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patrick_y
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Graf Von Faber Castell Ancient Egypt Pen of the Year 2023

Moderator Patrick_y, a fountain pen user, reviews the Graf Von Faber Castell 2023 Pen of the Year: Ancient Egypt that was announced at the end of 2023.  

Photo from GVFC 

If Egyptian Pharaohs were ever to use a fountain pen, they’d likely be satisfied with this meaningful Limited Edition Fountain Pen made by Graf Von Faber Castell.  The pen pays such homage to the Egyptian culture, that I was impressed.  While I’m not an expert in Egyptian culture, I did find the pen to be extremely enjoyable to admire.  

The history of the Graf Von Faber Castell brand is immensely rich and interesting.  I have covered the background history of the Graf Von Faber Castell brand and the independence of the brand.  Please see this article…

www.watchprosite.com

I have also covered the unboxing of the Graf Von Faber Castell Samurai Pen, the 2019 Pen of the Year. Another glorious pen that illustrated “the pen is mightier than the sword.”  

www.watchprosite.com

Onto the review of the pen.  When you first open the impressive box, and it is a very impressive box, we see a blacked out pen.  The pen strikes you as a very modern writing instrument.  Perhaps unusually modern, since most fountain pen users are older individuals who have a penchant for nostalgia.  Well, this is the case no longer; during the pandemic, Millennials found a new hobby, journaling with very nice fountain pens.  Millennials seem to have poured petrol on the fountain pen industry as fountain pen use is now at a 40 plus year high.  This is a nice jolt for the industry, as just a few years ago, pen companies were seeing dwindling sales and some brands even closed their doors!  Point here, the pen is very modern, it’s beautifully presented in a big heavy box, and it comes with a special bottle of Lapis Lazuli ink from Graf Von Faber Castell.  I don’t have the “Cobalt Blue” nor “Royal Blue” ink from Graf Von Faber Castell, but I do have to admit that I like this Lapis Lazuli color very much.  More on this later.  

When you pick up the pen, you’re impressed with the weight.   The pen weighs a hefty 86 grams or about three ounces!  Keep in mind, this is not a solid gold pen.  Being made of so much metal, my fingers were instantly surprised – the Diamond Like Coating (DLC) of the pen made this pen feel almost warm to the touch.  There was no brutal thermal shock of coldness when I touched the pen.  I don’t know if this was by design or just a happy accident, but kudos to Graf Von Faber Castell for this delight!  

If you look at the top of the pen, you see an Egyptian Scarab Beetle in blue Lapis Lazuli at the top finial of the pen.  There are gold specs here in the Lapis Lazuli.  The beetle is raised and polished, the sunken background is matted.  Really well done.  I also like how this pen has this color on top as to me it marks the color of ink that I would put in this pen (if I were ever to ink these things – I don’t plan to ink this pen).  

If you look at the bottom of the pen, your eyes are greeted with the gold Eye of Horus.  The pen is a “piston fill” mechanism.  To utilize this, unscrew this cap to the bottom section and while you do so, notice the engravings that give you good grip are a special design – the Egyptian Lotus flower design!  Upon removing this cap, you’re left with the screw mechanism for the piston pump mechanism to draw in and expel ink.  Now, I have to sing praise here, the haptic feedback of this piston mechanism is SO SMOOTH, that it really shows some engineering went into this piston filler mechanism.  At the highest point, the piston even has a rachet system (like the one in socket wrenches) to prevent you from overtightening the piston.  So clever.  And it just feels so well made in your fingertips – again, the haptics feel like a Lange Datograph chronograph’s pusher buttons.  Bravo Graf Von Faber Castell.  Bravo!  

Holding the pen is just a wonderful feeling.  As I mentioned before, the metal bodied pen is not cold, thanks to the DLC coating.  The pen is heavy and substantial, at 86 grams.  When you remove the cap with a 360 degree rotation, you’re greeted with an intense amount of color, bold blue and gold lines are on the grip section which resemble the blue and gold horizonal lines of King Tutenkhamen’s death mask.  

Then you see a large Graf Von Faber Castell 18K Gold Nib “Magnum Size” that is the business end of the pen.  This is the largest nib typically offered by Graf Von Faber Castell currently, I would equate it to a No. 6 or No. 7 size nib.  The grip and the nib are an unexpected burst of color from an otherwise “blacked out” pen.  The writing section of the pen weighs 53 grams and is well balanced in the hand, although slightly back-weighted.  

The metal barrel is also quite smooth despite the hieroglyphic engravings (not all brands have such smooth barrels) so I anticipate no discomfort.  

While I haven’t written with this pen, I will predict it writes just like the Graf Von Faber Castell Magnum Fountain Pen.  Another delightful pen.  And one you can see in this review: 

Review Upcoming.  Link to be added later.  

Judging from other pens with this nib and feed set up, the Graf Von Faber Castell pen will write very smoothly, slightly wetter than average, and will not write quite as boldly as a Montblanc pen of equivalent nib width.  

The ink bottle that comes with the purchase of the fountain pen is at the top, it has a limited edition blue cap.  The standard version available for purchase by anyone has a silver cap.  

The ink is a shade of blue that is not unlike Royal Blue from other brands, but slightly more purple than most Royal Blues.  Writing with a Cartier Louis Cartier pen with Parker Quink Royal Blue and comparing it to the Graf Von Faber Castell Lapis Lazuli ink, the latter ink seems to get absorbed into the paper in a way that makes the ink feather more than the Parker Quink Royal Blue.  In other words, make sure you use high-quality tightly grained paper when using this ink!  The ink bottle itself is beautiful and large at 75ml.    The ink feels wetter and richer in color than the Deep Sea Green color from Graf Von Faber Castell.  Please see the link above with the review of the Graf Von Faber Castell Magnum Fountain Pen which will feature this ink.  

Overall, the Graf Von Faber Castell 2023 Pen of the Year featuring Ancient Egypt is a well executed piece filled with meaningful details about Ancient Egypt.  I especially like how modern this pen is and how beautifully executed it is.  The haptics one gets from using the piston filler mechanism brings a smile to my face.  It not only feels like a well designed and well executed piece, but a well engineered one too.  At $6400 USD for the fountain pen and $6000 USD for the rollerball, this is a very precious pen.  Only 375 fountain pens and 125 rollerballs will be sold – making this a very rare pen.  But definitely a beautifully executed piece and well crafted piece – I’m thrilled to hold one in my hands.  

I know many of you are heavily weighed down by all of the watch boxes you have - I never complain about this as I like the pomp and circumstance of beautiful packaging.  I'm especially delighted in Japan where a small cookie is presented in three layers of packaging.  Here is the unboxing of this pen!

Here you can see the inspiration of the grip section came from King Tut's headpiece.  The Blue Scarab and Eye of Horus inspiration for the ends of the pen.