This is not a new acquisition but a pen that I bought, gleefully, at the London Pen Show in March 2019. The Furore was then a fairly new model, which followed Leonardo’s Momento Zero and was very similar except for having bullet shaped ends.
With a range of vibrant colours, said to celebrate the natural colours of the Amalfi coast, it is hard not to be drawn to a display of these stunning Italian pens at a pen show. Shiny, smooth, tactile and colourful, with a lovely chatoyance as you turn the pen in your hand, I found the pen irresistible. Each pen is numbered on the barrel. Having chosen this refreshingly bright orange pen, it was an added bonus to learn that mine bore the serial No. 001 for this colour. I opted for a fine nib. There are both gold coloured or silver coloured nibs and fittings available.
The Leonardo Officina Italiana Furore Arancio. Seen here between a Momento Zero (front) and a Campo Marzio Ambassador.
Description.
This is quite a large pen but not overly heavy. The cap features a sturdy metal clip with a rolling wheel at the end and two gold coloured cap bands. The cap unscrews in one full turn. The section shape will be familiar from the Momento Zero, having the same generous girth at the barrel but then tapering to a narrower girth lower down. This looks a little odd at first but makes for a comfortable grip with a natural dip where I rest the pen on my second finger.
The Furore uncapped.
The barrel unscrews on resin threads. It is a cartridge converter pen, taking standard international cartridges but comes with a handsome, screw in, branded converter. Like the Momento Zero, there is also the option to access the converter by unscrewing the end of the barrel only, so keeping your fingers away from the ink bottle. The downside is that you do not get the same instant visual confirmation that you have filled your pen.
The Leonardo screw-fit converter.
Nib and writing performance.
The steel fine nib works well, with a deliciously pencil-like feedback. The nib and feed are friction fit but very tight and I have not attempted to remove them since the fine nib was fitted for me when I bought the pen.
The Leonardo steel nib, in a Fine.
Size and weight.
The pen measures 145mm closed, 130mm open and 165mm if posted. The cap does post, quite deeply and securely and without upsetting balance, to make for a very comfortable unit if you do not mind the length.
Despite its large size, the pen weighs only 25g in all, of which 18g is the pen uncapped and 7g for the cap alone.
Likes and dislikes.
As pens go, this is a gorgeous specimen. Imagine seeing this in a tray of black pens: it would be hard not to pick it up. It has a host of nice attributes, such as the vibrant colour, attractive shape, chatoyance, comfortable grip and the smart, screw-fit converter, as well as being an enjoyable writer. On the down side, the translucence of the material does mean some discolouration at the section once the pen is inked. Also, personally, I am not so keen on the rolling wheel pocket clip feature, largely because I have seen other clips where the wheel has been lost, leaving an unsightly fork. But the wheel does help in sliding the clip over a pocket, if you want to carry the pen that way although I prefer to use a pen case.
Final thoughts.
Having reflected on my positive views on this pen, I am embarrassed to say that I have not made more use of the pen, in what is almost two years since I bought it. But in the pen’s defence I admit that this is not through any fault of the pen but rather its misfortune in landing in a household whose owner was already awash in good pens, competing for attention. And it is for this reason that I must get a grip on my appetite for shiny new pens and bring this one back into my rotation.
Here is a brief round-up of some of my recent fountain pen related activities.
Currently inked.
If you had met me when I was aged 11, and asked me then about my ink pens and accessories, the sum total would have looked something like this.
A single Parker pen and bottle of Quink. “Can it be that it was all so simple then, or has time rewritten every line?”
Somehow in the intervening years, (but particularly in the last few) the pen accumulation has mushroomed and I have an entire drawer full of inks, the use and enjoyment of which has become a major hobby.
However, my number of “currently inked” pens at home, in a neat array of pen cups, has grown to an all-time high at 31, (not counting a couple of others kept at my place of work and another in my jacket pocket). Here is what 31 pens looks like.
The 31 currently inked, bunched roughly according to ink colour
This is due to a combination of factors: a number of new arrivals; an eagerness to try out new pen and ink combination ideas without waiting for another pen to run dry, and a general reluctance to flush away good ink.
The currently inked list. Note, five all inked with Tavy blue black, three with Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-kai, three with Graf Cobalt blue and two with Montblanc Royal blue.
