Sunday, October 11, 2020

REVIEW: LEONARDO CUSPIDE FOUNTAIN PEN

REVIEW: LEONARDO CUSPIDE FOUNTAIN PEN
I'm a huge fan of Leonardo Officina Italiana and I think it's more than safe to say that I'm not alone with that sentiment. Leonardo makes exceptionally good pens, that start at a - for this day and age - relatively good value-for-money price point. But apart from the incredibly popular Momento Zero (reviewed HERE) and Furore, they're also making a name for themselves in the higher segment - the price range where typical luxury Italian brands tend to (or used to) reside - with various limited and small-batch releases in the past year or two. Leonardo's higher-end pens are absolute attention-grabbers, and don't shy away from unique materials and finishes... their latest Cuspide being no exception!
REVIEW: LEONARDO CUSPIDE FOUNTAIN PEN
Standard packaging for the Cuspide, but it does depict the inspiration for the Cuspide material!
I typically tend to hesitate just long enough for those releases to sell out before I can empty my wallet on them, but just like with the Momento Zero Grande Art Deco, the Cuspide was an instant-buy for me. I immediately messaged Joost from Appelboom to secure a spot on the pre-order list - Thanks for penabling, Joost! 
REVIEW: LEONARDO CUSPIDE FOUNTAIN PEN
The new Cuspide is all about the material I think, and - to me at least - it falls right in line with a few other brands' recent efforts to bring innovative and unique materials to the table. I've talked before about Montegrappa's creation of Montegrappite, and Pineider's Arco Oak acrylic, both offering something that might be able to take over the holy grail status that celluloid enjoys right now.

The 'Cuspide' material is made up of multiple layers of colored acrylic, fused together with black resin. I went with the Olive Green finish, which is one of four colors available (along with Nocciola, Mineral Grey and Blue Sea), each of which is characterized by a very obvious pearlescent swirl. The layered pattern and contrast inside the material do indeed remind me of Omas' famed Arco Bronze and Arco Verde celluloid. The name 'Cuspide'  - or cusp - refers to the "rounded point" shape (hence the spear tip on the packaging!) that returns quite clearly in the layers of the material.
REVIEW: LEONARDO CUSPIDE FOUNTAIN PEN
The Olive green colorway, being the darkest of the four, is probably the least contrasting finish available, but the way the material is cut still brings out the 10 to 15 layers that make up the acrylic rods. I do quite like the toned down and rustic look of the Olive green though. The material is befitting for a model that overall harkens back strongly to classic fountain pen designs of the 20th century.

Trims on the Cuspide are available in gold or rhodium plating. The gold trim inevitably adds to the pens' vintage look. In the end, I went with the rhodium finish, which I think pairs extremely well with the Olive Green material.
REVIEW: LEONARDO CUSPIDE FOUNTAIN PEN
The Cuspide next to the Momento Zero Grande 2020 in the 'Sand' colorway - both fantastic materials!
The Cuspide isn't based on a model that's otherwise available as a standard edition from Leonardo. It's maybe easiest to compare it side by side to the Momento Zero Grande (I reviewed the old style MZ Grande HERE, but pictured above is the new 2020 version!), but you'll see that the design is not as similar as you might expect at first...
REVIEW: LEONARDO CUSPIDE FOUNTAIN PEN
The Cuspide doesn't have pointed finials, for example.
REVIEW: LEONARDO CUSPIDE FOUNTAIN PEN
The barrel doesn't have a long tapered shape like the Furore or even Momento Zero, but rather widens subtly towards the middle of the barrel, before tapering down slightly towards the piston knob. The keen eye might also notice that the narrow clip of the Cuspide is a bit longer than the one on the Momento Zero Grande.  
REVIEW: LEONARDO CUSPIDE FOUNTAIN PEN
The most notable difference between the Momento Zero Grande and Cuspide is of course the dramatic cap-to-barrel transition from the relatively thick cap to the much narrower barrel of the Cuspide. The harsh transition is quite a departure from the sleek and streamlined transition on the Momento Zero and Furore (Grande) - which is also really the only criticism I have about this pen. The cap lip is a bit TOO sharp. It's also the only negative mark in terms of fit and finish, that I could find. The pen as a whole is far from poorly made, but that cap lip definitely would've benefitted from just the slightest rounded edge, to make it a bit less harsh to the touch.
REVIEW: LEONARDO CUSPIDE FOUNTAIN PEN
As with a lot of limited releases from Leonardo, the cap band gets a unique engraving to set it apart. I particularly like the "crosshatched" triangle pattern on the wide center band (accompanied by two adjacent thinner bands), the same pattern also returns on the band just above the piston knob. I found it especially quirky that the lines in the pattern are slightly irregular by design, so some lines are slightly wider than others - somehow it creates a slightly more intricate look. Another interesting detail - or lack thereof - is that the Cuspide isn't branded on the barrel as usual. In fact, the only branding on the entire pen is in the nib engraving. 
REVIEW: LEONARDO CUSPIDE FOUNTAIN PEN
The Cuspide's 'Classic' piston left, versus the MZ Grande's piston right.
As all larger pens in Leonardo's current lineup (the Cuspide is technically not called a 'Grande' model, but it is almost the exact same size as a Momento Zero Grande), the Cuspide comes equipped with a piston. Interestingly, it's not the same as those on the standard Momento Zero Grande and Furore Grande models. The so-called 'classic' piston mechanism has no metal internals, yet feels more substantial and precise when operating. The piston knob turns smoothly and with just the right amount of resistance to let you feel that you're actually doing something (in other words: it doesn't feel like a captured converter!). I don't know what exactly makes it Classic, but it works very well so I have no complaints here. The ink capacity is a bit lower: 1.2 mL, compared to the 1.5 mL of the regular piston mechanism. 
REVIEW: LEONARDO CUSPIDE FOUNTAIN PEN
REVIEW: LEONARDO CUSPIDE FOUNTAIN PEN
L to R: Pelikan M1005, Maiora Impronte, Leonardo Momento Zero, Momento Zero Grande, Furore Grande, Cuspide, Lamy Safari, Lamy 2000
The Cuspide measures 14.8 cm/ 5.83" capped, and 13.4 cm/ 5.28" uncapped, which makes it just a smidge shorter than the MZ Grande, but it's still a considerably large pen. While the Cuspide's maximum diameter around the cap band is the same as on the MZ Grande (16.75 mm/ 0.66"), the barrel is notably narrower. At 30 grams, the Cuspide is fairly lightweight and nimble for its size and is about 5 grams less than the MZ Grande.
REVIEW: LEONARDO CUSPIDE FOUNTAIN PEN
Weird place to put the LE number, but the section design is great!
Underneath the cap, the Cuspide also sports an entirely different design. You get metal threads here, which is perhaps the only element on the entire pen that sort of breaks with the 'vintage' styling of the Cuspide. The threads aren't block-cut, but they aren't particularly sharp, either. The section transitions in one almost seamless flow into the threads, and then the barrel, so it's a fantastically comfortable pen to hold and write with. 

