Meet & Greet with the Visconti Opera Gold
Last week I mentioned I made a short list of pens that I was actively seeking. One of them was the Visconti Opera Gold.
This model came out in spring of 2023. I liked the look. I’d never used or held an Opera before, so I didn’t seriously consider getting one but I filed it away in the “interested” category. Then in August I had a chance to handle the Opera Gold in a store and came away impressed with its build. The Opera Gold moved from “interested” to “I’d like one.” However, the middle of 2023 saw me acquire many pens without much plan or purpose before trying to reign things in, so the Opera Gold was put on hold along with most other pen purchases for a while. I kept an eye out for reviews to glean more information about the pen but there are hardly any extant online. Figboot has the only video review I’ve seen to date. Recently, I found Anderson Pens had a good price on the Opera Gold, so I took the plunge.
The standard Ponte Vecchio clip.
I think the Opera Gold’s main calling card is that it has features found on Visconti’s higher end pens, like the hook safe cap lock and two-chamber vacuum filler, without the price tag usually attached to those pens. A good chunk of that difference comes from equipping the pen with a steel nib rather than a gold one. The handful of Visconti steel nibs I’ve used were all nice writers, and their gold nibs still lack what I’d call a good reputation for consistent quality and performance out of the box. With those thoughts in mind, the presence of a steel nib makes the Opera Gold more appealing to me.
I also think there must be some cost saved with the resin used on this pen compared to others in the Opera, Voyager, and Homo Sapiens lines. It’s less dramatic and eye-catching than something like the recent Mariposa or Earth Origins pens, but those are custom materials from Jonathon Brooks and I presume they cost more as a result. All the same, I find the black and gold mix on this example to be attractive and elegant looking.
The Opera Gold has brushed trim, like the Mirage Mythos in Visconti’s current lineup. Having used a Rembrandt with a smooth metal grip section I can say I much prefer the feel of the brushed grip on the Opera Gold. I had some reservations about cleaning it off because the pen only fills from a bottle, but it has presented no issues in that regard. The brushed finish also mitigates the appearance of fingerprints.
The V engraving at the end of the grip could be a nice embellishment or a superfluous extra. I land more on the former, but I don't think I'd miss them much if they weren't there.
The trim appearance is consistent in all areas from the grip, to the cap band, and the filler knob.
More V engraving. I wonder if they watched that 80s miniseries called V about aliens invading Earth.
The end of filler knob protrudes slightly, like small bump.
The filling mechanism looks and feels solid. Every visible part is robust and well finished. The action of the filler knob is smooth and deliberate, like adjusting the volume on a nice stereo. The plunger action feels the same way.
The ink window is the same place where the hook safe cap engages. It is cut and finished cleanly with ample transparency to see the ink level inside. It also has a good fit up to the grip and barrel on either side. The grip is long enough that my fingers don’t touch the window when writing, but if they did, I don’t think it would cause discomfort.
The ink window is finished as nicely as any other part of the pen. Lots of small cuts and angles that could be rough or ragged, but they're not.
In hand, the Opera Gold is hefty but not heavy. With a partial fill of ink, it weighs 48.8 grams, 18.2 of which are the cap. In short writing sessions so far, the pen’s weight doesn’t cause any problems. The filling system components focus more of the body’s ~31 grams to the back half of the pen. The end of the barrel sits in the web of my thumb when writing so that weight is supported and feels comfortable. I’ve not written for extended periods yet to see if it creates any fatigue.
The Opera Gold is what I call a large pen. It is slightly longer capped than the Montegrappa Venetia and has about the same girth around as a Platinum 3776, but the squared circle design plays a bit of a trick with how the Opera Gold appears. The ends don’t round off like the other two pens so it seems not as sleek in a way, but the angles and facets of the barrel make it look narrower compared to a cylindrical profile. The Operas Gold’s shape certainly stands out in my pen drawer.
Top to bottom: Platinum 3776, Visconti Opera Gold, Montegrappa Venetia
The Opera Gold’s nib also has a different look and shape compared to other pens. It is #6 size based on feed diameter and the feed looks like Jowo with a slightly different cut to the underside. The shoulders of the Opera Gold nib don’t flare out as wide as the standard Jowo #6 profile on the Montegrappa. The difference is just fractions of a millimeter per side but the reduced taper makes Visconti’s nib appear that little bit different in comparison.
