Love India but was never a fan of their fountain pens.

great review, interesting design.

I have several Benu pens and like them all. Good writers, comfortable to hold, lightweigt plastic, and big, fat eyecatching designs. On this base model, the odd rings on nib side of the grip tend to hold a lot of ink when the converter is left inside when filling, so it either wastes ink when it's wiped off, or gets on your hand, which is likewise a waste of ink, or you get to wear out your converter by removing and re-seating it for each fill. For nearly $300 the designers could do better, imho. Though the painted phoenix is attractive, it is by no means comparable to any urushi treatments, not even the so-called "modern urushi", both of which are generally hand-painted and smoothed over many applications. Could Benu be after that kind of design? Thanks for the fun review.

Great video. Thanks. In October I’ll be going to the Detroit Pen Show. This will be my 2nd time & 2 show ever. I just got into pens recently.

Which has a better nib, this or Custom 845? I am currently between these two, and their retail price is almost the same in my country. Any thoughts?

That’s plainly gaudy. Rather hideous looking.

Thank you for a good review. I just ordered it, I don’t care if it’s an exclusive or if it’s a limited edition, I just think it’s a beautiful pen and I should own one.

My first thought when I saw this was that I'd love to see the Phoenix's presence unrestricted. I can see a cap sitting flush with the barrel and the handpainted Phoenix stretching across both sections. Though not a criticism of the current design in any way. As it is I think I might try and obtain one, with the handpainted Phoenix spread over both sections I'd already have bought it!! I have an Earl Grey Benu, sadly not yet inked and think they create excellent, distinctive, pens.

I love the pen but it is a bit too expensive!

Fire on Fire was an excellent choice; Monteverde Fire Opal would be, too. But I think I would have gone for Kiwi Quetzalcoatl. I also like Schmidt nibs. They seem to work well for me. Thanks for the review, David!

A truly beautiful pen, but the price point of Benu hand painted pens is just out of line for me, especially with a steel nib.

Haha. He said assvine. I’m going with that one

Beautiful pen! I do think a gold clip and and nib, and gold Benu engraving would have been better than silver.

I think i'd rather buy a magna carta mag 650 even though it costs more (im indian just like the magna carta by the way)

Not sure where the pen market is at, but retailer exclusives have done irreparable damage in the knife world. Definitely not something that should be encouraged or supported.

Their handpainted pens are so beautiful! This one in particular :)

A beautiful pen I must say, but personally I have one little problem with it. I should not spreak though, but... when writing, the Phoenix faces down. For me it would be nicer to have it the other way up. You could say that the bird is flying, and you can enjoy the art. But you van also say if the other way round, the bird will dance over the paper, which would give it another dimension... I know it's a thing with most pens. It's just my thing I guess. Sorry.

hello young man, i have a Conklin Mark Twain Crescent Superblack/Gunmetal LIMITED EDITION 1898 Fountain Pen, and the ring has stuck and i am unable to get it up, i was wondering any suggestions.thank you

@12:35 OMG man. Yeah. Worst pen ever. Hilarious seeing all the yellow ink had shot out into the cap. 😀

Most of your featured pens are far too costly for me to consider, but showing the Faber-Castell Loom, a wonderful pen with a really terrific nib, is a brilliant choice. Thanks.

Thanks to an earlier one of your videos where the Classic LB5 was one of the comparison pens, this is now on my husband's grail pen wish list (but not for 12k!)

We want to see BSB vs HIR !

What a cool concept to make a video about. How long did it take you to come up with the list?

If it was ever possible to get all we want, we would get irremediably bored. We should keep the wishes of ownership alive by not realizing them all.

Rumors have it that Conid will restart production of the king-sized bulk filler in early 2092.

I would add some of the older, more affordable Montblanc pens in general to the list, like they were made up to the 80s or 90s: Carrera, Noblesse, the 2xy and 3xy lines and so on …

Always enjoy a peek into your collection. Thank you so much for doing this. Beautiful, every one. You made my Monday morning!

The Ensso Piuma Urushi that I purchased almost a year ago is one I'm still waiting for. I hope to actually acquire it in another month or two. Thank you for the exciting & dazzling history lesson.

What a beautiful collection, I'll add the Del Mar in the grail pen list when your stock is sold :) I was fortunate enough this year to purchase my grail pen, without triggering a divorce, and it was the Visconti Jacques de Molay, by far the most expensive pen of my collection but I was fortunate enough to find it NOS with a fine nib so perfect for me. I own other Viscontis but this one is really special and as an history buff this pen talks to me. My other interest is in astrophysics and as you shown in your video, space themed pens are not too difficult to find so there are only beautiful pens there but nothing that comes close to grail level. In any case thanks for this very nice review of your top 10 pens!

