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"Many thanks. Today received the Dolcevita PISTON. I have really taken to this Pen. My favorite Pen. I don't speak English. I am bad writer. Sorry."
K. K., JAPAN

"Received the pen Friday.  It is great.  Beautiful, and writes perfectly.  Thanks for all your help."
S. Z., Rumson, NJ

 

DV80190 Delta Dolcevita Piston FP    $556.00  

                                               

Having been a great admirer -- and collector -- of Delta's sublime Dolcevita pens, I had two wishes for the expansion of the line. The first wish was granted about a year ago, with the introduction of the Dolcevita Desk Set. The second, and longer-held wish has just been granted with a piston version of this iconic masterpiece.

Sharing dimensions with the Dolcevita Oversized, the Piston measures 5-1/2" capped and 6-3/4" posted. Although large in the hand, Delta's use of fine Italian resin keeps this pen from becoming uncomfortably heavy. It's a writer that allows for extended writing sessions without fatigue, whether the cap is posted or set aside.

Visually, the first clue that this is a different Dolcevita, is the amber ink-viewing window. It's visible even when the pen is capped, enabling you to quickly ascertain if it's time for a trip to the ink bottle. As the Piston uses most of the large barrel for it's ink reservoir, those trips will be few and far between!

   
             Ink-viewing window with piston in retracted position          Ink-viewing window with piston extended

Each pen barrel is hand-turned from a solid bar of brilliant golden-orange pearlized resin, the same color visible throughout the country under the Mediterranean sun in rocky hillsides, while the cap is hand turned from a solid bar of black special resin.  

The pen is entirely handmade; barrels, caps and tops are hand-threaded by lathe and then each individual piece is hand-threaded to insure perfect alignment. The central ring is crafted in solid '925' sterling silver with an olive leaf motif painstakingly etched by a master silversmith from decor featured in old paintings from Pompei.

 

The clip is in a special elastic metal alloy, platinum plated, equipped with a small rolling wheel to facilitate sliding in and out of the breast pocket.

The pen has an 18kt solid gold nib in a fine, medium or broad nib, masked with platinum to match the sterling silver color of the pen's highlights. The Delta monogram, engraved in sterling silver, is positioned in the top of the cap, and although not a limited edition, each pen is individually numbered on the rear of the cap.

So, how does one access the piston feature of the Piston? One needs merely remove the blind cap at the barrel's end, to reveal the heavy-duty piston knob.

Although the blind cap is resin, it's been carefully outfitted with interior metal threads, affording a metal-to-metal fitting for added durability and security. You can remove the blind cap by unscrewing it yourself, or if the outer cap has been posted, it's been designed to unscrew just by turning the outer cap, where it will rest securely until re-attached over the knob.

The piston knob itself has been thoughtfully designed. The knurled knob (say that three times fast) affords a slip-free purchase when turning the piston. The knob is turned counter-clockwise to extend the piston down the barrel and expel the air. Once you've dipped the nib and a bit of the section in your chosen bottled ink, a clockwise 'turn of the screw' will draw a rather massive amount of ink into the barrel itself.

 

Another very thoughtful feature of this piston is that it has a safety stop at the end of its filling travel. You'll know that the pen has filled to its maximum when you feel and hear a ratcheting of the piston mechanism at the end of its journey. This is analogous to a similar feature on most automobile gas caps, which lets you know that you've reached the proper end position.

 

 

                   
                                      Piston retracted                                                          Piston in extended position

 

The Dolcevita Piston comes gift boxed and includes a bottle of Delta black ink, along with Delta's lifetime warranty. This is one Dolcevita that doesn't come with a converter or cartridges!

 

IMPORTANT SERVICE NOTE: Every nib that ships from His Nibs is closely examined under high magnification and tuned or adjusted if needed. About 85% of modern nibs need some adjustment out-of-the-box from the manufacturer for an optimal writing experience. Most commonly, the tines of the nib are misaligned -- which would cause scratchiness at the minimum; the slit between the tines is partially or fully closed -- which would starve the nib of ink and at best cause skipping; or the slit between the tines is too wide -- which will either again cause skipping, or conversely, flooding. There are other factors  -- such as separation of the nib from the feed -- that are inspected and repaired before any pen leaves the Palace.

The only 100% guarantee of course comes when the pen is actually filled with ink and written with for the first time, but our pre-shipping inspections and tunings have eliminated 99.99999 (my finger is getting tired) of the frustrations that a customer experiences when first using a new fountain pen. Although this can be time-consuming on occasion, it affords our customers a much more pleasant experience when receiving a fountain pen from His Nibs -- and saves us the frustration of dealing with returns!

 

 

 

 

 

Ordering Procedures & Returns

International customers, please note, we will not falsify shipping documents

Please send your order and shipping address (along with any questions) to:

orders@hisnibs.com
(on PayPal transactions, the email address may also display as stonebri@verizon.net)

We will email you back with your order total (PA residents please add 6% sales tax)

Credit cards, for the quickest fulfillment of your order, are accepted through PayPal, a secure site allowing you to use your credit card without us even seeing the information. If you'd like to make use of this credit card service, please let us know when you email your order and address, and we'll email you the appropriate Request for Payment, and instructions for the simple payment procedure (you don't need to join PayPal to use it).

                                                                                               

If you would like us process your credit card directly instead, then please email us:

1. Card # (dividing this number in two, between two emails, will ensure security)
2. Expiration date
3. Name on card
4. Address for billing statement
5. Card verification # (3-digit number printed on the back of your card. It appears after and to the right of your card number, or 4-digit number on the front of your AMEX card).
 

If you'd rather pay by money order or check, kindly make payable to:

His Nibs.com
  434 N. Leh St., 1A
  Allentown, PA 18104

We ship via insured Priority Mail
(email for cost)

 

 

Warranties and returns

If an item proves to be defective, in most cases the manufacturer's warranty will apply. However, please email us first so that we can determine the easiest way to resolve the problem to your satisfaction. In the case of fountain pens -- which are a bit more individualistic than other writing instruments -- what may at first appear to be a defect (hard starting or poor flow for example), can in almost all cases be resolved with a few simple 'tweaks' to the nib, which we'll be happy to guide you through or perhaps suggest returning to us for adjustment.

Should you wish to return a non-defective item within 3 days of receipt because it doesn't suit you for some reason, again please email us and we'll arrange an exchange, credit or refund (minus any shipping/insurance charges), if the item is returned in an 'as new' condition. If you've dipped a fountain pen to try its writing characteristics, kindly clean off any ink residue prior to shipping -- to save us both a nasty surprise .

We want you to be happy with your purchase from HisNibs.com and hope to have you join the ranks of our many long-term, repeat customers!

 

Revised: August 19th, 2023

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