Left to right: Montegrappa Venetia, Visconti Opera Gold, Platinum 3776. The V logo honestly looks more suited to the wide shoulders of the 3776 nib.
And how does that nib write? Nicely.
I’ve used Waterman Mysterious Blue and Delta Black. Both inks performed as I would expect in a well-tuned nib. I did a little bit of smoothing on wet micromesh to make the starting stroke more consistent, but no other adjustment was needed. The flow is good though I must keep the nature of the two-chamber ink reserve in mind. Loosening the filler knob to open the seal between the small and large chambers is no problem but it’s not easy to know how much ink is going to flow down when the gap opens. On one occasion after letting more ink in I noticed that tightening the knob back down caused ink to flood the feed. I let the pen sit nib up for a bit so gravity could pull some of that ink back to the small chamber. It may take some more getting used to, but I like this filling mechanism. The fact that the nib unit unscrews makes cleaning quite convenient. Much more so than a lot of vacuum fillers.
As mentioned earlier, the Opera Gold delivers some signature Visconti features without completely emptying your wallet. I got it for $300. It normally streets for $348. There are two ways the discussions tend to go with pens like this. One way says in this price range the pen should come with a gold nib. The other way says there’s more to a pen than the nib and there’s more to the nib than what it’s made of. This is well worn territory among fountain pen users, but I’ll walk it anyway.
It’s easy to get hung up on the nib because the value placed on gold as a material tends to connote more value to a pen, be it actual or perceived. I think all of us experience it at some point. Gold nibs are nice, but like any other nib they’re only nice if they’re well made and work for your hand. There are many gold nib pens available at or under $300. Those pens are often of a more conventional style than the Opera Gold.
So, do we want a gold nib in a package that’s like a lot of other pens we might already have or do we want a different package with a more standard nib material? In practical terms, a nib is the easiest part of a pen to change or modify. Swap in a different unit if the pen allows. Send it to a nibmeister for a custom grind to your personal specs. The options are plentiful. With few exceptions, you can’t change a pen’s grip size, barrel length, or weight balance. Style-wise, you won’t make a Pilot into an Aurora or a Montblanc into a Parker.
We always wish for the best of all worlds, but if you like what a pen offers, why cross it off for the lack of a certain nib material? The first time I handled the Opera Gold I had to think past the steel nib/gold nib difference to see the rest of the pen. It turns out I liked it enough to buy one and the early returns are good.
What pen might you have looked past based on a nib? Would you still?
What’s What 5/5/24
Inked Right Now
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Parker 25 with Lamy Bronze
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Pilot Custom with Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo
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Pilot Prera with Waterman Harmonious Green
Gone from last time: everything. It’s been a bit.
This is my first try with Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo and I wish I’d done so sooner. Great color and flows like a dream from the Custom nib. Using this pen for daily journal entries is highly satisfying.
The Prera is my current work carry. Nib is a steel medium and writes well with Harmonious Green.
Parker 25 looks very utilitarian, even industrial, but the italic nib with Lamy Bronze makes it a fun option for notes or random lines.
New & Exciting
Since the getting the Pilot Custom 845 at the end of last year I have not bought any fountain pens. That choice is motivated by taking stock of what I own and using those pens to help sort those I want to keep from those that should move on.
That kind of evaluation also extended to my wish list of pens. I separated out a small group I’m seriously considering and/or actively seeking out. Those pens are an old Sheaffer Lifetime Balance, something from Tamenuri Studio (not any one specific pen), and a Visconti Opera Gold. At the end of last week, I placed an order to get one of those pens. Which one? Wait and see.
Working On
This is a Parker 21 Super (or Super 21, whatever floats your boat) that I found tucked in a box in my dresser. Sometime after inventorying all my fountain pens last November, I set this aside as one to sell or give away, but it was apart from all other pens and I forgot about it. Upon rediscovering it yesterday I inked it up and was reminded that I didn’t love the writing performance. The ink flow isn’t as consistent as I would like. Instead of getting rid of it, should I tinker with it myself?
