It just dawn on me that I had not posted in more than a year. Oh my how fast time flies when you have so many things going on at the same time. The more reason for me to get more organised. Well stay tuned as this is one a many articles coming.
Opus 88 2023 new year mini pocket fountain pen. These are special releases celebrating the arrival of 2023. Two designs were released, 2023 is the year of the rabbit so it was only fitting one would be a rabbit. The other would be a cat, welcoming celebrating the arrival of a new year full of love and adventure.
I purchased the cat version @ pengallery on 4 November 2023 world fountain pen day. Why you ask? Because :
1. I thought it looked different, unique and cute.
2. My daughter loves cats.
3. It will be a beautiful birthday gift for her. She would not be expecting this.
The cat was designed by Japanese artist (unable to find out who) and holds a red wine glass in the right hand whilst the left hand holds a wine bottle, whilst smiling with its eyes shut. (Reflecting the art of celebrating the new year). I guess it makes more sense and it’s more acceptable to have the eyes shut reflecting joy as opposed to have them open with a smile as if the cat is stalking you. Yikes!
This is my first purchase of Opus 88. I was never of fan of the make but a chance encounter with a geologist @ pengallery during inktober 2023 changed all that. She had a beautiful Opus 88 Fantasia pocket pen with a medium nib. It not only looked gorgeous but wrote beautifully. Silky smooth. I was impressed.
They are eyedropper with a piston-style agitator. The demonstrator's pen body is a solid translucent color.
The pen writes ok to me for a F steel nib. Nothing impressive. Unlike its looks. It’s looks fabulous. I guess I purchased it more based on the looks.
My main peeve is that the pressure release valve is rather flimsy and feels cheep. You need to be gentle handling it. My daughter is 11 and rather rough so I need to warn her on this matter. I guess on more expensive Opus 88 models the release valve mechanism will be from higher grade plastic.
I understand from online research that the Opus 88 Mini Pocket fountain pen was first released in November 2021 and one notable difference is that the pens now are able to securely post. Yayyyyyy! If you do some online searches they have some beautiful versions of this mini pocket fountain pens. These are some of my favorites.
Mini Stripe
Cup of Comfort
Cinco de mayo
Baby beluga
Year of the tiger
But after flimsy release valve on my cat version, I will give the above a skip. No matter how beautiful I think some of them are. I’m a firm believer of build to last concept.
The Mini Rabbit pocket fountain pen on the other hand features a rabbit holding a fountain pen amidst a cascade of blooming flowers with a cursive, wrap around message on the barrel reading, "Happy new year 2023”. Although we love rabbits, I would not get it due to issue mentioned above.
These are some of our pets, English Anggora (Fluffy and Trouble Maker) and Rex breeds (Blackie and Kangaroo). They all look a mess as they were out playing in the yard. Kangaroo’s fir looks off and pulled out as it is the mating time.
Opus 88 is a company based in Taiwan founded in 1977 by Michael Hsu by doing oem works for other well known brands. But they begin producing pens in 1988. Hence the reference to 88. The founder referred the company’s design and manufacturing process is akin to a musical note so they settled on Opus, referring to the musical elements. A musical composition is referred to as Opus. On some of the Opus boxes there is the family name logo Hsu. Thanks to David Parker @ figboot on pens for this background history.
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