Hello! I hope everyone in the USA had a happy and safe Memorial Day, and remembered that it's about more than just barbeques at the lake.
I have a new pen to brag about. While I was locked up in my apartment for over a month during the pandemic lockdown, I became the happy owner of my very first ever gold-nib fountain pen. Thank you to my dear friend Barbara in New Zealand for tuning me into the Platinum 3776 Century.
I very, very nearly got the one in the deep red Bourgogne color with gold trim, but at the very last minute the marvelous, mysterious Chartres Blue one won out. I wanted one in the Soft Medium nib, but no one...and I mean no one...had any available. I scoured the internet for a pen retailer who had one, and it just about seems as if these are simply no longer available in a Soft Medium nib. Japanese nibs are of course much finer than their Western counterparts, but I was absolutely determined to get a soft nib: so I took what I could find and got one in Soft Fine instead, knowing it would be a fine nib indeed. Fine or no, I wanted a soft springy nib.
If you didn't already know, the "3776" is a reference to the height of Mount Fuji in Japan, in meters. I gather that the 3776 Century is Platinum's flagship gold-nib pen, and for good reasons. I saw one or two reviews online suggesting that the pen is a bit small and might not be ideal if you have large hands, as I kinda do. However, when it got here, I was pretty pleased with the size. It's bigger than, say, a Monteverde Monza, which I can use without too much trouble. To give you an idea of it's size, here's the usual "side-by-side comparison with a Lamy Safari--photo", which should tell you something about the universal appeal of the Lamy Safari & Al-Star pens themselves, I suppose. As usual, just click the photos for a bigger image. And also, as always, thank you for not making fun of my ugly red tablecloth. On second thought, feel free to make wise cracks in the comments about the ugly tablecloth. I dare you. :-)
The Lamy Safari is just about the right size for me to hold comfortably, and I'm one of those people who don't mind the triangular-type cutouts in it's grip section meant to force you to hold it in the correct position. The Platinum 3776 has an ordinary round grip section.
I took another photo of it next to my Lamy Safari Vista, disassembled. Even the converter in this thing is elegant. It gleams lustrously in the glare of the flash from my amateur camera-work like an inventory listing at Fort Knox.
"But John," you say, "what about a writing sample?"
But, of course.
The Quick Brown Fox just never learns.
The line variation displayed in amateurish glory in my writing sample should give you some idea of what Platinum's soft nibs can do. The "feel" of this thing is marvelous! I am determined to look on the bright side of being able to only find a Fine version of it's soft nib: One can write more "finely" and thus save space on paper, or perhaps have good cause to work on improving one's mediocre handwriting that a bigger nib or a stub is more forgiving with. And it looks GREAT in one's shirt pocket, where no one will know what the heck kind of nib it's got. Eh? See? Bright side, there.
Have a good evening!