If I take apart pens for maintenance or cleaning, it’s typically those that are designed to be user serviceable. A Parker 45, for example, has a nib unit that easily unscrews and then disassembles. I’ve never taken apart a pen like this that would require more careful work and technique. Owning and using vintage pens has made me more cognizant of what I don’t know regarding their construction and disassembly, which helps prevent venturing into places I shouldn’t. The plastic on the 21 Super is said to be brittle and removing the hood risks damage. But should I let that stop me from learning about it and trying my hand at some point? Maybe I’m better served getting a pen in more of a fixer-upper condition to work on than this 21 Super that’s clean and functional. Either way, something about it has planted a feeling to get more involved in the nuts and bolts of my vintage pens. We’ll see how and where it goes.
I Can Only Keep One?
Rachel at Rachel’s Reflections put a stationery spin on the idea of only keeping one example of all the different brands one might own for something. I was interested to read her fountain pen choices, as well as those from Brad at The Pen Addict and Ana at The Well-Appointed Desk.
I wondered about what choices I’d make from my collection. At first, I thought it might be hard to do. Once I dove in, the choices were clearer. That gives rise to some interesting questions for discussion another time. But let’s see how the choices break down first.
I don’t have multiple pens from every brand I own. In cases where I do, the totals vary widely. I’ve listed each pen owned for the brands in this exercise to show what I’m choosing from.
Aurora
Ipsilon — Optima
The Choice: The Ipsilon is a simpler pen but suits my general needs better. It has a certain style that sets it apart from other mid-range everyday pens. The medium nib was good but unremarkable until a grind from Gena Salorino made it a more interesting writer. The Optima is a beautiful pen. It was the first pen I bought in that price category and felt like a big deal at the time, but I would choose to keep the Ipsilon.
Esterbrook
JR — J
The Choice: No thinking required here. The J is a time-tested classic that always performs. The JR is fine but nothing more.
Franklin-Christoph
20p — 45 — 65
The Choice: I like the smaller size of the 20p and 45 to carry in the pocket, but the 65 is a better fit when you want to spend time writing. I also find the clear material of the 65 more compelling to look at.
Kaweco
AL Sport — Art Sport — Perkeo — Student — Classic Sport (x2)
The Choice: The Sport is clearly a model I prefer and the Art Sport is the best version of it I’ve used. The beautiful acrylic and built in clip make it a more pleasing pen to look at and to carry. Whether those features are worth a $100 premium over a standard Sport is up to the individual. If you like the Sport overall and one of the Art Sport colors speaks to you, I’d say it’s worth a shot.
Sailor
King of Pen — Fude de Mannen — 1911S — Pro Gear Slim
The Choice: The Fude offers tons of fun and versatility for low cost. The King of Pen is overpriced at its normal rate. However, the King of Pen is one of the best writers I’ve ever used. I wouldn’t change anything on it.
Platinum
Desk Pen — 3776 — Prefounte — Preppy
The Choice: It’s between the Desk Pen and the Prefounte. The Desk Pen is a more specialized tool than most pens. The Prefounte, which I would choose every time over the Preppy as a daily carry, has the versatility I generally prefer. But the Desk Pen and its extra fine nib do their thing very well. It fills a certain spot that other pens don’t.
Lamy
2000 — Safari — Vista — Studio
The Choice: The Vista was the first fountain pen I chose to buy when I dipped my toes in the hobby over 8 years ago, which gives it significance. I’ve never gotten tired of it or thought any less of it despite all the other pens that have shared the drawer. The 2000 is a great pen and longtime icon of the Lamy brand, but it’s not the Lamy that lives in my heart. That pen is the Vista.
Sheaffer
Craftsman — No Nonsense — Old Timer
School Pen — Tuckaway — Targa
The Choice: The Targa has a lot of what I like in a pen. I admire the School Pen for being cheap and rugged while delivering nice performance. The No Nonsense line are great writers with the look of a classic pen reborn for later generations. More to that point, the Old Timer is a No Nonsense made to look even more like the early 20th century flat tops. Many makers, whether of pens or other things, try to recapture or reinterpret the past and miss. Not Sheaffer in this case. The Old Timer nails it.
(In fairness, if I ever get a nice old Lifetime Balance it might require reevaluation of this choice. Until then…)
The last two brands are Parker and Pilot. They are my favorites and I have more of their pens by a large margin over other brands. In addition to listing the full group I own, I’ve also included a short list of finalists from which the ultimate choice was made.
