By this stage of my hunt for the perfect fountain pen, I was building up a picture of what I liked to write with… the Cross twins had poor nibs, but were a nice size; the Platinum 3776 Century was highly attractive to me—black and gold, understated elegance, and a beautiful nib, that was just a bit too wet for my daily use, and if I was honest, was just a bit small for my preference. So, I was looking for a big pen, or at least bigger than the 3776; a smooth nib, and a distinctive style that wasn’t too loud, or too flashy. Also, I’m not keen on piston, pump, or vacuum-only fillers. I like the flexibility of carrying cartridges for emergencies, and they are so easy to just pop a fresh cartridge in the pen, whilst on a plane, a train, or in a meeting away from home turf.

Also, by this stage, I had read a lot about where to buy my pens, both online and bricks and mortar shops, and the what was available in my budget… which wasn’t inconsiderable, but wasn’t quite ready for my Nakaya grail pen just yet. This time, I wanted to try my pen before I bought it, which means, unless you’ve got a handy pen show coming up in your area, you’ve got to visit a bricks and mortar retail shop.

Shopping

It just so happens that, in my area of Ontario (loosely speaking, actually about a three and a half hour drive away), are the truly amazing stationery shops of Toronto…

Jolanta Petrycka
2993 Dundas Street West
Toronto, ON  M6P 1Z4
Tel. 1 416 766 1235

Jolanta is amazingly helpful, and has a wide and wonderful stock. Visit her store, you will not  be disappointed!

I haven’t had the chance to visit…

25 Bellair Street
Toronto, ON M5R 3L3
Tel. 1 866 670 9064

But, I hear tell they have a great store, and a friendly knowledgeable crew behind the counter.

From my shortlist of features above, I narrowed my choices down to a few brands and models, and I eventually opted to buy my pen from the only shop in Toronto that stocked all of them…

Jon and Liz
250 Carlaw Avenue
Unit 105
Toronto, ON M4M 3L1
Tel. 1 416 799 5935
General Email: info@wonderpens.ca
Online Order Email: orders@wonderpens.ca

These guys are simply brilliant; their staff are the most helpful, knowledgeable people you could hope to meet, absolutely nothing is too much trouble, and you can try any pen they have in stock, before spending your money.

They also happen to be the only Toronto-based stationers with their full range online, with a truly excellent delivery service.

What Did I Have in Mind?

There were only two real contenders on my shortlist, the Sailor 1911L in black and gold, with a bold, 18K gold nib, and an Edison Collier in burnished gold, with a two-tone, steel, 1.1mm stub nib.

I’ll go into my reasoning for the Sailor 1911L rather than some of its more popular brethren in the Sailor line-up in a later post. For now, the Edison Collier deserves some explanation as well. Edison handmake all of their production and signature line of pens, from a variety of truly beautiful materials with patterning unique to each pen.

• Distinctive style that wasn’t too loud, or too flashy

Check

The Collier is one of their biggest pens, large in diameter, and long even without posting the cap (which you can’t do).

• A big pen, or at least bigger than the Platinum 3776

Check

The Collier came with a steel nib, in an italicised 1.1mm stub, which really appealed, even though the steel didn’t. All steel will eventually corrode when exposed to fountain pen ink, it’s just a matter of time. Plus, steel just isn’t as smooth as a good, 14K or 18K gold nib. But it is  a great deal cheaper. And regardless, I had read that Edison were very particular with their nibs, and that the steel nibs on Edison production line pens, were about as good as you might expect to get anywhere. And again, I was going to try the nib out in the store, so if I didn’t like it, I didn’t have to buy it. And again again, Edison do 18K gold versions of their Collier nibs, that either Wonder Pens could order for me, or I could buy directly from Edison themselves. These nibs are quite expensive, and would push the price of the Collier up by about double, but even then, it would only be a few bucks more than the Sailor 1911L, so…

• A smooth nib

Check

Lastly, the Edison Collier takes standard international ink cartridges, a converter, or (with a little silicon grease), can be filled using an eyedropper to pour ink directly into the barrel of the pen, thereby providing an extremely large ink capacity, and the greatest range of flexibility.

• No piston, pump, or vacuum-only filling mechanism

Check

All my checkboxes were ticked. It only remained to try the pen.

It did not disappoint.

This is a Stunning Pen

No photograph, and especially not one of mine, can do this pen justice. The patterns in the barrel are a beauty to let your eyes wash over. The length of the pen, at almost 13cm was extremely comfortable in my hand, and despite its large diameter (see the table below), it isn’t heavy, or tiring to use for extended periods of time.

	Metric (mm/g/ml)	US (in/oz)
Length Unposted:	129	5.1
Length Capped:	150	5.9
Diameter:	14.9	0.6
Length Posted:	N/A	N/A
Weight:	26	0.88
Nib Size:	1.1mm Stub	1.1mm Stub
Nib Material:	Steel	Steel
Cartridge Notes:	1.75	0.06
Converter Notes:	1.21	0.04
Eyedropper Notes:	4.34	0.15

The Nib

Well, the nib has been a bit of a saga, involving losing my first nib entirely, and replacing that with a matching unit in my first week of ownership. In addition, at first, the steel nib was a little scratchy. However, with the aid of the lovely Jennifer at Best Fountain Pen, a little gentle rubbing down coaxed the 1.1mm two-tone, steel stub into a finish so smooth, it really does now rival the Platinum’s music nib for effortless gliding across the page. And I have reconsidered buying the 18K gold nib for now, because the steel is simply so good, I can’t justify the upgrade price at the moment. Especially when I have another spare steel nib, sitting in a box in my desk drawer.

I will however, give readers a little warning: rubbing down a fountain pen nib can render your pen absolutely useless. If you’re not extremely careful, the process can completely ruin your nib. My advice is to never  rub down a fountain pen nib that you cannot easily and quickly replace with a brand new one. In this case, the Edison Collier steel nib is not prohibitively expensive, and I had quick and easy access to a spare.

Writing

This writing sample was made on a Rhodia Dot-Pad (80gsm paper), using J. Herbin Perle Noire black ink. Writing in uppercase lettering like that was a bit of an error I think, it doesn’t really illustrate the variation in line width provided by the italicised stub.

Also, it’s pretty easy for a fountain pen nib to perform well on high quality paper, and loaded with a designer ink. Well, the Edison still performs well on cheap university notepaper, and even worse printer paper. I take this pen everywhere I go, and it has never let me down.

 

This sample provides a little more of an idea of the Collier as a daily writer—it’s still bloody marvellous. The paper used here, was Life brand Kappan writing paper, again from Wonder Pens. This is another high quality paper, with a slight, creamy-white tint, that doesn’t quite show on a scanned image.

Summary

What can I say? The Edison Collier in burnished gold looks beautiful, and handles like an absolute dream. The two-tone, steel, 1.1mm italicised stub nib, performs as well as any of the 14K or 18K gold nibs I have, on pens renowned for their nib quality. I can’t bear the idea of ever losing this pen… and the Collier in blue steel looks pretty amazing, I wonder if Wonder Pens have any in stock…