I recently stumbled across the Nemosine Singularity fountain pen on Amazon and decided I’d take a chance. Its a line of Taiwanese-made pens with German nibs for $15-$30 depending on the reseller, nib and finish. I purchased the red plastic Singularity with the F nib and bought an extra 0.6mm italic nib for $7. The pen came in a simple white cardboard box but included a piston-style cartridge converter and six cartridges. At the price point, few other pens offer these extras. I really was taking a gamble as I’ve never seen one in person nor had I done a lot of research about it but I felt hopeful that the German nib and high-quality reputation of Taiwanese pens would make the Nemosine and pleasant surprise.
It has a lightweight plastic body with chrome trim and clip but its surprisingly quality looking. Its a fairly lightweight pen but a lot nicer looking in person that I thought it would be. The red plastic is fairly opaque making it look a little like resin, enough to fool non-pen geeks into thinking its a much pricier pen than it is.
The real shocker for me is that the nib is silky smooth and beautifully etched with decorative designs. It looks Art Deco and really adds to the experience. Both the Fine nib and the 0.6mm italic nib worked amazingly well. I would compare them both the nibs used in Kaweco Sports and that’s high praise coming from me.
The only issue I had was that the pen leaked on me. I think it was because I swapped out the nib several times to test (with the ink cartridge converter filled) so I may have shimmied it loose. It leaked all over my hands when I uncapped it and the chrome ring that holds the clip to the cap is not air tight so the ink leaked out there as well.
Assuming that the leaking was my fault, I recommend giving one of these pens a try. I especially like that I was able to get a small italic nib which I love to bits. For the next couple weeks though, I will be using the pen at home until I determine if I was the reason it leaked.
As for the name Nemosine, all I could find is a Latin quote “nemo sine vitio est” which translates to “No one is without fault.” Does anyone else have any idea about the brand name?
Check out these other reviews as well:
First, thank you for the link. 🙂 As you can tell from my review, the version I have came with a nice pen box and the six cartridges. It also has what looks to be a JoWo fine nib instead of the real Nemosyn nib. I did find I had to really make sure the nib/feed was in properly or it would start to leak as you experienced. After that, it was a non issue.
Some people have converted it to an eyedropper but I am hesitant to do so as the section has come undone when unscrewing the cap. I have remedied this by screwing in the section a little more tightly and not cranking down as much on the cap.
An alternate spelling of Mnemosyne? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemosyne)
“Mnemosyne” is pronounced the same — she’s the personification of memory and the mother of all nine Muses, since she slept w Zeus for nine nights. Sure, that makes sense! According to Robert Graves, randy Zeus also fathered the Seasons and the Fates. Let’s not name a pen after him.
Allo Ana-
Well done! And I’m happy to read you had a similar experience to mine with the Nemosine.
Chris P. and Stephen are correct, Nemosine is “memory”. In fact, if you look at the box in which your pen came, you can see some dots and dashes. That’s Morse’ Code…and it taps out “memory”…, or so I have been told.
As I have written, I have a Singularity in ivory with the 0.8 italic nib…and I love it. To me, it’s the best value in fountain pens available. I hope and trust that the leak issue is due to the nib swapping and testing procedure. I’ve had no issues at all with mine.
Thanks so much!
Thanks for the reviews on very affordable pens! It’s very hard to know whether they will be worth the (relatively) small cost or not without reviews.
Thanks for the review. I heard somewhere the nemosine fine nibs exhibit some flex. But I don’t see flex in your writing example. Can you confirm?
David, I didn’t notice much flex in the Nemosine nibs. I would definitely compare them with Kawecos in that regard. Not nail hard but they are steel so there isn’t much give.
I own two Nemosine Fission pens, the metal body version of the Singularity. Both started out with Fine nibs, but I converted both to italic nibs of two sizes. Both are excellent pens and smooth writers. I’ve heard that the plastic Singularities have a leaking problem and cracking caps. I got away from that with the Fission. I’ve owned mine for a year and never had a problem with them. You’ll pay slightly more for the Fission, but I think that it has been worth it to me.
Thanks to all if you. I own Montblancs and Pelikans and Parker’s and Levengers, but I’m always looking for an inexpensive yet excellent fountain pen. I have found so many listed on Amazon I need to take a leap of faith. I need a flex nib. Still thinking about this. Glad others care too.