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Delta Serena


Miles R.

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The Delta Serena is an Italian-made pen with an acrylic body, cartridge-or-convertor filling system, steel nib, and an unusual dark brushed-metal finish (platinum plating, as I understand) on the nib and the grip section. It comes in black, red, and blue, with nibs in sizes M and F.

 

1. Appearance and design

 

I'm sorry that the photograph below makes the pen look as though the barrel is bent or does not fit squarely into the cap. This is an illusion due to the lens. The slight tapering of the barrel toward the tail is, however, a feature of the pen.

 

fpn_1385322876__serena_2_capped.jpg

 

I had never owned an Italian-made fountain pen before. When this one was announced on the Goulet site (no affiliation here), I was taken with its looks, and, given its comparatively modest price of $108, I judged it to be worth venturing the purchase. As you can see, the barrel is of a deep, lustrous color with a swirling pattern visible in it. I had a difficult time deciding between the blue and the red (there is also black, for those who have that preference) and probably would have been equally happy with either, but went for the blue. The dark, matte finish of the metal is an unusual touch, which will probably strike you either as giving the pen an air of distinction or as making it look a bit dull. Of course, it struck me in the first way and not the second. All the visible metal parts—nib, grip section shell, clip, cap band—have this finish.

 

fpn_1385322859__serena_1_nib.jpg

 

2. Construction and quality

 

The pen seems to be manufactured to a high standard, as one would expect. The first one that I got seemed to me to have something wrong with the nib: when I tried "writing" with it dry, it felt scratchy, moreso on the downstroke than on the upstroke, and when I looked at the tip through a loupe, it seemed to me that the tines of the nib were slightly out of alignment. When I sent it back for replacement, the person who inspected it at Goulet said that there was nothing wrong with it, though they sent me a replacement immediately anyway. I wish now that I had taken a photograph of the first pen's nib through the loupe. Anyway, the replacement certainly has no such defect.

 

One detail worth noticing is the little wheel on the end of the clip. If you are subject to the same streak of childish fascination with such things as I am, you may enjoy lifting the clip with the index finger and thumb of one hand while flicking the little wheel to make it turn with the thumb of the other hand. That aside, the wheel also allows the clip to slide smoothly into place on a cloth pocket.

 

The metal on the grip section is merely a shell: the bulk of the section is actually plastic, like the feed. So there is not as much weight in the grip section as there is in pens that have an all-metal grip section, such as the Monteverde Crystal.

 

The pen has the usual sort of convertor filling system.

 

fpn_1385322896__serena_3_disassembled.jp

 

3. Weight and dimensions

 

The pen is rather thick, which makes it very comfortable to hold for me. Those who like to hold their pens close to the nib can do that, and those who like to hold their pens further up can do so even though the visible part of the grip section is rather short, as one's fingers can rest comfortably even as high as the threads at the end of the barrel where the cap screws on.

 

Length: capped, 13.3 cm; uncapped (body only), 12.0 cm; posted, 15.7 cm.

 

Width at grip section: 1.1 cm

 

Weight: 23.6 g; body, 16.4 g; cap, 7.2 g

 

4. Nib and performance

 

It's a reasonably smooth writer, though nothing remarkable in that regard. Flow is well-measured and consistent. So far, using the pen with Architekt Blue Grey (=De Atramentis Fog Grey), a generally easily flowing ink, I have found it to be something of a slow starter, always requiring a bit of shaking or tapping before any ink emerges from the nib on the first use of the day.

 

5. Filling system and maintenance

 

The grip section can be very easily disassembled and reassembled for cleaning.

 

6. Cost and value/conclusion

 

The price seems to me reasonable for a pen of Italian manufacture with such a beautiful and distinctive design, but functionally, I don't think that it's anything out of the ordinary. If you are someone for whom anything in three digits is a lot of dollars to spend on a fountain pen, you should probably find a way to handle and test one of these pens before you buy one.

 

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Thanks a lot for the review. It's quite subtle for a Delta, most of which seem to be dressed like Italian generals. I speak as an owner of a Delta DVOS.

Skype: andyhayes

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Thanks a lot for the review. It's quite subtle for a Delta, most of which seem to be dressed like Italian generals. I speak as an owner of a Delta DVOS.

 

After looking at some of the Delta items in my Fountain Pen Hospital catalogue, I see what you mean, though my imagination would have run to Roman signore della notte rather than to generals for the comparison. :lol:

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