The Metropolis is the latest offering from Pineider with a barrel end that can be customised by the owner with a choice of monograms, initials or logos.
Made from UltraResin, the pen is a purple blue colour with a pearlescent finish. The pen cap is a traditional screw, with a triple-start threaded system for quick closure. The clip is based on a feather design and made of marine steel. The cap collar is also of marine steel with the name of the pen elegantly raise embossed in a 2000AD Judge Dread Mega City style – which I quite like – in a late 1980’s nostalgia trip kind of way. The pen also comes with a #5 steel nib and one standard cartridge.
On closer inspection, the actual finish of the pen isn’t all that great. I did notice that the cap isn’t a perfect fit and that the pearlescent finish isn’t consistent, which is not good. The pen feels light in the hand and when first used for handwriting the nib actually squeaked for the first couple of lines! That said, the ink flow is fine and consistent. But it feels entry level to me.
The real shock for me came when I became aware of the price! At just under €90 – I actually fell off my chair! As stated, I would have thought this pen was entry level with a realistic price of circa €30-€40 – and that’s including a generous allowance for the customisation gimmick. In all honesty, apart from the cap collar, I could find nothing unique nor endearing about this pen. On the upside, there are lots of very good entry level pens on the market available for more realistic prices. If you want something a little different, you could check out the Calamus for starters!
This particular pen was sent to me by Anja at Papier und Stift, so if you want to check it out further, here’s the link: https://papierundstift.de/en/detail/index/sArticle/3806
The United Inkdom team are also going to be reviewing this pen so there will be a serious meta review comprising the opinions of eight pen enthusiasts available for you to view very soon.
HEY! If you’re interested to know more about how to use fountain pen inks in more creative ways – whether it’s simply to observe their chromatic behaviours, or, to recreate one of my swatch cards, or, to learn how to use them in watercolour painting, illustration and calligraphy, why not check out my online course or, even better, sign up for a workshop?
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