Pen pops

One of the fun things about stationery as a hobby is picking up nuggets of trivia. Here’s a selection of pen facts I’ve learned recently, about Pelikan, OMAS, Noodler’s, Pilot, and more.

Numberwang — the final number of a Pelikan pen indicates whether the trim color is gold or silver. If it ends in a 5, that’s a silver finish (such as the rhodium plating on the m805), and 0 indicates a gold finish.

AS good AS it gets — The Italian pen company OMAS went into liquidation in January 2016. From its ashes, two quite different companies have emerged. The first is from OMAS’ founder, Armando Simoni, for whom the A and the S in the name stand, who has started Armando Simoni Club pens. They continue his flamboyant style. The other offshoot company is SCRIBO pens, the BO referencing Bologna, the Italian town which was home to OMAS. SCRIBO bought the tooling from OMAS and uses similar manufacturing processes, and carries forward the legacy and reputation in their nibs. SCRIBO’s first fountain pen, the Feel, is now very much on my wishlist!

One pen to hold it all — Noodler’s ink, definitely the most eccentric of brands, ship a free eyedropper fountain pen with their large bottles. The pen is called “Charlie”. Via Goulet’s Q&A podcast.

Gold digging — Again from the Goulet podcast, I learned the tip that if you’re looking for a good introduction to the world of gold-nibbed fountain pens, the Pilot Custom 74 is the place to start. It’s not a world of difference in price from the Lamy 2000, so I’m not sure I’d 100% agree, but as Japanese and European pens differ, it would make sense to start with either!