Parker
17 — 25 (x2) — 45 (x5) — 50 — 61 — 75 — VP
Duofold International — Duofold Maxima
Vacumatic — Sonnet (x3) — Rialto
Diamond Medal (Parker-made brand for someone else)
The Short List: 45, Duofold Maxima, Sonnet Ciselé, Vacumatic
The Choice: The final four all have strong cases. The Sonnet Ciselé is a modern-day classic, with its silver body and black grid. The Duofold Maxima is a different pen from the older big red Duofolds or the modern Centennial/International versions. Naming aside, the Maxima has great looks, feel, and writing performance. The Vacumatic stands apart from all other pens in my mind. It’s the best-looking pen I’ve ever seen and a titan in the history of pens. However, I would keep the 45. The red one with the stub nib passed on to me from my mom. It means so much to me that I couldn’t possibly choose another Parker above it.
Pilot
Custom — Custom 74 — Custom 845 — Custom 912 — CH92
Custom K500SS — E95S — Tank — Quatro — Prera — Metropolitan (x2)
Desk Pen — Decimo (x2) — Kakuno (x2) — Plumix (x2)
The Short List: Custom 845, Decimo, Metropolitan
The Choice: I thought this would be the hardest choice of all. The Metropolitan is another highly significant pen from early days in the hobby. The 845 is a pen I had never even dreamed of buying until maybe a year ago. The Decimo is an engineering marvel offering the ultimate in quick writing convenience. Based on what compelled my choices of the Lamy Vista and Parker 45, the Metropolitan should take the cake, but I won’t choose it. Nor am I choosing the Custom 845 even though the dream can now be held in my hand. I choose the Decimo. Many pens write beautifully each time you use them, but I would not take all those pens out into the world with me daily. Many of them would do the bulk of their writing at home. Not the Decimo. It goes everywhere and it does everything. It is the all day every day champion.
To recap, my “keep only one” choices are Aurora Ipsilon, Esterbrook J, Franklin-Christoph 65, Kaweco Art Sport, Sailor King of Pen, Platinum Desk Pen, Lamy Vista, Sheaffer Old Timer, Parker 45, and Pilot Decimo.
Surprised by anything I picked?
Pursuing Perfect Planners
You can thank Albert Brooks in Broadcast News for the alliterative title. I watched the movie recently and still marvel at its dialogue.
Anyway, I received my new planner from Agendio. I took the leap on Agendio’s highly customizable, but pricey, options two years ago and haven’t looked back. I find them to be worth the cost because of how much you can fine tune the layouts, colors, fonts, and many other details.
My first Agendio was A4 size. Too big, as it turned out. A5 is a better fit, having enough space to use comfortably but still compact for easy carry in hand or in a bag. I’ve changed the weekly layouts from year to year as I winnow down what works and what doesn’t within them. Let’s look at my 2024-25 model….
Durable clear plastic covers overlay the printed cardboard designs. They ship with cling film to prevent marks during shipping, which is a nice touch.
The monthly layout is basic and essentially unchanged from two years ago. I use it as most would, for keeping track of important events in one place for quick overview. There are a few spots where the custom details Agendio allows came in handy.
I got the blank blocks next to the previous/next month mini calendars titled New and Old. I envision New as a spot to highlight one or two items that are being changed or introduced for the month. Something like “Summer Menu Rollout” or “Printer Replacement.” Old will be for anything lingering from the past month that still needs to be kept in mind. Could well be printer replacement here too, given the speed of supply chains these days. ;-)
The blank space over the right-side notes column also got a tweak.
I’m not one for laying out hopes and dreams in my planner, but I thought this small space could be used for a bit of fun in terms of a brief wish or want. In July this could say “Not 90 degrees every day” or “I had a hundred wishes.” Not a place for profound observations, were I even capable of making one, but something silly to bounce off the mundane feelings that can color the work routine for all of us.
The weekly layout is new for me. I previously avoided the each-day-as-column format because I didn’t think it would give me enough room. But over the past few years I’ve found that a day’s notes are primarily bullet points and to-do items. My thought is a format tailored to that content will help organization and reference.
