Faber-Castell Essentio fountain pen

Full-size pen with a #5 size nib. International standard cartridge/converter. Brushed aluminum barrel and section. Like all F-C pens, a distinctive design aesthetic. Current retail price $35-57 depending on vendor and color.

To be honest I first bought this, a number of years ago, mainly because of its pink color–this shade of pink is one of my absolute favorite colors. I also wanted to try Faber-Castell since I’d heard great things about their nibs but don’t like their aesthetic enough to invest in one of their pricier pens, but whatever colors were available in their entry-level Grip at the time must not have appealed. And I wanted to have a snap cap pen with a sturdy clip. Sturdy snap cap pens with clips are handy for having in a deep pocket for quick jottings on the go. For me I always have one in my vestment pocket on Sundays.

It’s been on the sidelines in my collection recently as my collection has grown, and as my beloved Waterman Carenes have filled the “snap cap with clip” function. And I generally don’t get along with metal sections. But I pulled it out this week, as I’ve been trying to “shop my collection.”

It is lighter in weight than I remembered it. While the section is definitely aluminum with some substance to it, the barrel is very lightweight-if the specs didn’t say aluminum I’d wonder if it was acrylic. The cap is plastic. The clip is a spring clip and a great fidget item. Technically the cap will “post” but it makes the pen comically long and the posting isn’t at all secure. I’d only post if I absolutely had to.

This is the only metal section pen I have that I truly don’t mind or notice the section being metal. Unlike the Ambition and other more expensive F-C models, the Essentio doesn’t have that infernally short metal polished aluminum lower section which won’t fit your finger. That part is made so short on this model that it’s clear the only place to grip is up higher on the colored section, and because of the texture and narrow diameter and the horizontal channels, I find I don’t have the same issues with it I do with all other metal sections.

The one downside of the horizontal channels is that they collect ink when you fill the pen which can then be hard to get out afterwards, so might transfer to your fingers. So either syringe fill your cart or converter, or be very careful to only dip the nib and feed into the ink, not the section.

Unlike most c/c pens, it also has an ink window, which is a very nice feature.

My pen has an EF nib, for quick writing on bad paper. It is indeed a quality and attractive nib. A bit more feedback than I remembered, but nothing unpleasant at all. Paired with Robert Oster Claret on cheap paper, it writes a bit on the dry side, but with a wetter ink or higher quality paper, such as Plotter DP, it’s fine.

Overall I was glad to have put this pen back into rotation, and it may survive the Great Pen Purge that will come sometime within the next year.

It retails for approximately $58 but is on a really excellent half-price sale at Goldspot as I write this. Comes in several colors. It seems Faber Castell is de-emphasizing this pen in their lineup and offering fewer nib widths, so if you want to acquire one new, you should probably act now.

Function: ****

Value: ***
A bit pricier than entry-level c/c pens, but good build quality and nib and distinctive design. If on sale, a very good value.

Rank within my collection: **½

Quick take: Platinum Procyon

I always forget what great nibs Platinum has at the at the lower end of its lineup until I pick one of their steel-nib pens up. This Procyon in M nib writes w/ the characteristic Platinum feedback but is very well-behaved. That feedback is probably why I reach for my Pilots more than Platinums, but it’s not at all unpleasant, and the degree of feedback one wants in a nib is really a matter of personal preference.

Writing sample is on Tomoe River paper with 5 mm dot grid. I love the KWZ “Baltic Memories”  ink I selected to match the color of the pen for its initial fill. A matchy-matchy first fill is one of my little pen rituals.

One extremely nice feature of this pen is that it only takes one turn to uncap. The feed is designed to fill from about half way up the nib rather than at its base, so it’s easier to fill from a near-empty vial or bottle without getting the whole nib and section covered in ink.

The section is deep enough that I really don’t come up against the metal threads, but they are shallow enough, as is the step, as to not be in the way if I did.  I prefer the pen unposted but again that’s just personal preference–it’s not particularly unbalanced posted. The clip is attractive and different from the regular Platinum clip. The body material is just as I’d hoped from pictures–a subtle green-blue with some subtle shimmer.  Sophisticated enough for the office without being boring.

I purchased it from Goulet’s Bottom Shelf at an extra 10% discount but I think it’s probably worth the full price of $52.80. Platinum is certainly heaps more reliable than certain other brands offering steel-nib pens at the same price (cough Conklin cough cough) — didn’t wonder for one moment if I would get a dud nib. It’s not as flashy as some entry-level acrylic resin pens, but it writes well and works. Only drawback in the price is that a converter is not included, so I had to swap one in from another Platinum–but 4 ink cartridges including 3 Platinum Mixable colors were included as part of a special promotion for the initial launch of this pen model.