Maiora Mitho Penna Stilografica Origine

I already own a couple of Maiora pens which I enjoy very much, but this one is one class above. First its beauty. Of course, the pictures speak for themselves but having the pen in its own hands is a new experience. By rotating it, you can admire the engravings along the silver ring, which evoke for me the archaic Greece. Moreover, the various shades of orange, through the rotation, look like dancing flames. It is therefore easy to imagine Hephaestus having forged that pen. Then the construction: it is flawless. The pen is perfectly polished, the resin is thick and sturdy, all parts screw to each other smoothly and tightly and the alignments are great. The perceived quality is definitively on the luxury side and the nib is also ideally tuned out of the box. The fine nib I chose is, given its size, very smooth with a slight and pleasant feedback and it sounds nice even on rough paper. The ink (great matching with Leonardo’s “arancio tarocco”) flows flawlessly, resulting in a sharp and even line. The pen is thick and its weight is above average for one made from resin, but I am able write tirelessly with it despite my small hands, thanks to its great balance and comfortable section. So why only 9 and not 10? Because I would save the perfect score for the Mitho K, despite the huge price gap. Not because of its gold nib: it will most probably add a bit of springiness, but the steel nib is already excellent. However, the K model would solve two design issues of minor consequences I have encountered with the standard version. The silver ring is elegant, but it is also prone to oxidation, from which the vermeil ring on the Mitho K is protected. Oxidation on silver can normally be easily removed using a dedicated cleaning cloth, but, in the present case, it is difficult to reach the bottom of the narrowest channels to clean them because of the deep engraving. Consequently, it is possible, after cleaning the ring, to make out tiny, darker spots here and there at the deepest locations. Another problem arises from the fact that the screw thread for the cap is located on the section. The barrel may therefore unscrew in place of the section when uncapping the pen if the section and the barrel are not screwed together tightly enough. No such problem should occur with the Mitho K because it is a piston filler with the barrel and section being unsegmented. It will however be a pity to let these insignificant flaws keep you away from what is a truly wonderful pen.