When
it comes to mother of pearl in writing instruments, it's been used for
centuries in pens from many manufacturers. In the first days of eyedropper
filled pens, most of the "big name" manufacturers had at least
one or two pearl slab pens in their catalog, right alongside the solid
silver and gold overlays. Mother of pearl is an ideal material for an
exclusive luxury item, it shimmers with an inner light, and can be found
in colors from pure white to glowing greens and blues.
When it comes to modern pens, the use of mother of pearl has been somewhat more scarce. Part of this is due to the difficulty of working with the material, this leads to a higher cost for a mother of pearl pen when compared to acrylic or celluloid. Given the wonderful luminescence available in modern acrylic plastics, it might be seen that the the days of mother of pearl are over...
Well, not quite yet! There have been several brands offering mother of pearl pens, Dani Trio and Ancora among others, as well as the subject of this article, Ferrari da Varese.
Ferrari da Varese is located in the North Italian city of Varese, near Milan with the primary production facility in Phorzeim, Germany. There is a definite "German" feel to the pens we're looking at today, they have a fit and finish that is among the best I've seen in modern pens. Very precise. Very... German. Many of the past Ferrari da Varese pens we have reviewed have been a bit more aggressive, design-wise.
Not this time! These pens are very much the traditional in appearance. In fact, the design verges on minimalist, with a bare smooth sterling cap and barrel end, clean straight line clip, and discreet logo set into the cap top. The shape is of a gently sweeling cylinder, not quite straight sided, but neither is it a balance shape. Both the cap and the barrel taper slightly. It's just enough to give it some visual interest, but stops well short of being jarring. In fact, given the organic nature of the mother of pearl versus the colder aspect of the sterling silver, the slightly curved shape of cap and barrel help to blend the two materials together.
These pens are being offered in two different pearl finishes, one a pure white, and the other a darker, greenish brown shade. The latter is composed of many thin strips fitted together, while the white version is of eight larger strips that surround the barrel.
In
both versions, the fit and finish of the pearl is excellent, with no gaps
between either the pearl strips or at the joint between the pearl and
the metal. The excellent fit and finish are also notable in the threads
for the cap. The barrel end is also threaded to allow the cap to be securely
posted. Both sets of threads are precisely cut and finished so that replacing
or removing the cap is smooth. Be prepared to turn the cap a while though,
it requires four and a half complete revolutions to get the cap on or
off.
A nice bonus is that they are cut to leave the clip lined up with the nib when it's on the barrel end. Of course, given that the cap is solid sterling silver, it might not be the best choice for you to post it when writing. I found the pen to be almost perfectly balanced for my hand with the cap left off. Posted it was just a bit top heavy. Not too bad, considering the fact that the cap is solid metal!
Whether you post the cap or not, writing with these pens proved to be a pleasant experience. Thanks in large part to the nib, an 18K affair, engraved with scroll work around the edge, and marked Ferrari da Varese. I would assume that these nibs are German, perhaps made by Bock....
In any case, they are very good on the samples we received! One broad, one medium, and both very smooth, and with just a touch of softness. The nib is plated to match the silver of the cap and barrel end. Both put down a slightly wide line compared to US pens, that may have been due to the somewhat rich flow. Actually writing with this pen proved to be really a nice experience (although as I said earlier, I found it more comfortable without posting the cap.)
Filling is via cartridge converter, which might be my only criticism of the pen. For a pen that is this nice, a self-filler might be a nice touch, maybe a piston filler. That is really a subjective point, however, the pen certainly works quite well as is, and the converter is of nice construction, sized to the same standards as most "international" converters or cartridges.
Putting everything together, Ferrari da Varese has come up with a real winner in this model. It's just the right size, at 5 1/2 inches long closed, and 1/2 inch across the barrel (but it narrows through the section to just over 3/8 of an inch) It's heavy, at 1 1/2 oz, 1/2 oz of which is the cap, but as I said, it balances well enough that it doesn't feel unduly uncomfortable in use. Given that one of the selling points is the sterling silver construction, the weight is probably not going to be seen as a drawback by buyers of this pen.
When you consider the beauty of the pearl, the quality of the construction, and the nice overall design, it's an easy pen to like!
copyright 2004 William Riepl