I do not really see this as a problem. (Perhaps THAT is my problem!) I could go and flush them all this evening, but this would mean wasting the equivalent of almost one entire bottle of ink. Whilst I could cut down, I do enjoy having the choice of all these pens at my finger tips. And the joy is that each and every one feels different.
Recent purchases.
At the end of January, I bought a Montblanc Meisterstuck 145 Classique with platinum trim. As usual it came fitted with a Medium nib but I had six weeks in which to request a free nib exchange. I did visit a Montblanc store in London where I was able to try out the various nib options. I was very tempted by the Broad, which would have been my choice if I were to have swapped. But in the end I did not want to part with my Medium nib that I had grown to enjoy. The nib had taken a few weeks to run in and in short, we had “bonded”.
In the early weeks since buying this pen, I tried a different ink on every fill but have now settled on the lovely Montblanc William Shakespeare Velvet Red, for the time being.
Another purchase, made at the London pen show in March, was the new Leonardo Officina Italiana, “Furore”, in a vibrant orange with gold colour trim and a Fine nib. In a rare stroke of genius, I have paired this with Waterman Tender Purple – a fun ink for a fun pen and am loving the combo. Also the feel of this nib on Leuchtturm journal paper makes me want to exclaim “Ooh, that’s lovely!” every time I write with it.
The artificial light does not do this justice.
My only other pen purchase from the show was my Diplomat Excellence A, Marrakesh, with a Fine nib in 14k gold. This has been inked with Tavy and I have been using it happily for my daily journal. The first fill had been with Diamine Cherry Sunburst, which I did not enjoy so much with this pen; perhaps it was just too matchy matchy for the metallic brown pen.
Unexpected gifts.
In February I received a wonderful surprise gift from a pen friend in Australia, who sent me his Pilot Custom 823 and Graf von Faber-Castell black Guilloche, both with Broad nibs and both fantastic pens. The 823 had been a grail pen for me and difficult to find in the UK. On my last visit to Hong Kong in 2017 I had hoped to have a chance to do some pen foraging and perhaps bag an 823 but my shopping plans were cut short by a bout of Sciatica and so the 823 had remained on my wish list. So I was extremely happy when one arrived on my doormat out of the blue.
Then in March, having read of my new Classique and my dilemma over whether to go for a nib exchange, my friend sent me a superb, 1970’s Montblanc 146 with a broad nib, which unlike the modern versions is an all gold finish and rather softer too. The pen also had a solid clear ink window instead of the small rectangular windows that the modern piston fillers have. This was an extremely generous and unexpected gift and you can imagine how thrilled I was on opening this package.
Montblanc Meisterstuck 146, with Broad nib. Believed to date from the 1970’s.
London Pen Club.
Our pen club met on 6 April, with a good turnout of around 15 people. Being the first gathering since the London pen show, a few of us had some new goodies from the show for others to try. My orange Leonardo Furore drew some admiring comments.
John had brought along his Montblanc 146 and 149. I was interested to compare these alongside my 145 and 146 and got a photo of them all in a row.
The first and third are mine…the 145 and 146.
Cameron had brought a recently acquired Pelikan M815 shiny stripes Stresemann, which was impressive, being heavier than the normal M800’s due to the metal in the barrel.
Penultimate Dave brought along an entire pen case of Arco beauties from his collection and some lovely Conway Stewarts which felt good in the hand.
However, I am pleased to report that I was feeling very content with my lot and did not feel the need to acquire anything else. Whilst it is always great to try other people’s pens, and many of brands that you just do not see in pen shops, I was happy in the end just to know that they exist. I felt, for the moment at least, cured of the need to acquire any more pens!
Harrods and Selfridges.
To put this to the test, I took the opportunity after the pen club meet, to visit both Harrods and Selfridges, to have a browse around their fountain pen departments and see what was new.
In Harrods, there is a particularly good range of Montegrappa pens. I had a second look at the “Monte Grappa” models, a recent range of retro style piston fillers, in black, navy blue, lavender or coral. They are available with either steel nibs or 14k gold nibs, the latter version being £445.00 in Harrods.
I was pleased to discover a very quick route to Harrods’ pen department currently located on the third floor, as “Pens, Books and Games” rather than the “Great Writing Room” of the past. (If you walk round to the back of Harrods, in the Basil Street entrance, take the escalator to the third floor, go left through Stationery, you will get straight to the fountain pens. You’re welcome).
