Pens of Note

Novelli Augusta

 

In 2000, Marco and his dad, Augusto, started the planning of a pen to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Novelli Pen & Pipe Store.  The resulting pen, the Augusta, came from two concepts. Marco liked a pen Montegrappa had created, the Reminiscence. It has the faceted body with eight sides. Augusto liked a blue and bronze celluloid used in one of the original Waterman Patrician Pens released in the 1920s.

Together, they worked with the Italian pen manufacturer, Visconti, to create the Augusta pen. Up to this point, Viscount had not produced an faceted pen, and this would be their first.

I first met Augusto in 1997. He wrote me with a great offer: come to Rome and he would take my wife Karen and myself to lunch! Why not! We enjoyed meeting him and he showed us the extensive collection of pens at the Novelli store. At that time, the store was actually located across the street from its present location. It was smaller, and I remember very well Augusto bringing tray and tray of pens from the back room. Of all the pens we say, we ended leaving the store with the Waterman Etoile Man 100 in sterling silver.

And the lunch was also great. In fact, we eat at L'Archetto almost every time we are in Rome. They have tables on the street, but on a very hot day, the tables on the lower floor can be cooler.

The next time we were in Rome was in 2001, we received the sad news that Augusto had passed away. Marco, his son, showed us many pens, including the Augusta pen. A Limited Edition of 300 fountain pens. I did not select the pen at that time, and I ways regretted that decision. Over the following years I would see one become available from time to time on e-bay, but I was never able to get the pen withthe nib I wanted.

On our 2015 stay in Rome, Marco showed me a new release of the pen. Visconti had asked if he wanted to use of the remain celluloid. It was no longer available. I quickly made the decision to acquire the Augusta pens. The pen was produced in two versions. Celluloid with 24K gold trim of which 300 pens were produced, and celluloid with sterling silver rhodium plated trim, of which four were created.

The silver trim pens are unique in number and also in the identification. The pen number is engraved on the top of the cap in roman numerals. I have pen IV of IV.

Marco made a number of the pens made with gold trim available so some pen stores outside of Italy.

How is the pen? Light to hold as the body and cap are made of celluloid. It is a large pen in size - 5 1/2 inches when capped and 6 3/4 inches when posted. It fills with a power piston filler mechanism and there is a clear ink view window to show the status of ink in the chamber. There is a double reserver so ink can transfer to a second chamber for flights.

The pen has an incredibly smooth 23kt gold palladium nib, I ordered a pen with a Broad width, and it lays a solid line of ink on the paper.