Editing The Pen Addict 384/transcript (section)

== Aurora Black Mamba Pen ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So I have that specifically marked to discuss. So tell me, tell me about that. Yeah. Tell me about that pen because I got to see one. I don't know where I saw that San Francisco. Was it out then? Or did I see that? Yeah. Um, it's an impressive pen because it's different to me than the other 88s, not just in style, but in feel. So tell me about that pen.

'''Kerry Yeager:''' So it's an 88 standard 88, but they engraved the entire pen so that it looks like the scales of a snake, a black Mamba, if you will. And they blacked out all the trim. And then they put, of course, cause it's a limited edition. They put the 18 caracal nib on it, black that out as well. Mm-hmm. They engraved the pen so well and so clean. I put a loop as soon as we got them in up to the finish and I'm looking at them like, it's just so clean.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Kerry Yeager:''' You know, cause when you engrave something like that, a lot of times you'll get like little white peaks from pushing, you know, acrylic around and it's just clean all through. And it just really, it's just sharp pen glitters when you put light on it. And yeah, I'm, I'm absolutely hoping that there will be some left so that I could acquire one myself.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. It's funny to me who Aurora, when you generally look at the lineup, it's, it's bold and bright. And it's one of the reasons why I love them. It's funny to say that an all black pen is an outlier in their lineup, but it kind of is to me, um, as, as more of an outsider, you see it more and there's maybe more black pens that I'm missing, but just in general, in the lineup, when you're lining it up against other 88s or other, um, optimas, it's like the all black one doesn't normally fit there. And it's just pulled off really, really well.

'''Kerry Yeager:''' And they have such a, you know, I mean, it's Italian company, so they know style and they know what, you know, things should, how things should flow. And at the end of the day, it's also, you know, you have to remember it's an Aurora 88. Yeah. It's got an awesome nib. I mean, they're made in house and, you know, I mean, I rave about it now because I got to, as you did too, when we were in LA, um, and you got to spend time with Filippo. I mean, I got to spend over a week with this guy and, you know, I knit my super 25 years and I've got a translator that's there. That's kind of just answering my bizarro question. Sure. You know, and, and it's not, you know, it's not all business. It's about, you know, what did you do and how did you get this to work and why did you do it this way? And, you know, so it makes me like a classic pen. That's a little bit different, even more.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Yep. Exactly. It's great to have that. So what else is Aurora doing right now? That's kind of piqued your interest, um, as either a fan or as a distributor, you know, it's kind of hard to displace those two. And, you know, you, you work for the company, you know, if you will, but, um, what is, is, what does Aurora, uh, doing right now? That's really shining bright.

'''Kerry Yeager:''' I think what shiny bright is that they are, when they come out with limited editions, like the Arctic series, like the, the ocean series that they have right now, that they're keeping the numbers lower. You know, they're not making a thousand of each of five of these pens. You know, there's only, I think there's only 440 of each one or something like that. And, um, those are the ones that they did like five years ago, that same body style. They did the Mar Adriatica, which was the beautiful blue with the sterling silver and everything. Right. Um, so they're not doing too much of that. And they're also, uh, branching out in the nib section where they did that, the new gochia nib, uh, which is like a, uh, a togi nib. So that the higher the angle, your cross stroke is thinner and the lower, the angle, the wider. And, uh,

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And they're doing that themselves. Are they, they're doing that in-house?

'''Kerry Yeager:''' Yeah. Everything is in-house and those nibs, um, you know, again, Filippo is doing, he's doing all that work and they're letting him, you know, have that time to, to kind of branch out. And just do different things and, and reach that market because the market right now, you know, everybody's looking at the nib. Everyone's looking for a different kind of nib and something that's done, not just different, but done right. And, uh, and he really did, he did it really, really well. Yeah. I own both. I know you do and it's, it works how it should.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. It can be a real differentiator in a pen. I mean, like the design is one thing, like they, you know, Aurora's materials are stellar. I will say on, on this lineup, the, what the, uh, the Oceani and the, the, the ocean, um, they are very proud of the cap band on those pens. I just want to say that, uh, to you, they really liked the cap band design for that one. It's very large, but just the overall it's an Aurora pen, right? You, you look at it without seeing the brand, you go, that's Aurora. And I do like that from a brand to have some kind of consistency through their lineup to where, you know, when you see it, what it is. And I've always appreciated that, uh, about Aurora's pens. And, uh, yeah, I just think they're fantastic. Yeah, they are. All right. I want to talk about Montegrappa because they confuse me a little bit. And I want to preface this by saying, I used to think the pens were okay, but they're fine. It's Montegrappa. This is the pen Montegrappa makes and it's fine. And then all of a sudden within the past one to two years, I'm going, that's Montegrappa, really? And it looks that cool. And it writes this well. Why do I like Montegrappa so much now, Kerry? I can't figure it out myself. So I figure the guy who handles these pens all day long can tell me why in the past year or two that I've fallen in love with this product as a brand.

