
Including, of course, pens! Titanium in pens is not exactly new, the Parker T1 was introduced in 1970, and was the first pen to offer the use of this metal as a main selling point. But it's only of late that titanium has become hot, turned into a real marketing commodity. OK, I'm told that advances in manufacturing technology that make it easier to work with titanium might also have something to do with the fact that it's being used more often now.


Let's move a bit forward yet, at the same time, backwards a bit. Sound confusing? Well, how about a classic vintage pen from the 1920s, the Parker Duofold? But rendered completely in titanium, from cap top to barrel end! 
While we're on the topic of custom pens, we'll move along to the Tighe. These pens are made by another great craftsman, Grayson Tighe, who creates a titanium overlay that he fits to the cap and barrel of the Pelikan M800 and M1000 pen. In addition to the cap and barrel overlay, he also turns a cap jewel, so the end result is a pen that shows as solid titanium form top to bottom when capped. The section and ink view window are the only plastic portions showing on the pen. 
If plain old gray is too boring for you, titanium can be finished in a number of different shades. Anodizing the metal can leave you with a pen in, say bright blue? Or anything from a light turquoise to a deep electric purple shade! Definitely not for the traditionalists among us, but for those who prefer a bit of the unexpected, it's certainly a way of making a statement.
Moving from the custom world to the production world, we'll stop first at our only "pair" of titanium pens. OMAS is a brand that has been around forever, and their Paragon series has become well known as their flagship model. Of course, given the topic of this article, you would expect us to be talking about the titanium versions of this pen, there are two; the T2 and the 75th Anniversary.
The T2 takes things a bit further, instead of using 18K gold for the nib, OMAS fashioned the nib form titanium as well as the cap and barrel. On the T2 the trim is silver colour, I think it's rhodium plated to be exact. I prefer the gold plate of the 75th Anniversary, personally, but the silver trim is nice enough. The real draw for the T2 is the nib, of course. Not from any sort of advantage in terms of the way it actually writes, but just from sheer "neatness".
Our next nomination for the titanium club has been around for a while, it's the Lamy Persona. This pen was available in both a titanium as well as a matte black version. The titanium version is the one that concerns us today, obviously. I'm not certain if this is actually a "solid" titanium pen, or a titanium finish. Who cares, it's close enough! As you might guess by that statement, I kind of like the Persona... It's a very likable pen, on many levels. It's good sized, not too big, but definitely fills the hand. It tapers down quite a bit towards the nib, which makes a difference in terms of getting a grip on it.
Next up, a close second in terms of things to love about the Persona is the nib. It's a very sleek looking 18K affair. It looks as though it should write like a nail, but amazingly enough, the fine nib version seen here has a nice bit of flex to it. It's not earth shattering super-flex, a la vintage Waterman, but it's a very nice amount of line shading, especially from such a modern looking nib!
Our last, but not least titanium pen is the Visconti Skeleton Demonstrator. This pen caused a stir when it was announced, and it hasn't really slowed down since. This is a limited edition pen, but not one of those LEs that get stashed away uninked in hopes of a sudden increase in value. (At least, not unless you're an eternal optimist!) 
The Skeleton Demonstrator brings us to the end of our "collection". Really not the end, since there were a couple of other pens in the collection that we haven't covered here. Not because they aren't great pens, but simply because they weren't "real pens". Rollerballs, in other words! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 可望不可及
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