I shouldn't have watched 🤪

I'm really glad you're still making videos. I remember I used to watch you all the time in 2020 and 2021, and it was nice to see that you're still spreading fountain pens worldwide!

I had to wait a year for my Nakaya Dorsal Fin 2. I don't believe these are going to be widely available for a long time.

Basically any Nakaya right now is unavailable now. Especially since the Dorsal Fin 2 is so desired. Someone on reddit recently quoted me USD2,800 for one, which is insane considering RRP was USD1,500 for a long time.

Somewhere in my home is an Omas arco bronze celluloid milord. I purchased it at an astonishingly good price before I was ready to own such an amazing pen (I had finally filed for divorce, it was, at best ,contentious and I moved 2000 miles from home.) So I hid it from myself. I haven't finished unpacking yet.. I'm delighted that I was able to write with it and then clean it. 😊

Fascinating array of pens. The Leonardo MZ 'Figboot on Pens' is my favourite. Cheers from Australia.

David, if you ever decide to sell either or both of your LB5 pens, I’d be the first in line to want to buy them from you.

A very unique,impressive pen I will have to add to my Diplomat collection. The blue demonstrator is desirable when filled with the royal blue ink. Torn between the medium and broad nib . Do you think it’s worth going for the gold nib?

I am the proud owner of a Platinum Carbon Ink Desk Pen <EF> which ran me $14. Right after I bought it they changed the name and nib, both for the worse. My go-to layout pen.

Excellent presentation. Your pen collection is comprised of individual works of art. I am somewhat jealous of you. Thanks again for all the work you do to bring us these videos

David, the Aurora 88 black mamba is also hard to find, even in the secondary market

I haven't been collecting long, but I do have some nice limited edition pens, like the Conklin All-American in titanium rainbow, and several Kickstarter pens that may be rarer than the creators intended. My Namisu Nova Pocket in the "Petrol" finish, which is a matte titanium rainbow, and the recent Monteverde Innova Formula M Fountain Pen - Lightning (Limited Edition) - with their Omniflex nib. It's the set, including a bottle of their Lightning ink to go with it. I grabbed the Nahvalur "Key West" limited edition for Pride 2024 just before they sold out, and they're not really rare, and you can probably still get them fairly inexpensively, but Swan has a demonstrator piston filler with the Maru manga and cartography crowquill nib. It's a wonderfully fine nib with a "soft flex" that gives it a lovely line variation. I bought several, and a bunch of nibs. The only seller I know of is the shop "Inkursive" on Etsy. They're supposedly made in transparent colors, but I've never seen them in stock, only the clear demonstrator. I might have other unusual pens, but I don't know the particulars of most of my pens, only that I like them, either for their finish or for their design, or for how they write, like my Osprey Madison with the Zebra G nib assembly. Unlike the Ackerman Zebra G I bought, which dumped ink on my page no matter how I adjusted it, the Osprey works perfectly.

David, we are still waiting for that video on your favourite grip sections.

Ye Gods! the cap band engraving on the del Mar is a real eyesore.

I too hesitated on the Kumpoo but jumped on the Voyager Del Mar (#12) ! Love my Sailor Sky KOP; had one CONID and sold it; the clip was not machined to perfection; have since acquired a CONID Wild Tiger; much better quality control. Thanks for sharing.

So glad I was able to get a Faber-Castel Loom with <M> nib! Matte-black cap with shiny gunmetal barrel and clip was all that was available to me at the time. I love it. The Psycho Montblanc is so cool! I remember when you got the Sailor KoP Sky. You were so excited that I was excited for you. Congrats. Your brace of Classic LB5 pens is just spectacular! They are breathtaking. Whole nother level. Thanks for the show!

Torture, pure torture. I've had (and actively considered) a DB5 and an Omas 360 in my hands at the DC Supershow (some years back) at retail but passed on both as above my budget. Wish I''d stretched! And I hunted for awhile for that Monty Winfield, similarly without luck. At least I have a Loom and each of those two Lamys you showed!

Platinum Izumo vs Pilot 845?

Kumpoo? 😂 I have the mind of a child.

I have a Faber Castell Loom and it is fantastic. Definitely a top quality pen especially for the price I paid for it.

I'm trying to get one omas.. But the models are so confusing and there doesn't seem to be any proper descriptions of the pens anywhere.. If only there was a video of a comparison of different old and new omas models