A few tube stops later I was at Selfridges, where the pens are on basement level. I had a good look around the displays, with a good selection of the high end brands, including Yard O Led, Graf von Faber-Castell, Caran d’Ache, Chopard, SJ Dupont, Montegrappa, Pelikan and a few Viscontis, as well as Parker, Cross, Sheaffer and Waterman. As with Harrods, there is a separate booth for Montblanc.
I noticed Pineider there for the first time, with La Grande Bellazza models in Malachite and various other colours and two demonstrator models, one being the Honeycomb, which I had not seen before. The other with a gold coloured spring inside appeared at first glance like a posh TWSBI Go.
I was able to leave both Harrods and Selfridges without parting with any money. This time.
This year for the first time, London has two pen shows. In addition to the usual one in October, a second London date in March was added to replace the show in Cambridge.
I had been looking forward to it, albeit with conflicting ideals of (a) trying to be sensible and not buy more pens unless there was some good reason and (b) having a look at the new Leonardo Furore, the Opus 88 Omar or Koloro, the new Scribo in blue and perhaps a Sailor Pro Gear Ocean, (although I was still undecided on nib choice). My preparations for the day included bringing cash, a bigger shoulder bag, dressing lighter, and bringing some ink plus a pen that I had agreed to lend to a friend Gary. My wife was also joining me for her first pen show.
We arrived soon after 9am and had time for a chat with some friends from my pen club before the early bird admissions at 9.30am.
Once inside, the temptations came thick and fast. At the first table I realised I had forgotten to bring my loupe to look at nibs. I handled a modern Conklin Mark Twain Crescent Filler in black carbon fibre for £100.00 which was likely to sell fast. I have two of these pens in the red and the coral resin and managed to resist.
Next, with my powers of resistance already depleted I found Stefano’s table. I first met Stefano at last October’s show, when I bought a new limited edition Delta Fantasia Vintage from him, in beautiful dark green celluloid. This time his table included a prominent display rack of brightly coloured Leonardo Officina Italiana Furore pens. Last year, the Leonardo Momento Zero fountain pen was very well received. I had bought one in an attractive burgundy resin. The new model, the Furore was introduced late last year and I had not yet seen one in the flesh. Like the Momento Zero, it is a resin pen, cartridge converter filler, with a good quality stainless steel nib. A blind cap unscrews to access the converter without removing the barrel if you wish. Whilst the Momento Zero had flattened ends, the Furore goes for bullet shaped ends and looks very appealing in photos on social media.
Leonardo Furore Arancio
it is a good sized pen, wide and chunky but sleek. I liked the look of the turquoise model and the bright red, both very vibrant, but it was the orange one that most took my fancy. It had an Extra Fine nib but Stefano kindly swapped it for a Fine. They are friction fit although this involved a bit of a wrestle.
The new Furore, from Leonardo Officina Italiana
These pens, whilst not limited editions, are individually numbered on the barrel. Perhaps the orange (“Arancio”) edition was introduced after the first run. Stefano told me that he had only just received these from the manufacturers, just in time for the London show. The serial number of the orange pen was 001! I was already smitten but the serial number was a special bonus. I felt like David Gilmour owning the first Fender Stratocaster. This sort of thing does not normally happen to me. (Coincidentally I had been listening a lot to Brit Floyd on YouTube recently, the highly accomplished Pink Floyd tribute band).
Numero uno!
I had been attracted to the idea of having a bright orange pen since seeing the Pineider Avatar, saffron, in Harrods last year and perhaps seeing the Pelikan M600 in vibrant orange had also put ideas in my head.
Next I met John Hall of Write Here and had a look at the new Opus 88 pens on his table. He had brought the Koloro eye-dropper pens and also had one which had been fitted with a Titanium nib, which was quite flexy. I also liked the look and the size of the new larger, Omar pens. He had them in all colours except the green which was the colour that I might have bought, but there is always the online option. I later met a friend Vijay in the coffee lounge who had just bought an Omar in grey and it looked very nice. They hold a massive amount of ink but unlike my Opus 88 Demonstrator, it is more discretely hidden in the Omar.
