish washing liquid and water in an 8oz cup. After 4 flushes, the smooth medium nib lays down a smooth wet line

Filling Mechanism:

It is a cartridge converter filler. The converter is threaded and screws into the section. It accepts International cartridge. The original converter had a lot of bubbles when drawing ink. I changed it to a generic Schmidt international converter and it is fine, as in no bubbles. It can inter-change with the Taccia converter.

Ink Mileage:

The nib is not an ink guzzler even though it lays down a wet but not flooding line.

Overall:

I am very happy camper even though the pen is not like a Pelikan that writes right out of the box.

Edited October 25, 2005 by KCkc