Thanks to Monteverde and some luck, I recently won one of their Mini Jewelria pens in green. Here is my review.
Appearance: This is a fantastic looking pen. The green striation area is pretty. The whole pen looks to be high-quality and well made. The iridium nib also has some engraved swirls for extra visual aesthetics. One feature I really like is that not only does the pen cap screw on to cap it, it screws on the top of the pen to post it. This insures the cap will not fly off or flop around when writing.
Size/Weight: When capped, this pen is quite small. When uncapped and unposted, it is tiny. I think the only way to use this pen is posted. I like light pens and this pen is quite substantial. It is not as heavy as some of the larger high-end pens, but it does hold its own in your hand. Depending on the day, my arm may tire after a few pages, although I have written many pages with it before.
Writing: My pen is a medium nib, which is definitely medium. I prefer Fine points, so this is different for me. The pen lays down a smooth wet line — most of the time. The pen often stops writing and I have to scribble with it for a minute until the ink starts flowing again. This is quite annoying when trying to write continuously. I’m not sure why it does this, but I wish it didn’t. I also do not know if this is typical of these pens or if it is my pen in particular.
Ink: This pen only uses Monteverde mini-cartridges, which I find disappointing. Monteverde sells these mini-cartridges in many colors, but I prefer to have bottled inks that usually offer more color variety than cartridges. Black cartridges came with my pen and depending on the paper, it often seems to be more of a black-brown than a pure black.
Overall: The best feature of this pen is its appearance. I do wish it didn’t skip, took a converter and was a bit lighter in weight. With that said, I do like it very much and it is in my rotation. I am very happy and grateful to have won it.