At John Twiss’ table, in addition to his own range of pens, he had a few Diplomat Excellence pens at irresistible prices. I saw a smart silver grey model and also the metallic brown Marrakesh. Both were fitted with 14k gold Diplomat nibs and were for sale at £150.00 , which as John pointed out was less than Cult Pens’ price for the steel nib version. I have a Diplomat Esteem, which is the mid sized model, with a steel nib which is fabulous, very smooth and a little springy. I had thought about buying an Excellence, (the large size model) as the nibs are so good but had never seen a gold nib version for sale. I chose the Marrakesh, with a 14k gold nib in a Fine.
The Diplomat Excellence A2 Marrakesh with a Fine nib in 14k gold.
John Twiss also had an unusual Diplomat Excellence in a beautiful geometric pattern of dark blue and black rectangles for £70.00, which looked stunning under the lights. I persuaded my wife to buy it, telling her how great Diplomat pens are and how you do not see them for sale here, even in Harrods or Selfridges. She also liked a ball point pen in a retro design with metal latticework. John offered her a price of £10.00 for these if bought with the Excellence. She bought two of them.
Wife’s haul. A Diplomat Excellence, with a steel nib (Fine) and a screw cap. Also two ball point pens. Not bad for a first timer.
It was good to see so many friends from our monthly pen club meet ups, about 12 of them, and to introduce my wife. Jon and his wife Deb had a table, to promote Pensharing, Jon’s online scheme to enable people to hire pens from each other. We also spoke to the vendors, many of whom I know by name now from previous pens shows.
We stopped by the Armando Simoni Club table, to talk to Europe Sales Manager Cristina Guida. I looked at a really gorgeous Wahl Eversharp in turquoise with a massive gold nib. which looked like a grail pen, if not a daily carry.
Cristina from Armando Simoni Club
We met Sarj Minhas and had a look at his extensive displays, living up to the name of the one man pen show. We stopped to talk to KWZ Ink, over from Poland. I had met Konrad Zurawski and Agnieszka when they visited our London pen club meet up in June last year. Their table had a well organised ink testing station with colourful samples of their expanding range of inks.
Agnieszka and Konrad Zurawski of KWZ Ink. Also Konrad’s homemade chocolate brownie!
After going round a couple of times, we took a break in the coffee lounge. Many of our pen club had gathered and it was fun to hear what others had bought. We had some lunch and a cup of tea, chatting to friends. My wife was happy to sit out the next round while I went back in for another lap. There was so much to see and I could very easily have got carried away if money had been no object. I had a look at a Sailor pen on The Writing Desk’s table (Martin and Anna Roberts). I have bought a several pens from them in the past. I held off this time but bought a bottle of Diamine Cherry Sunburst (in the Gibson Les Paul guitar series).
Ink stash from the show. Montblanc William Shakespeare Velvet Red, Diamine Tavy, a Diamine Conway Stewart mystery ink (green) bought because of the cute bottle and a Diamine Cherry Sunburst.
The aftermath
The pen show experience does not end when you leave the hall. Back home in the evening, I caught up on the many photos of the day on Instagram and enjoyed Anthony’s excellent blog on UK fountain pens.
It had been a wonderful day. I inked up both of my new pens, after rinsing the nibs which had been dipped at the show. I chose to put the Diamine Cherry Sunburst in both. The brown ink looked quite nice on cream paper, although I was tired by then and with hindsight it was a mistake to ink up two new pens at once, particularly with the same new ink. The ink is more suggestive of the natural wood colour than the red and gold sunburst paint job of a Les Paul. I also noticed that the Furore resin is semi translucent and that when inked, the dark ink is visible through the section and slightly spoils the effect of the bright orange. Both of my new pens had Fine nibs.
Leonardo Furore, Fine nib (gold colour plating)
During the week I had the opportunity to spend time using the Diplomat Excellence taking notes at a day of CPD lectures. By then I had refilled it with my favourite blue black, Diamine’s Conway Stewart Tavy which suits it better. The pen writes reliably and well although the nib feels a bit firmer than I had expected. Perhaps I was remembering the Scribo Extra Flex nib that I had tried at the show which makes normal nibs feel like nails. The Diplomat has a pleasant feedback. I expect the nib will feel smoother once it has been written in. It is also a heavy pen at 47g posted, or 29g unposted.
