Hire cost:
Hire this Opus 88 Minty for just £2.50 per week!
Description (from the Cult Pens website):
To fountain pen geeks, the words "Made in Taiwan" are coming to mean "Expect something special and unusual". And fountain pen geeks like unusual. Opus 88 have been manufacturing on behalf of other companies since 1988, but now they're designing and making their own pens, aiming them quite firmly at those of us who love fountain pens, and want something a bit different.
The Minty's barrel finishes are clean, refreshing and can't help but induce a sense of the optimistic! The barrel ring affords a hint of what's inside and the end cap and grip area are a contrasting solid black.
While the filling system used by these pens is not something new - far from it - it's rare in modern pens. They may look at first as if they're piston fillers, or perhaps vacuum fillers, but these are actually eyedropper pens. More specifically, they're of a type often known as 'Japanese Eyedroppers' (though these aren't Japanese). They don't draw ink up into the barrel themselves, you need to use an eyedropper (or syringe if you prefer) to get ink from the bottle to the pen barrel.
So why the piston-like mechanism? It's a valve, to seal off the ink supply just above the nib. Why? Well, for one thing, it makes the pens safer to carry, as only the ink that's already in the feed can leak into the cap if it gets shaken about. It can also be used to work around a common problem with eyedropper pens. With a lot of ink and air held directly in the barrel, as the heat from your hand warms up an eyedropper pen, they can push a bit of ink out through the feed, onto the page. It's not usually a problem when the pen is full, only when there's air in the barrel, but if it happens to be a problem for you, you can just keep the valve closed, only opening it to allow more ink to the feed as needed.
In use, you just need to unscrew the valve a little before you start a longer writing session, and tighten it back up for safety when you're done. And if you just need to make a quick note, the ink that's already in the feed should be plenty, so it doesn't slow you down.
Filling system:
Eyedropper
Dimensions:
Unposted: approx 135mm
Posted: approx 174mm
Condition:
New
Blemishes:
None
Replacement Value:
£100
Shipping:
Shipping cost is for UK only, insured up to the replacement value. Not available to hire outside the UK.
Packaging:
Pen will be shipped in a reusable box. Please return in this box.
Other instructions:
None
Choice of ink:
By default, the pen will be empty and clean. But I do have a wide range of inks which are all listed on my profile. If you fancy trying something, let me know and I'll either fill the pen or send a sample (depending on ease of packaging etc)