Scrively exists since about five and a half years now. In this time, I managed to review quite a range of products – mostly fountain pens – of all sorts and makes.
Looking into the rear mirror, however, there seems to be one (maybe also more than one) quite apparent gap: Italian brands. While I love Italy, Italian pens somehow never really caught me. In the communities you hear a lot about inconsistent quality control. The often very swirly, bright, extravagant, and sometimes exaggerated designs never resonated with me – as most of you know, I am more one for minimalist, black pens (on the extreme).
So maybe this apparent gap in Italian fountain pens does – at least to a certain extend – reveal a bias in my reviewing scheme. Not in how I approach a product, and that it might get a biased review (and as you will be able to tell from the review of this Aurora 88 here, I liked it a lot), but more in how I select the kinds of products that I review.
Sure enough, there are more pens out there to potentially review than I have time in the schedule. So naturally, I need to make a selection, and might then gravitate to what also does interest me more than other things. On the other hand side, have I gotten offered Italian makes for review, I have not (always) said no – see here for instance for reviews of the Leonardo Momento Zero & Furore, Marlen One, Marte Modena Citizen, or the Aurora Duo Cart.
Be it as it were, I have made a mental note to myself to in the future work a little more against my biases, and do more Italian makes. Stipula for instance. Or Visconti. Or more Aurora.
Also: hello Parker, Sheaffer, Conklin, Cross, Conway-Stewart, and (likely) many more. Just use the search window in that upper corner of my website. See? Nothing. Exactly! Another bias implicit here? Who knows.
Today is a first step in the right direction, with a review of the Aurora 88. And I might already have to ask for forgiveness in advance, as I know I have a huge backlog of Lamy stuff that will all soon come your way. So please bear with me and my selection biases for a little while more.
Before we hop into the review, I would like to take the opportunity to thank Appelboompennen for supporting the review of this pen. You can also buy the Aurora 88 Black CT Big in their webshop (no affiliate – just a friendly pointer).
Check out the video-review below, which is as always preceded by some quick facts. Again, I hope the review is helpful and that you enjoy watching it!
Quick Facts
- Aurora 88 Black CT Big (available in a number of different sizes, colors, and finishes)
- Resin barrel
- Piston-filler
- Available 14k gold-nib options (rhodium plated): Extra Fine (EF), Fine (F), Medium (M), Broad (B), Double Broad (BB), Oblique Medium (OM), Oblique Broad (OB), Oblique Double Broad (OBB), Stub (S), Italic Broad (IS),
- Price: ca. 495 €
Video Review
Picture Gallery
Click on the photos to enlarge.