'''Kerry Yeager:''' Honestly, I think they are really, I've gained, let me tell you, before I say that, I've gained so much respect for that brand. And after coming on board and learning the background and the history and everything that they've done, what they're doing now and where they're going and the way they're going part, we're going to leave out because there's almost like, we're almost at a non-disclosure kind of point in the conversation. It's just amazing. You know, they have been family owned. You know, Aurora is what? A hundred years. Montegrappa is 112 years, something like that, or 107 years, I think now, family owned. And they just strive to achieve the next level, not like the next best thing, but the next level of whatever they're doing. You know, this is a company that you look at and they change from making, you know, they change from making like just nothing but extravagant, extraordinary pens to starting to make more and more daily users. And as they did that, they learned what works and what doesn't work. And I can tell you that now, like they've learned that the Joa nib is an excellent out of the box experience. So what do they do? In the last two years, they have changed over so that every new pen that they're bringing out is using a Joa number six nib or five, but a number six steel nib. And even the number six gold nibs, they're using Joa as well. The number eight gold nib is still a box with that huge ebonite flat feed. So, I mean, that's pretty epic nib, but they have switched over and made sure that that's the direction that they're going. That the pens that they put out right out of the box really well. And they're trying to keep things at a certain price level. But at the same time, there's a balance. And an example would be they're coming out with the next in their Warrior series. For those who know or those who don't know, they had the Samurai last year. And, you know, just unbelievable pen. The way they did the casting and the silver work on them. And it's a $15,000 pen that's just...

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Which I've got to play with, which just sounds weird.

'''Kerry Yeager:''' It does. But, you know, you just... It just is a next level. Yes. It's a next level kind of pen. The way that it's cast, the way that the artisans that they have working there do the silver work. And just... It's just phenomenal that they can actually put it together. That they can actually have everything work the way that it works. And look as pretty as it looks. And be on that extravagant level. And then the next year they come out. And now they have the Viking. Which is $18,500. Which is just... It's just... But it's unbelievable. Like, you look at the pen and you see what they've done with this piece of art that happens to be a writing instrument. And you're like, wow. But the balance is... This is what I love telling when I'm at a pen show. The balance is when people look at stuff like that. Or Lord of the Rings, the limited editions. You know, Montegrappa is very grounded. In that, you know, they do a lot of other things that people, you know, don't always get to see. There's a pen out right now that actually, you know about, for the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Kerry Yeager:''' And, you know, Giuseppe spent a lot of time and effort to make sure that, you know, the pen came out and that the Elmo that's out is in the right colors. The clip is actually designed by an artist who suffers from Parkinson's. And, you know, they're looking to work or they work, they look to work with and are working with the Fox Foundation to give back. And, you know, you hear that and you're like, wow, that's really a diverse company as a whole. And I love that about them, you know, that they really understand where they need to be, that they're in the community and they're hitting all points. And they just fire on all cylinders all the time now, really.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, it's been interesting to watch from someone who follows this stuff like I do. And I do think the nib transition a couple of years ago was the start of, you know, me getting more interested in the brand. But then the designs just kept getting better and better. And we're talking about the normal people product lineup, not the enough to drive your pen to work price range lineup, which I appreciate that they do that. Like, I've got a newfound appreciation after talking to some people who own these products. You know, like in our event at Fountain Pen Hospital last year, you know, I got to talk to the owner of a chaos pen who was wearing it around his neck and just the belief he had in that product. And I was like, like getting to talk to the owners of products like this, it just kind of changes a little bit of your mindset. But like you say, I shop in the, hey, let me use this pen every day. And I was super happy for the Tulip for Team Fox edition when Ron at Pensallie asked me to work with him on that. I like, I was thrilled. Like, I couldn't say yes fast enough. It was just really, really neat. And, you know, I like the Montegrappa, Montegrappa, as much as I enjoy the naming convention of that pen. I enjoy the pen because it's a great writing pen, right? And it's got a cool, like ratcheted filling piston filling system. And like, and it's just cool. And it fits my hand well and it's designed well. I don't know. They're just, they're just kind of knocking it out of the park recently on their mainline pens. And then they have all the extra stuff, right? Like all the, you know, winter is coming. And, you know, like you said, Lord of the Rings and all that stuff. You sent me a text today knowing that you were going to be on the podcast tonight. And it contained a singular picture. And we can talk about this picture that you sent me? Okay. So tell me what you sent me because I don't know what this is totally. You kind of explained it, but we didn't go into it. So what did you send me?

'''Kerry Yeager:''' We had, I guess we had the conversation we usually have at a pen show. It's just like kind of a drive-by, if you will. So, you know, the, because the picture, everyone, for everyone that wants to know, the picture I sent Brad was a new pen from Antigrapa called the Maya 450.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And real quick, we have all these links in the show notes, all these pens we're talking about. This will all be in the show notes. You can, you can play along at home when you're listening and see what these pens look like that we're talking about. Sorry, go ahead.