For those who don’t know the Osmiroid, it was one of the few big sellers of the declining years of the British fountain pen. I have written about the brand before. It had several iterations from the fifties to the nineties and was eventually bought up by a Far Eastern company and died a quiet death as interest waned. The best Osmiroids were the 65 and 75, both using the same range of nibs. Quite a range too! Whatever type of nib you prefer, Osmiroid made one.
The pens themselves are a mixture of good and bad. The 65 is a lever filler and the 75 a piston pen. A good example of either is a treasure but good examples are hard to come by as both suffer from plastic distortion. Just bad luck with the plastic chosen but I expect they served most buyers perfectly well. It’s just us second owners that have inherited the buckled pens.
I wanted an Osmiroid for myself; ideally it would have been a good 75. Those pens hardly ever need piston repair in my experience. They don’t seem to decay or stick like most piston fillers. Of course they suffer from plastic movement too. I bought two and they were both bad. The caps just didn’t fit at all. Then I picked up a 65 in a batch of pens and it was reasonable. The threads on cap and barrel don’t match properly but it closes reasonably well. If I leave it for too long the nib dries out but it’s okay for a few days.
It came with a medium italic nib which I like. These nibs are not tipped and can develop a sharp edge after years of use. That’s okay, that’s what Micro Mesh is for. I might pick up one or two different nibs. Their popularity has made them quite a bit more expensive than they used to be. They fit Esterbrooks as well, doubling the demand. There are many bad Osmiroids out there but the pens are still very cheap so you can take a risk on buying one or two. Mixing caps and barrels can often make a better pen. It’s unreasonable to expect perfection in pens that were priced for school kids seventy or eighty years ago.
Their manufacturer, James Perry, was motivated by two things: making a profit (of course) but also improving children’s handwriting and introducing them to calligraphic possibilities. As a result the writing of many kids of the day was good, an important matter when much communication depended on pen and paper. Things are rather different today. My husband’s granddaughter writes to him. It has been a charm to watch her handwriting improving; that’s probably the most writing she does in these days of keyboards and multiple choice,
She doesn’t use a fountain pen yet but if we can help to change that we’ll supply her with an Osmiroid. A good one.
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I prefer the Osmiroid nibs to the Esterbrook. Im partial to their Rola nibs for general writing.
I’ve always found them good, though I must admit I haven’t used them all that much – I’ve written about ten A4 pages with this pen and that’s the most ever.
I have a white 65, which I purchased for the nib. It is a Sketch nib. I have used the nib but not the pen. I feel badly for the pen so it is on the rotation list.
You can always buy a few mor nibs for it.
I have every intention of adding to the collection of nibs.
Grab ’em while you can!
I got, a red band Osmiroid with a copperplate nib. The nib is fantastic for calligraphy but the feed is awful. It has a lot of flow issues and you need to constantly prime the feed. The only good thing about it, is that I can use an international convertor with it.
I also bought a Sketch nib, but I don’t use it for the same reasons.
Not having had a copperplate nib I can’t usefully comment on it. However I would say that many flex nibs have flow problems as the ink demand is so high at times.
The nib is almost like a needle, and has the tendency to be ensnared in the paper fibres. It has the same problem with the other sketch nib. I use it only for reviews 🙂
Hi, Deb. Lovely to read an new post from you.
My ’65’ from school back in the 1960s is still with me, and still working well. I use a reground ‘Copperplate’ nib and, truth be told, I’d have no cause to whinge if it were my only pen. I also like the Rolatip Medium Soft nib. The pen was originally black, but many years ago I gave it an Aussie urushi treatment (had never heard of it back then) with red nail polish. Just don’t leave me unsupervised near your collection. Cheers to all.
Your Osmiroid will be one of a kind, then!
I have a Broad Rolatip Osmiroid Pen and it is great for Comic Strip Lettering. And to make it easier I have made some fonts from that so I could type my captions as a labour saving way.
Sounds like a great use for that nib, Bob.
Love to read your homage to Osmiroids! I found them at age 12 and they introduced me to the Italic hand which I have used ever since ! I have a few tucked away and am encouraged to get them out for a play , a good idea in the winter days!
Glad that your grand daughter is still dipping a nib! My daughter was introduced to proper writing by Osmiroid too.
Always good to read your musings.
Best wishes to you both.
Penny
Unfortunately Gordon’s granddaughter isn’t dipping a nib; still using a ballpoint though I sent her a couple of disposables I had lying around. I will continue to subtly brain wash her…
B
Hi Deb. I had a few Osmiroids back in the day, and even still have one of the ones that you buy the whole section for to change the nibs….with the ‘copperplate nib’ ( HA! )
But what I’ve always been very impressed by is their ‘Rolatip M and F soft nibs. I have one of each in two ….Rodur pens ! , and use them frequently.
You’re right about the quality of their plastics but, that was a shame
They are very good nibs. I was unaware of Rodur pens but after some searching I am informed. Nice pens and you have the advantage of the piston filler.
Deb, you serviced my schoolboy Osmiroid 65. It still writes nicely.
Regards,
Bill Gerber