Visconti 18K Gold Nibs - 2021

[NickUK]

Hey everyone,

 

There has been sporadic info dotted about in various threads about the *new* 18K Gold nibs from Visconti, but I wanted to get some up to date opinions on them.

 

Also, I say *new*, because I've seen quite a few comments from people who say they have the 18K Gold nib, but also seem to indicate they've had the pen for quote a long time.

 

So, to clarify..... Visconti used to have 18K Gold nibs..... Then switched to the 23K Palladium nibs, and now have switched to 18K Gold nibs sourced from Bock (and this thread is dedicated to the new 18K Gold nibs from Bock!)

 

Questions:

 

1. How soft are they? If the Pelikan M1000 is super soft, and the MB149 is relatively hard..... Where does the Visconti fit in?

 

2. Smoothness? I know they can be tuned by a nibmeister, but out of the box, are they super sooth, or do they offer tactile feedback?

 

3. Overall impressions? I've generally seen positive comments, but what's your take?

 

Thanks!

[gerigo]

The current gold nibs are made in house, not by Bock. They are on the stiff side and they write very well. I have the new Opera Master Polynesia and love the performance. They are now on the finer side and no longer like wet fire hoses. The fine writes like a true fine.

[Paul-in-SF]

I have a Homo Sapiens Crystal Dream with an M nib, which is quite wet, and a Medici with an EF nib, which writes similarly fine, feedbacky, and moderately wet as an Aurora EF, but noticeably softer. Not flexy by any means, but not a nail either. I am quite happy with the quality of both nibs, although I am intending to have the Crystal Dream nib ground down to a F or so in width, just because I find it too wet to suit me. 

[NickUK]

2 hours ago, gerigo said:

The current gold nibs are made in house, not by Bock

There seems to be a lot of confusion here, as you aren’t the first to say that. 
 

The 18K Gold nibs in the Homo Sapiens (and other) pens are sourced from Bock.

 

Edit - Some of the 18K on other pens, are also completely made in house. 
 

The 14K Gold on the newer Homo Sapiens (colour series and so on), are made in house. 
 

I’ve heard very gold things about the 18K ones from Bock, but less stellar feedback about the 14K in house nibs. 

[A Smug Dill]

Just now, NickUK said:

I’ve heard very gold things about the 18K ones

 

 75% of the time?

[NickUK]

2 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

 75% of the time?

Ha, 75% of the time would be a big improvement over most nibs out there!

[Christopher Godfrey]

NickUK wrote, above: <...I’ve heard very gold things about the 18K ones from Bock, but less stellar feedback about the 14K in house nibs>

 

Oh, dear: I was wondering exactly this -- about the new(er) 14kt nibs -- since I rather fancy (I think) one of the HS with this nib.  Anyone got any feeedback, please?  Nick, excuse me for hijacking your thread, mate!

[NickUK]

18 hours ago, Christopher Godfrey said:

Oh, dear: I was wondering exactly this -- about the new(er) 14kt nibs -- since I rather fancy (I think) one of the HS with this nib.  Anyone got any feeedback, please?  Nick, excuse me for hijacking your thread, mate!

 

Hijack away my friend!

 

To update the thread for you, and anyone reading in future.....

 

Currently (as of September 2021), *most* of the HomoSapiens range from Visconti come with the 18K Rose Gold Bock nibs.

 

The ones that don't, are the Colour range (which come with the 14K in house nibs) - Worth checking though, as I imagine Visconti will change to completely in house soon.

 

I bought both a medium, and a broad Bronze Age that had the new 18K Rose Gold Bock nib........ I hated them both.

 

Firstly, they were incredibly dry - This is fixable, sure, but the medium was a fine, the broad not much thicker than the fine, and it was just an effort to drag it across the page.

 

They were also hard, and my preference is a bouncy soft nib.

 

My understanding is that the 23kt Palladium nibs of old were super wet, broad and bouncy.

 

Well..... the new ones are completely opposite.

 

I also had some finishing issues on the medium (the enamel on the clip had worn away).

 

Those issues aside, I love the uniqueness of the material and the design. If it had a decent nib, I'd have kept it in a heartbeat.

 

Also worth noting that I got it at quite a steep discount through Cult Pens who had 25% off (plus I had a 10% discount code on top of that), which made them about £430 from memory.

 

For me, it's no where near worth it. They just don't write that well.

[Christopher Godfrey]

Thanks so much for the input, Nick: I guess I'll go and spend me pennies elsewhere, then!  I feel another vintage Omas calling...  ;^)

[A Smug Dill]

Thanks for the update!

 

13 hours ago, NickUK said:

Firstly, they were incredibly dry - This is fixable, sure, but the medium was a fine, the broad not much thicker than the fine, and it was just an effort to drag it across the page.

 

They were also hard, and my preference is a bouncy soft nib.

 

My understanding is that the 23kt Palladium nibs of old were super wet, broad and bouncy.

 

Well..... the new ones are completely opposite.

 

While it may not be to every user's taste, what you described sounds to me like an improvement, assuming the ‘dryness’ is not to the point that ink starvation is evident in the lines being too faint to read or broken into segments. However, if not accompanied to good consistency from one product batch to the next and one unit to the next, that fit-for-purpose fineness would only be by chance, and not a matter of precision — and precision is what I want, while €500 is not the kind of ‘chance’ I'm prepared to take.

[NickUK]

7 hours ago, Christopher Godfrey said:

Thanks so much for the input, Nick: I guess I'll go and spend me pennies elsewhere, then!  I feel another vintage Omas calling...  ;^)

 

If you are in the UK, Cult Pens have an excellent returns policy, so there is no harm in trying one if you can't stop thinking about it.

 

I do know some people who are very happy with their new Bronze Ages, but it's always hard to tell if they are genuinely happy, or "I've spent £500 and I'm damn well going to be happy regardless".........

 

6 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

While it may not be to every user's taste, what you described sounds to me like an improvement

 

I think the "chance" aspect is still evident in the Viscontis, and from reading previous threads, it's always been that way.

 

The 2 pens I had felt like a real effort to write with - Whilst the line width was saturated enough, it really dragged across the page. Not scratchy, but more resistance than I wanted.

 

Again, it's just a personal feeling for me though, as I'm fond of the glassy smooth nibs.