Markiaro Starfish

[Uncial]

This is my first foray into a fountain pen review on this site....in fact, any site. So, please be a little forgiving if I leave out something essential, say the wrong thing or talk rubbish, etc. I would appreciate your feedback though, so that if I do a review again, it might be a bit better.

 

 

The pen I am reviewing is the Markiaro Starfish in dark marbled green with a fine steel nib. I haven't posted a writing sample as I've struggled somewhat with the upload restrictions. Must get that Flickr account for pen pics sorted! I've posted some pictures below - the good ones come courtesy of 'penwriters'. The pen comes with a small cartridge loose in the barrel, in either black or a deep blue. The box is a nice textured maroon colour and a paper sleeve with the name branded across the top, and it isn't too big. Some blurb is also included.

 

This pen has steel mounts on the clip and a very fine steel band at the business end of the cap. The cap has an engraved emblem of a starfish (which also makes an appearance on the nib) on the very end. the pen is 'flat top' at both ends. There are two very thin silver bands at the other end of the pen with a band of white, slightly opaque celluloid. The pen has this very deep green marble effect which is very pretty. It also comes in blue and red (there may be one or two other colours, but I haven't seen them).

 

 

The pen is five inches long (six inches posted) and posts securely. I actually find it a nice size, despite my initial reservations, as I tend to prefer pens of this girth to be a little longer. It's not a particularly 'fat' pen, but it's not a thin pen by any stretch of the imagination! It is very nicely balanced without being too light (I'm not a huge fan of feather-light pens). The size and shape of the pen make it very comfortable and easy to use and carry. The barrel expands slightly towards the centre and tapers off again to the end terminal, but it is only very slight.

 

I must be honest; when I first started using this pen I thought, 'ugh...no'. The steel nib gives a very generous amount of feedback (even on Rhodia paper). I'm not used to this at all and I tend to actively seek out butter smooth writers. Initially it felt very scratchy, but it wasn't catching the paper, nor were the tines displaced. After a little while I began to get used to it. It benefits hugely from a very, very light touch and a little active angling to reach its sweet spot. The feedback on the nib is a little more than I personally care for, but fairly similar in feedback terms to my Sheaffer Prelude. The nib also has an engraved starfish design, which is quite appealing.

 

 

This is an entry level pen from Delta under the Markiaro name and is actually a very beautiful pen. While I would have preferred a much smoother nib, it still writes well, with no skipping. However, it is a wet writer (something I actually like a lot, but I know not everyone does), and like some other Italian made pens, the fine nib is essentially a medium (at least to my mind). Overall I really like the vintage aesthetic of the pen and given time it may become my daily writer.

 

Perhaps I should clarify what I consider a 'daily writer' as I suspect we all might mean something quite different when we use the term. For me, it is those pens which I regularly carry beyond my front door, use for jotting notes, for w*rk and lots of other official stuff while out and about rather than the stuff I really want to do, for which I reserve my 'pleasing writers I never want to loose' pens.

 

Pretty pen, really lovely colour, beautiful design, acceptable nib (but could be better in my view), nice size and weight. I think I can hear my fifteen year faithful, daily writer Sheaffer Prelude starting to weep.

[hot cocoa]

Pretty pen, really lovely colour, beautiful design, acceptable nib (but could be better in my view), nice size and weight. I think I can hear my fifteen year faithful, daily writer Sheaffer Prelude starting to weep.

 

Agreed, that marbled green is gorgeous...Delta's acrylics never fail to catch my eye, and I think your photos are nice and do the depth of the color justice!

 

The starfish is a cute touch...maybe sending the pen off to a nibmeister or finding some micromesh will help take the edge off your nib? It sounds too feedbacky to be normal.

[Uncial]

Thanks. I've noticed that the format of the reviews has sections and scorings - I probably should have arranged it the same way for ease of reading. I suspect the nib is just a bit on the cheap side to be honest, but yes, a bit of micro mesh may be employed.

[doggonecarl]

That finish reminds me of moss agate.

 

Never heard of Markiaro. So thanks for the review and bringing it to my attention.

[zchen]

woops, wrong thread.

Edited April 2, 2014 by zchen

[GG917]

I have one in what is called "black" with a fine nib. Very stiff nib but smooth and quite wet as well. Nib and feed are friction fit.

I have notice that it started wet but tend to write drier after something like half a page. So far I only tried it with the supplied black cartridge (delta black?) and nothing else. Maybe a dried ink or wetter will help?

 

Otherwise it is a nice pen, postable but the cap does not fit well on the pseudo filling button. I use it unposted anyway! pleasant to hold and the resine is very nice.

For the price I am not disapointed by the pen, made me look into other Delta pens!

 

edit: Forgot that need creep into the starfish is something quite nice actually!!

Edited April 3, 2014 by GG917

[Uncial]

Resurrecting this thread simply to say that it has been brought to my attention that these pens are no longer produced under the Markiaro name, but are produced under Delta's name.

 

I've since smoothed out my nib and it writes well. I also had the chance to try a stone grey one which had a very nice nib - much smoother than mine, so I suspect I got a slightly dud nib to begin with.

 

*I was hoping to be able to simply add 'Delta' into the tag list, but I don't seem to be able to do that. Am I missing something obvious, or am I simply far too late?

Edited October 18, 2015 by Uncial