Saturday, March 18, 2023

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 469

At our February meeting, Jerred (unexpectedly) gave me this lovely little fountain pen as a 'thank you' for an inexpensive pocket pen I gave him. In my excitement, I forgot to photograph my new pen during the meeting, so I thought I'd post a few photos of it that I took earlier this month. I'll be posting photos from our March meeting (which was held last Thursday) early next week, but in the meantime, here's the pen I got from Jerred:

(please click on images to enlarge)My new Rosetta 'Napoleon' pocket fountain pen in "purple marble"

This diminutive fountain pen is a Taiwanese-made cartridge/converter-filler with an Italian acrylic body and shiny chrome trim. Because of its short length, the pen can only accommodate one standard international cartridge, or a mini converter in its barrel.

Despite it being a smaller pen, it has some heft to it -- 26 grams, according to the manufacturer. When capped, it's 4-1/2″ (11.5 cm) long....


...and with its cap posted (via screwing the cap onto the end of the barrel), it's the size of a full-sized fountain pen (5-3/4″ or 14.6 cm), and very comfortable to hold and use.

(I love the resin's purple shade and depth :)

My new Rosetta 'Napoleon' fountain pen immediately reminded me of my two Jean-Pierre Lépine 'Mini Indigo' fountain pens, which also post via a threaded barrel end. After I composed this review, I discovered that Stephen Brown (SBREBrown) had posted a comparison of the two models on his YouTube channel here !

The pen originally came with a monotone steel IPG (Iridium Point Germany) Medium nib which wrote smoothly, but I thought this replacement #5 size two-tone steel nib (above) by Dryden Designs would look even better on this classy little pen; the gold colour in the nib goes very nicely with the purple resin, and I like the interlocking double D logo engraved on it. The Dryden nib writes smoothly, with no adjustment(s) necessary.

Side note: The Dryden nib was part of a 3-pack of identical nibs, sections and converters that I got for the ridiculously low price of $6.97 via Amazon.ca last March. Unfortunately, they are sold out there. Amazon.com is still selling them (link), but for $20.50 USD (incl. shipping to Canada) for a 3-pack :/



(image from: Rosetta's official blog )

Rosetta launched their 'Napoleon' model in June 2012 and it originally came in seven different colours (photo above) -- Rose Marble, Lemon Ice, Blue Marble, Onyx Black, Tortoiseshell, Red Marble, and Purple Marble. You can still find some new old stock online (iPenStore.com carries the Onyx Black version in fountain pen form).

Well, that's it---a short review of a short fountain pen! Many thanks to Jerred for this great pocket pen and his generosity:)

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