Platinum 3776 Century Penna Stilografica Laurel Green

I opted for the Laurel green with a soft fine nib. Aesthetically, I find the moderately transparent dark green very appealing. Most of the barrel and the cap are perceived as opaque but, depending on lightning conditions, hints of transparency can be glimpsed here and there, mostly outlining the nib. Stylish but not boring and blending nicely with the somehow pale gold trim of the clip and rings. I also very much like the original shape of the nib. But this nib was initially much of a concern. Good point is that it is pleasantly bouncy and that it falls in between the Western extra-fine and fine widths, as expected. Restraining myself to reasonable amounts of pressure, I am not able to achieve significant line variation as demonstrated by some reviewers, but I do not think this is the designing purpose of this nib. Beyond that, the nib was very scratchy outside of its narrow, sweet spot and scratchy within it. More important, the pen wrote really, really dry with the ink I had selected for it (Diamine Beethoven). It resulted in a lot of skipping and, on coated papers like Rhodia/Clairefontaine, the ink flow stopped after having written for about one page and was restored only by priming the pen. Writing several pages on rough kraft paper removed a little bit of scratchiness and enlarged the sweet spot. Flushing the pen and using other inks (other Diamine, Herbin, Waterman, some of them rather wet) solved the drying out issue but the skipping was still there, whose severity depended on the paper. In desperation and with little hope, I ordered a highly lubricated ink with a wet flow (Monteverde California Teal). And a miracle happens: the pen is now a solid writer, without any skipping, and the initial scratchiness has been replaced by a satisfying feedback, except for the most extreme mishandlings. So, I am rating the pen (or maybe more precisely the nib/feeder) 8 stars, as an average between 5 stars when used with most of the inks and 10 stars if you find the right one.