Talking about the section: it has a more traditional, slightly tapered design with a pronounced flare towards the nib, which is perhaps the first time Leonardo steps away from their typical two-stage section shape. The section doesn't taper down much, so with an average diameter of about 12.5 mm (0.5"), it's noticeably wider in the hand than the Momento Zero, where I find my grip gets pushed towards the narrower part of the section.
REVIEW: LEONARDO CUSPIDE FOUNTAIN PEN
The Cuspide comes with a Jowo- sourced 14k gold nib. Aesthetically speaking, it's not the most interesting nib to look at, but that's really the only criticism I can come up with. It would've been nice to see the crosshatched pattern also return on the nib imprint. Similar to the Grande models - sits on an ebonite feed that's made in-house, which is one of my favorite features of the 295€ MZ Grande, but it's even better paired with this excellent gold nib. I went with a broad nib here, which is rather stiff as most JoWo nibs tend to be, but it's glassy smooth and the ebonite feed provides an incredibly rich, wet flow (possibly even too wet for some!). 

It's smooth, it lays down a consistent, broad line, the feed keeps up perfectly, and the nib doesn't seem to dry out over the course of a couple days either... Except for looks, it's an excellent nib in any way possible IMHO. And no, before you ask, Appelboom's in-house nib specialist Anabelle doesn't tune any nibs on pens that I review (although if you purchase a pen from Appelboom, definitely make use of the free "tune & smooth" option on the order page, so you're sure every nib will perform as it should!).
REVIEW: LEONARDO CUSPIDE FOUNTAIN PEN
The Leonardo Cuspide is a limited edition of just 70 pieces per color. But even at the indisputably steep price of 850€ (820$ without VAT from Appelboom), I'm sure these will move fast! You can probably tell I'm having a hard time finding negatives about this pen - believe me, I tried! If anything, the Cuspide has to go against rather strong competition from Leonardo's own pens. The 295€ Momento Zero Grande for example (494€ with a gold nib, for apples-to-apples comparison): also a well-built pen with piston and ebonite feed that comes in a variety of lovely materials. Maybe that does cannibalize a few of their own sales, but it doesn't make the Cuspide any less great. I really enjoy the vintage-inspired design of the Cuspide (come to think of it, that's also what drew me to the Art Deco!), and the layered acrylic is stunning. Above all, the out-of-the-box writing experience is spot-on. What's not to like?
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Note: Appelboom is a sponsor of this site. I received a discount on this purchase, which enabled me to write this review. I was in no way influenced in the making of this review, the opinions shared in this review are completely my own! This post does not contain affiliate links.
REVIEW: LEONARDO CUSPIDE FOUNTAIN PEN

2 comments:

  1. Nice review. Your photography
    really brought out the details and the comparison to the Momento Zero Grande is very helpful. Did you get the Speranza? It's made of ebonite. I have that one. Very nice pen.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Sharon! I'm glad the comparison was useful, I myself found it very interesting to see them side by side, there's more design differences than I expected at first!
      I've looked at the Speranza for a while - it's stunning! - but ultimately didn't get one... maybe I'll have to be on the lookout for one! :p

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