Another Write Here special edition, the Africa, by Italian firm Scribo, is very similar in size and shape to the Tropea that I reviewed here. Everything I said about size and weight there applies here so I won’t repeat!
This particular pen I have for review differs from the Tropea in two ways. Most obvious is colour and the second is the nib. Where the Tropea had a lovely wet stub nib, this has a 14k extra flex nib.
Looks first! I will be honest and say that the look of this pen is not to my taste. The acrylic is translucent with patches of translucent gold and brown and opaque black. It almost looks like tortoiseshell but not quite. The description on Write Here’s website says that the “colour and distribution of the flecks made us think of leopards, cheetahs, and giraffes on the Savannah.” Fair enough, I can totally see where thy are coming from and if this is your kind of colour combination, you’ll love it. It is beautifully done.
The translucency of the pen both works and doesn’t work for me. I love that it allows you to see how much ink you have and, like the Tropea and other piston fillers, it’s ink capacity is generous. However, I have a bit of a love/hate with translucent/demonstrator pens. I really don’t like that you can see the inner workings of the pen or the glue where the end of the pen is secured to the piston mechanism. Again that is probably much more of a “me” thing than anything else! I know lots of people who like it.
The nib tho, OMG the nib! I am a fan of flex nibs anyway and this one is a joy to write with. Like the stub on the Tropea, this is a wet nib and I love that about it. If I am being honest, it could be smoother – there is a reasonable amount of feedback, which, again, I know some people don’t like.
Overall, another lovely pen from Scribo. Whether or not I like the colours, the pen is very well made and of Scribo’s usual high quality. It is an excellent addition to the Write Here exclusive line up. While I have the Tropea on my grail list, I would have a time of it trying to choose between the nibs!
You can purchase the pen directly from Write Here for £545 or if that is a little out of your budget right now, you can try it at Pensharing. Be warned though, I have always gone on to buy the pens I borrowed from Pensharing!
The Inky Sea 
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