Best looking nib?

[rochester21]

Name your favorite looking nib. The looks are important here, usability less so. 

 

My favorite looking nib is the Sheafer Feathertouch no. 5 nib, when i first saw it i was impressed by the complex yet elegant lines, the platinum mask, busy writing with 3 separate fonts and heart shaped hole. And it's smooth too! 

 

It's such a precise design i wonder how they made them back in the 1930s, with no computers or CAD. The stamping and cutting process is very impressive if you think about it, most of it must have been done by hand. 

 

Stole this picture from Peyton Street Pens but i think it's OK cause i am a happy customer

 

 

[ruby.monkey]

It's pretty, but it's not Sailor zoom nib pretty.

 

XTFA1246 by Jean-Yves, on Flickr

[Bo Bo Olson]

I have two, one picture with permission of Penboard.de (PenPrincess is a part of Penboard)

is a rolled gold trim Geha 725, an incredible sleek, very great balanced classic with the two slightly curved lines of the clip adding to the classic looks...........but this is just the Semi-flex F 585/14 K nib.

Developed to stomp MB into a mudpuddle (which it did...IMO), the Geha 725 (Mid '60's-72) originally cost 360DM/$90, back when my sterling silver P-75 cost a whole $22 in blue treasury seal silver money and or silver dollars, which one could get at any bank for a paper bill. That was back when the dollar was almighty at 1 $ = 4 DM. 

 

With permission of Pentime, the my eye only bling of a MB Virginia Woolf. Got on sale at my B&M for 1/3 off.

I love it when my wife buys me a birthday gift......until later when I remembered the small print............'our money', couldn't buy a pen, ink or any paper for some 9 months.

Both those pens deserve to be moved way up my next to use list.

[rochester21]

I enjoyed the Geha story, apparently it's a company worth knowing. 

 

That being said... I prefer a Sheaffer Targa nib. Actually i prefer most sheaffer nibs to anything else. 

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

the photography is not as good as I had hoped, but I offer these two nibs:

 

Lever Filling Sentinel Sheaffer

 

 

 

and in this pic, the nib on the left is a Vac Major... the one on the right?... oversize? maxima? I have no idea... the naming on Vacs can get a little hard to follow...

 

 

PS, I'm looking for a Silver Pearl cap for the bigger one... 

[Bo Bo Olson]

Shaffer has an inlaid nib also, but I think the Geha one is prettier.........or at least as pretty. 

I'm not up on Shaffer, living in Europe with the super high US postage costs ruining any bargain found in the US. ...So I chased local German pens.

 

Thinking about the problem....

I've a pretty '36 Canadian Parker Vac nib, but think yours are prettier....Picture wise I just have the blue dot on the '38 clip of the Vac.

[bunnspecial]

4 hours ago, IThinkIHaveAProblem said:

 

and in this pic, the nib on the left is a Vac Major... the one on the right?... oversize? maxima? I have no idea... the naming on Vacs can get a little hard to follow...

 

I love those nibs, as well as the modern two-tone "feather" nibs on the Duofold.

 

Right could be either an OS or Maxima nib. The OS and Maxima are similar in size. Usually OSs are associated with a lockdown filler and 3 narrow cap bands, while the Maxima is thought of as having a Speedline filler and the single wide decorated cap band(wider than the one found on the Vac Major).

 

As for the original question, I think this my current personal favorite

 

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

17 minutes ago, bunnspecial said:

 

I love those nibs, as well as the modern two-tone "feather" nibs on the Duofold.

 

Right could be either an OS or Maxima nib. The OS and Maxima are similar in size. Usually OSs are associated with a lockdown filler and 3 narrow cap bands, while the Maxima is thought of as having a Speedline filler and the single wide decorated cap band(wider than the one found on the Vac Major).

 

As for the original question, I think this my current personal favorite

 

Thanks for the info. Sadly as i mentioned, i don’t have a cap for it and I’m not 100% sure on the filler as it is jammed in the blind cap… but i think it might be a lockdown due to how short the blind cap is. 
 

that, btw, is a beautiful MB nib!

[bunnspecial]

4 minutes ago, IThinkIHaveAProblem said:

Thanks for the info. Sadly as i mentioned, i don’t have a cap for it and I’m not 100% sure on the filler as it is jammed in the blind cap… but i think it might be a lockdown due to how short the blind cap is.
 

that, btw, is a beautiful MB nib!

 

There is definitely a difference in length of the blind cap, although I'm not sure what you mean about how it being "jammed" in the cap. Do you mean when you unscrew the blind cap the whole filler comes out with it? Even if so, the difference between speedline and lockdown should be obvious as a lockdown when locked with hold the diaphragm in the stretched position and a speedline will have it in the relaxed position.

 

I can photograph OS and Maximas next to each other tomorrow if you'd like to see...

 

The 149 in general is one of my favorite nibs, but that particular one is a very special one for several reasons and I think it may be the best looking 149 nib I have.

[rochester21]

56 minutes ago, bunnspecial said:

 

As for the original question, I think this my current personal favorite

 

I do enjoy seeing a perfectly aligned nib, especially with the box-shaped tipping. I don't think i ever had that, is that a B/BB? 

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

29 minutes ago, bunnspecial said:

 

Do you mean when you unscrew the blind cap the whole filler comes out with it? 

 

I can photograph OS and Maximas next to each other tomorrow if you'd like to see...

 

 

Yes. It has a stubby little blind cap and the filler is somehow jammed in it and not in the pen. i bought it this way. It is something of a long term project… very long term

 

 that would be great. Maybe some measurements if possible?…

[bunnspecial]

6 minutes ago, rochester21 said:

I do enjoy seeing a perfectly aligned nib, especially with the box-shaped tipping. I don't think i ever had that, is that a B/BB? 

 

This is a special nib made in collaboration with the German stationary store Fritz Schimpf. They call/bill it as the "Italic Edge" and there were 100 of them made.

 

If it were a regular production nib, it would probably be roughly a 4B. It's MUCH wider than any B/BB Montblanc I've had. With that said, it can be "rotated" 70º or so and actually writes a very useable EF line(an advertised feature of the nib).

 

 

 

[vicpen123]

For their form, shape and contribution to the overall appearance of the pens, my favourites are:

 

Parker 75 conical nib; and

 

Sheafer TRIUMPH conical nib.

 

They also write well.

[Waltz For Zizi]

These are two of the most "drop dead gorgeous" nibs I've ever seen. I found them unintentional while searching for something else, and I remembered this topic.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Whee!! Ornate cubed.

 

What flex rate do they have, nail, semi-nail, or regular flex....ie Japanese 'soft'?

[Waltz For Zizi]

Apparently they are made by pen BBS.

 

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

5 hours ago, Waltz For Zizi said:

These are two of the most "drop dead gorgeous" nibs I've ever seen. I found them unintentional while searching for something else, and I remembered this topic.

 

Very nice

 

 thanks for sharing

[wspohn]

For me, this one - also it is a hoot to write with. Sailor  Naginata King Eagle

 

 

 

 

[SpecTP]

On 11/21/2022 at 7:13 AM, Waltz For Zizi said:

Apparently they are made by pen BBS.

 

 

Daniel Chang put together a google doc of the nibs characteristics here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XBh0iu9Qv-ABtJSI_qg2Wud2tFAdzPaW/edit?fbclid=IwAR2s6M4plJNzNHClvAJO5z4bkI-GoagHEWVxg7bfcMLmpxmpLAec9YKY5Uw#gid=627630624

 

Also described in detail here

 

[TgeekB]

Any vintage Sheaffer.