There were lots of other pens that I resisted. I could have bought another Wancher Crystal Emerald (clear demonstrator with lovely dark green section and ends) but reminded myself that I already have three of these eye-dropper, cartridge converter pens. They are the perfect size and shape for me and the Jowo steel nibs are generally very good. I also looked at some old Parker Duofold Big Reds, as seen in the advertisements of the 1920’s but without knowing more about them and their prices I would need some help to find one. There were countless other vintage Parkers and other pens at affordable prices, with coloured stickers indicating the price group but I passed these by.
As always, the pen show makes for a great day out. My only regrets are of not spending more time at certain tables, such as Onoto for example and that I took hardly any photos during the show but with the limitations of time and energy and with so much to see, it is difficult to make the most of the day. I did not do too badly and there is always the next one in October.
Left to right: Opus 88, TWSBI Diamond 580 AL R, Delta Fantasia Vintage, Leonardo Officina Italiana Momento Zero Collection and a Wancher Crystal.
For a London based fountain pen addict, the annual London Pen Show is probably the biggest date in the calendar, for meeting dealers, fellow enthusiasts and some pen shopping. I had been looking forward to it for months.
It is sensible to have some sort of plan or list if you intend to buy something, as the day can be intense. I didn’t do this. I had only a vague idea, perhaps to look at some vintage Parker pens, a Duofold such as a Standard or a Senior, a bit larger than the Junior that I picked up at the Cambridge pen show in March. I was also interested to look at a Big Red, a proper vintage one, having bought a modern Duofold International just the week before. But mostly I came with an open mind and was not looking for anything in particular to buy.
I arrived at the Holiday Inn just after 9.00am, to discover that even the “early bird” admission did not start until 9.30am and that the regular admission was from 10.30am. I headed over to the lounge and met Penultimate Dave from our pen club, who showed me his latest acquisitions.
We paid the extra for early admission and enjoyed the relative quiet of the halls before they got crowded.
Throughout the day, I was to run into numerous other regular members of our London fountain pen club and a few others from further afield, such as Jon, Vijay and Mateusz and so it was a very social occasion. Every time I came out of the halls for a break, there would be a different group of friends to join in the coffee lounge, chatting over their purchases.
In the course of the day, I was to buy five new pens, none of them Parkers, as it turned out. Here is a brief summary.
Delta Fantasia Vintage.
My first stop was the enticing table of Stefano and his wife, of Stilograph Corsani. I had heard great reports of his Delta Fantasia Vintage, his collaboration with Delta to produce a small number of beautiful, traditional looking cartridge-converter fountain pens in celluloid, with steel nibs. My friend Jon has one in turquoise which looks stunning in photographs. I had looked at them online and pondered on ordering one unseen. And then suddenly, here they were in front of me on the table, in the range of five colours. They are limited editions, with only 25 made in each colour.
Delta Fantasia Vintage, Verde Scuro, Dark Green sounds so much nicer in Italian.
In my wish list, I had thought of choosing the burgundy version. However, in the flesh, albeit under the artificial lighting of the hotel passageway, it was the dark green which most appealed to me. The celluloid has a most luxurious, distinctive feel. Stefano assured me that it is a pen which is meant to be used and that you will not harm the pen by posting the cap if you wish. I was smitten by the patterns in the dark green celluloid, where beautiful parabolas appear as the barrel tapers, yet the pen appears almost black if you revolve it a little. It felt extremely smooth and comfortable in the hand. The nib is firm but very smooth.
My friend Anthony had brought his 6 year old daughter along, who decided that my pen looked like snake skin. I cannot top that. Coincidentally Anthony had just had the pleasure of hiring Jon’s turquoise version, under Jon’s recently launched online Pensharing scheme.
Opus 88 Demonstrator.
My next stop was to see John Hall of Write Here. I am yet to visit his shop in Shrewsbury but have spoken to him several times at pen shows. I was aware that he sells Opus 88 eyedropper pens, from Taiwan but which tend to sell out quickly and take a while to come back in stock. I had tried one at our pen club (Penultimate Dave again) who had bought one and bought two more to ink in different colours. He tends to prefer broad nibs and this makes sense with such a large pen with a voluminous ink capacity.
John Hall had brought just a couple of these along (and this is the real benefit of the early admission) and so I was able to handle one and clinch my purchase of it, beating the crowds.
