Review: OMAS Ogiva Alba Fountain Pen - EF Extra Flessible @OMASsrl @couronneducomte @GouletPens

This Ogiva Alba was sent from OMAS (hi Luca!) for review. Thank you so much to the kind folks over there! Not only that, it arrived wrapped. Like a present. With ribbon, and stickers. I loved it. And the cat loved the ribbon and sat on the paper.

ABOUT

Body Material: Cotton Resin
Trim: Rhodium-plated
Length (capped): 146.4 mm/5.76"
Length (uncapped nib-end): 127.2 mm/5.01"
Length (posted): 172.77 mm/6.80"
Barrel Diameter: 10.9 - 13.3 mm/0.43" - 0.52"
Section Diameter: 10.9 - 12.5 mm/0.43" - 0.49"
Nib material: 14KT Gold
Weight (all): 22 g
Weight (cap): 8 g
Weight (body): 14 g
Fill type: Piston-filler.
Price: $495.00USD/€370,00
Where to buy: La Couronne du Comte / Goulet Pens

PACKAGING

The Ogiva Alba has attractive packaging. First, a shimmery slate grey sleeve marked with the logo can be removed. Inside is a solid box similarly marked on the top. Taking the lid off reveals a light grey felt nest with a grey pen sleeve. Inside, of course, is the pen, in a plastic sleeve (complete with QC check and all). The inside of the lid says, in the felt:

Italian
Creativity,
History,
Craftsmanship,
The Pleasure of
Writing

The bed can be removed to find the paper work and guarantee. It's very pretty packaging and also makes for a lovely display bed for the pen. The sleeve is also very useful.

APPEARANCE

This is a beautiflu pen. it's a pretty decent size, torpedo-shaped, with a translucent deep purple body, highlighted by shiny rhodium-plated trim. I think the entire design is gorgeous - the shape, the colour... yummy. The finial is just the cap material, nothing else to it, except it's rounded off. The clip is attached internally, starting wide, thinning out, then ending with the OMAS rolling ball clip.

The center band at the end of the cap is perfectly placed - it's almost halfway on the pen and looks very even. It's simple at first glance, but has a Greek key design and is marked with OMAS in small writing. The end of the pen has a single ring indicating the piston-turning knob.

The section tapers gradually from the barrel to the nib, but remains mostly straight. The threads are located in the middle of the section, oddly enough. The end of the section, just before the nib, has a band that matches the center band. On the section is the limited edition numbering of the pen.

NIB & PERFORMANCE

The 14KT gold rhodium-plated nib is definitely an interesting one. It has a single slit, a breather hole, and is a smooth, polished nib. The nib is marked with Extra Flessible, OMAS, and the gold content.

This extra-fine nib has long, thin tines, and it is coupled with an ebonite feed. Warning: be gentle when applying pressure to this nib! It is very soft and very flexible - it is easy to apply too much pressure and end up with a gap between your tines (or worse... spring it).

After flushing the pen, it wrote very well - good flow that was a little on the inky side, smooth, and with gentle pressure, there was decent line variation and the ink flow kept up well. At this point, the tines and feed were properly aligned and set. Then SBRE Brown gave it a shot... and because he has a much heavier hand and figured it was a full flex nib, it sprung. With only moderate pressure, the tines were left too far apart. We were both completely surprised. Obviously this hampered ink flow significantly. It wouldn't write at all, so the tines had to be realigned - and fortunately, the nib is soft so it's easy to bend back into place. Once the tines were realigned, the ebonite feed was heat set.

After this, the nib wrote properly again, like it did when it first arrived. Springing it messed up the nib and feed alignment, hence resetting the feed.

The EF extra flessible nib is definitely flexible. It offers a lot of expression and with mild to moderate pressure, you can flex the nib to its full capacity. Even if you feel like it could flex more, be careful. It offers little spring feedback. You may think it can flex further than it can.

The flow is very good, even when flexing. If it does railroad or run dry, it picks up quickly and easily. The nib is smooth although you can expect a small amount of feedback with the extra-fine. if it is particularly scratchy, your tines are probably misaligned.

Although this nib requires attention and care, I think it's worth the effort. It's one of the most enjoyable modern flex nibs I've used so far, even if it can be sprung. Realistically, any nib can be sprung. It's marketed as an extra-flexible nib, so that certainly says "this is a flex nib", and it certainly flexes. It feels like a wet noodle - flexes fully with mild to moderate pressure. Just be gentle. The flow and softness make it a pleasure to use.

IN HAND

The clip is well-designed - it is set close to the cap, is slightly springy, and has the rolling ball on the end. That makes it a cinch to slide on to papers and into pockets.

The section is comfortable, despite the threads being in the middle of it. They are smooth so they aren't uncomfortable to touch. I grip well below the threads. If the section had a slight groove for my fingers, then a flare before the nib, it would be perfect. However, the pen is light so it works fine as it is.

Unposted, the size (girth, length), weight, and balance of the pen are right up my alley. I love it and have no complaints. The cap does post by friction and although it is secure, it doesn't post very deeply. Since the cap is light though, it doesn't feel top heavy, although maybe a touch on the long side. I still find it usable even when posted.

PROS & CONS

OVERALL

With the nib warning in mind, I think this pen can be a lot of fun and can help some users on their flex writing journey. (Bear in mind, *I* did not nor have I yet sprung the nib - I just saw it happen and felt the results). If you are not familiar with flex nibs, just be gentle. You'll get the hang of it and you'll learn how far the nib can go.

Can you really say this isn't a pretty pen? It also is available with many other nibs - 18KT gold in extra-fine, fine, medium, and broad, 14KT gold extra-flessible in extra-fine, fine, medium, and broad, along with stub and italic. It's a piston-filler, has a gold nib, is well made and well put together, has three stunning colour options, a large ink capacity, is very pretty and comfortable, and is priced reasonably based on what it's available with, I think.

Just be gentle with the extra flessible nibs - don't treat it like a steel flexible nib. It's much softer and requires much less pressure to flex it fully. I think it's a lot of fun and I've been really enjoying it.

Thank you again, OMAS. I'm a little smitten.

I received this pen free of charge for the purposes of this review. I was not compensated monetarily for my review. Everything you've read here is my own opinion. There are no affiliate links in this review.