Each daily column has three sections and Agendio lets me give them a custom title. The top section is called Must! to designate the day’s priority tasks and necessary events. Completing my department’s payroll would go here because it is a must-do item every workday. If we were expecting some kind of VIP visit that would go here too. The middle section is called Should… for the items I want to do but aren’t an absolute requirement, e.g., I should try to get ahead on writing performance reviews so I don’t have to do them all in a bunch later. The bottom section is called Misc. to collect the random notes and occurrences that I want to keep tied to that day but aren’t something I’m personally controlling. “Email down for 2 hours” or “High order volume” is something I’d put in Misc.
I could have titled the sections A, B, C or 1, 2, 3 but the use of specific words to connote levels of importance helps my brain with hierarchy. Work days are often full of interruptions and priorities get shuffled based on things we encounter that weren’t anticipated. I know what the daily must-do items are but that doesn’t mean I always keep them top of mind when the day gets rolling and new tasks come up. Putting things in the right category if importance and coming back to the list through the day help keep me on track.
After the weekly pages for a given month, I have a two-page spread with a grid layout. This is the whatever-I-need-it-for space where I prefer grid to lined, blank, or dotted pages. This is where I can take longer form notes, lay out things to work on over the whole month, or keep a shopping list.
Recently I discussed switching to a multipen for writing in my planner. That’s been going for a few weeks and working well. I tried 2-component and 3-component bodies for the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto. Both have pros and cons. I prefer the 2-component body for a few reasons. First, it has a slimmer body but still enough diameter for a good grip. Second, two color options cover what I want for the planner. Third, the clip fits neatly on the planner’s spiral binding so I can keep the pen there. Lastly, it’s a clear demonstrator. I’m usually a sucker for that look and the 2-component setup has a nice symmetry this pen can display.
Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto 2-component Multipen
I chose Blue Black and Apricot Orange refills in 0.5 tip size.
The grip has small ridges that hold your fingertips in place but aren't sharp or uncomfortable. Basic, but they work.
I received and started using the Coleto before ordering the new planner. Because the Coleto has performed well, it led me to choose a different paper weight than I had in previous planners. I had used the heaviest 120 gsm paper to accommodate fountain pens, my preferred daily carry. Now that the planner entries will be done (almost) exclusively with the Coleto, I stepped down to the midweight 105 gsm paper. The change allowed the new planner to come in a hair thinner than the last year’s despite having 10 more sheets of paper. Fountain pens still work fine on the 105 gsm but you’re dying to see side-by-side comparisons, right?
First is the 120 gsm paper.
The Coleto refills are fine, as one would expect. The fountain pens dry quickly without feathering. Color representation is good. The Monteverde broad gel is a very wet writer but has no problems on this paper.
Agendio 120 gsm paper
There is some light show through where the fountain pen and broad gel swatches were made, but no impact to reading or writing on the back side,
Now the 105 gsm paper.
You can see the effect on the paper’s surface where ink is concentrated.
Again, there’s good dry time without feathering. I feel that any roughness at the edges of letters is a result of the paper’s texture rather than ink spread.
Agendio 105 gsm paper
There’s more show through on the back with this paper than the 120 gsm, but no degradation of usability.
I started with Agendio to overcome the big problems I had with almost every off the shelf planner. Now I’m in a place where I can tweak parts of a proven product to suit my changing needs or wants. Titling a 1 x 1.5” section of paper with “would that it were” is getting into deep reaches of stationery geekdom. But that’s why there’s a market for products like Agendio that recognizes and embraces one’s need to have it just the way you want it. That’s why we own dozens of pens, notebooks, inks, rulers, markers, on and on to the smallest detail of the biggest collection.
I don’t have a standard currently inked lineup to present right now but I would like to show the Parker 25s that were used in the writing samples for the planners.
The 25 is a great pen and worth examining in further detail at some point. I inked the fine nib last week and used it at work for a few days. I enjoyed it such that I chose to ink the italic nib too. I don’t normally have two of the same model pens going at once but the simple design and brushed steel finish of the 25 really clicks with me. They also write like champs. The ballpoint came as part of a set with the fine nib pen. I don’t use it as often as my preferred rollerballs but it still has that great Parker knock and a satisfying feel in hand. With the right refill it’s a solid user.
Thanks for coming down the long and winding planner path today even if it wasn’t on your agenda.