The mighty Opus 88 Demonstrator, eye-dropper fountain pen, inked with GvF-C Cobalt Blue.
Like Dave, I opted for a broad nib. I have been using it with Graf von Faber-Castell Cobalt blue, thinking that I want to have an ink that I will not get bored with! I can honestly say that the pen is a joy. It is big, wide and long. The cap does not post but it is very long already at 137mm and the nib is quite possibly the smoothest I have ever used. The great thing is that you can write on ridged paper (white laid writing paper for example) and the large nib will ride over the bumps like a beach buggy over sand dunes.
Wancher Crystal flat top.
My next purchase was at John Twiss’ table, where he had some of his hand-turned fountain pen creations in beautiful colours and some other exotic wares, such as a red urushi Danitrio Bamboo Tamenuri. I witnessed in awe as Dave decided upon and bought that stunning pen, in the same time as it took me to chose one of John’s more accessible £30.00 Wancher Crystal flat-top eyedropper/cartridge converter pens, in a mix of blue and clear plastic of some sort, with a nice size 6 steel nib. I have two of these from John already, but with the bullet shaped ends and so this is essentially the same pen, with all the same great features (sprung inner cap, demonstrator barrel, optional eyedropper or cartridge/converter filling) which I love. They are to my mind extremely good value. Somehow, the large comfortable proportions seem automatically to improve my handwriting.
TWSBI Diamond 580 AL R, with 1.1mm stub nib.
This year, Martin Roberts of The Writing Desk was back at the London Pen Show. I had bought my very first TWSBI from him at the same event 4 years ago, a Vac 700, which remains one my most fun pens! I have since gone on to add a Diamond 580, an Eco, and a Classic to my TWSBI line-up, all of which have performed well. This year, the novelty was the TWSBI Go, in grey or sapphire, with a quick and easy push button sprung filling mechanism. However, I let that one go (no pun intended) and instead asked for the new AL-R version Diamond 580 piston filler, with a 1.1mm stub nib. I had not tried this nib before but thought it a good option for the large capacity pen.
TWSBI Diamond 580 AL R, a new finish for a popular classic, piston fill pen.
At home I have also inked this one with the GvF-C Cobalt Blue and am enjoying the stub nib a lot. I am finding it more like a crisp italic nib, a little sharp at the edges but if you hold it right at the sweet spot and keep to that grip, it is smooth and gives a gorgeous amount of line variation, with no effort.
Leonado Officina Italia, Momento Zero Collection
My last purchase of the day, on that fatal “just one more lap” of the halls was this beautiful resin pen with steel nib, from the table of iZods Ink (Roy). He had a selection of colours on display. Prices were displayed for both the celluloid and the resin models. At first I picked up one of resin ones, so impressed by the beautiful finish that I thought it must be one of the pricey celluloid models. When Roy told me that it was the resin pen (and accordingly a very reasonable £135.00) it was irresistible and the only decision remaining was whether to go for dark red marbled or dark blue marbled finish. Both looked stunningly attractive and resistance was futile. I would have been very happy with either but went for the dark red.
At home I filled it with Conway Stewart Tavy, my faithful favourite for an attractive blue black which flows well. With cap posted, it is a sizeable but comfortable and well balanced pen. I have since enjoyed watching Emy’s review of it on Youtube and his film of visiting the founder, Salvatore at his factory in Italy.
Leonardo Officina Italiana, Momento Zero Collection, red marbled. Numbered edition. Handmade in Italy.
Apart from these five lovely pens, I bought an A4 Leuchtturm journal and two bottles of ink, (or three if you count the bottle of Delta black that was included inside the gift box of my Fantasia Vintage). I chose the Pure Pens Cadwaladr red (recommended by Anthony) and a bottle of Mont Blanc Royal Blue, that will perhaps be used to feed my thirsty Opus in the winter months ahead.
If this all sounds like pen-saturation, well yes it was. I vowed that I did not need to buy any more fountain pens for the foreseeable future. And that decision served me well, for almost nine full days until I happened to come across a solid brass pen, a Monograph Mgcc 099 sold at the Barbican Centre gift shop in the City of London while there to see a Richard Thompson concert last week. So, never say never.
The team photo. Three Taiwanese flanked by two Italians.
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