Revisiting the Homo Sapiens | Visconti Homo Sapiens Dark Age Review
When it comes to luxury writing instruments, a few names would start to come up, and at the top of the game we have the big 3 major countries making these gorgeous pens - Germany with timeless designs and historically significant brands, Japan with their elaborate lacquer arts and craftsmanship, and then there is Italy with unique designs and eye-catching materials. Among the great italian pen makers, the first name that comes to mind would definitely be Visconti. In today’s review, I’ll be revisiting my opinions of the Homo Sapiens and we’ll see if it is still holding strong as a “grail pen” candidate to many fountain pen collectors.
Introduced late into the market in the 2010s, the Homo Sapiens has shook the pen world with its design and unique materials. The most popular HS models are made with a blend of lava rock and resin, creating its signature matte texture. In comparison to most matted resin fountain pens in the market, the texture and finish of the HS stays consistent and durable for longer periods of time, and they don’t develop the sort of “streaking” on the body that would make the pen seems glossy and worn out with time. This type of resin is also porous, thus allowing the user to continuously writing for many hours without their sweat making the pen slippery.
When you first pick it up the HS, other than being heavy, it feels solidly made as well. The weight distribution is good and not too back heavy even though there is a weighty vacuum filler at the back of the pen. Uncapped, the pen sits nicely in the hand, and just by its own weight, you can comfortably write with it for a few hours before getting tired. Looking at the HS as a whole, it seems like an ideal italian fountain pen, no?
However, there are certain things that the fountain pen community has been screaming about in the past decades on the flaws of Viscontis. Quality control has been a pain point of Visconti pens over the years and there have been numerous cases of them with nib grinds and customer service. After opting to the production of 18k gold nib instead of their older 23kt palladium models, I have personally seen some improvement over the writing experience. The tipping is relatively well ground and writes smoothly on the page, luckily. I cannot say for sure of the overall changes that they have made, but looking at the later years, cases of Visconti pen owners filing complaints about their experience has seen a slight decrease - still, at the price point they are competing, I would say these pens need to be made usable right out of the box to ensure the best satisfaction from collectors and users.
As per this particular example, this HS Dark Age with the new 18k gold nib creates and juicy and smooth line on the page. Some users might not like how wet it is but to each their own, but the ink flow and line produced is consistent and I haven’t found myself struggling to write with it for long hour writing session. The vacuum filler also adds to the writing experience where I didn’t have to worry about how much ink I had left in the pen for the whole week and it would certainly be able to compete with other great writers from Germany and Japan (hint hint more comparison videos???)
Overall, the HS is a great writer if you managed to find one well tuned out of the box. It has the presence of a luxury writing instruments and with the constant production of special releases and finishing, I think you will be able to find a model that resonates with your personality and would be a statement piece in your collection. What do you guys think of the HS? Have you had any experience with them? Would you add them to your personal collection?
This website, the youtube channel, and other socials are supported by the donations to @awritingguy and the sales from @awritingguy.shop on instagram. If you are looking to buy your next writing instruments, a notebook or other writing accessories, please check out the instagram @awritingguy and @awritingguy.shop for listings, with worldwide shipping and 24/7 support. Thank you!
