My Marble - Africa Pens

[Precise]

I've admired the beauty of amber marbled pens. A few are called Africa models. Perhaps some of you own an Aurora Afrika, which sells for over $800.

 

Here are mine:

 

They are arranged in order of cost. All have steel nibs. All except the Bexley are cartridge/converter.

 

The Bexley at the top goes for about $200 and is piston fill. Like my other four Bexley pens, it performs perfectly. I think Bexley offers great quality and value.

 

The Nero Muse is made in Italy by the small pen company Grifos. I bought it from them via ebay. It had some consistency troubles and the owner of Grifos, Maurizio Stura, sent me a new section+nib. Maurizio took the trouble to test it very carefully first. He cares about service. It is verrrrry smooth. Unlike most of my pens, the nib didn't need any tuning. I often use it for carry. I like the snap cap and the light weight. It does not post.

 

The Conklin Duragraph is a bargain at $45. It performs great.

 

The Kaigelu is modified. I changed the brass filials at both ends to plastic to reduce the original 47 gram weight. I also reduced the threads so it uncaps with one turn instead of the original three. It also wrote perfectly smooth without any tuning. The converter failed after very little use. I bought a replacement on ebay for a few dollars. This is my only pen with a screw-in converter.

 

The last pen sold for $14 on ebay. I've never inked it.

 

So here they are. I still watch for interesting amber-marble or tortoise pens on the internet. So my collection might grow.

 

Alan

Edited March 13, 2016 by Precise

[masterguns]

Those look really nice. I sure do like those colors. Thanks for posting them.

 

I will agree that the Bexley Poseidon Magnum II is a great pen, and that it really does deliver a lot of value for the cost. I've had two of them, one of which I sold last year, and another which is currently up in the classifieds. It seems a shame to sell it, but an even great shame to leave it in the box. I've just got far too many others that do the daily rotation.

[visvamitra]

Nero Muse has nice shape.

[Precise]

Nero Muse has nice shape.

Perhaps. But the nib end is thinner than the opposite end, which prevents posting. However despite that, there is a lot to like here. As I said, it's verrry smooth. Which inspires me to make another comment. This pen like many, is available with a gold nib for about $100 more. But I have a wide range of gold and steel nibbed pens and find no difference in the way they write. They look identical too, because most of my steel nibs (including the Nero) are gold plated.

[whichwatch]

Beautiful pens! I really like the colors in your collection.

 

Here is an Aurora Afrika as you mentioned. These can be purchased for way under the $800 you cited. Auroras are terrific pens. The pistons operate smoothly and the nibs, which do run to the fine side, write so nicely!

 

http://www.fototime.com/%7B46E8390D-E01D-4606-B0CB-20BB09478BDB%7D/sspict/640/exp=f&modt=42438.7794472685&ssdyn=1/IMG_0414.JPG

[Drone]

Rosetta makes a nice "marbled" acrylic fountain pen, the Magellan in Burnt Umber. $69.97 for the FP:

 

http://www.rosettapen.com/rosetta-magellan-fountain-pen-burnt-umber-with-gold-trim/

 

[mehandiratta]

wow nice collection @precise...

 

I must say I liked the Bexley Shape a lot...

[Precise]

Rosetta makes a nice "marbled" acrylic fountain pen, the Magellan in Burnt Umber. $69.97 for the FP:

 

http://www.rosettapen.com/rosetta-magellan-fountain-pen-burnt-umber-with-gold-trim/

 

 

Being very happy with my Rosetta Coronado I went to Rosetta to buy a Magellan. The pic on their site isn't as beautiful as yours. Perhaps I should call them and ask for more photos.

 

 

[Drone]

 

Being very happy with my Rosetta Coronado I went to Rosetta to buy a Magellan. The pic on their site isn't as beautiful as yours. Perhaps I should call them and ask for more photos.

 

Magellan.jpg

 

He he, I scraped that picture right from the Rosetta Magellan Web page The picture is about half way down the page. See here:

 

http://www.rosettapen.com/rosetta-magellan-fountain-pen-burnt-umber-with-gold-trim/

 

I was thinking about getting a Coronado. But I'm worried it would be top-heavy when posted. It is hard to find a review of the Coronado.

[Precise]

I was thinking about getting a Coronado. But I'm worried it would be top-heavy when posted. It is hard to find a review of the Coronado.

 

Years ago, I posted all my pens. But now I only post pens that need it due to short barrels. So most of my pens, and all of my large pens, are used un-posted. I write better that way.

 

Alan

[Precise]

I wrote above that the Nero Muse will not post. Today I fixed that, the same way I've fixed a few other pens. I'm lucky enough to have a lathe. I machined a taper at the entrance of the cap to match the six degree slope of the barrel. The tapered region is only 1.2mm long, but that was enough to allow it to post perfectly.

 

Alan