The ASC BOLOGNA Wild Celluloid ($745) is my first opportunity to try one of the higher end Armando Simoni Club fountain pens.
The pen shipped in a matte paperboard outer box with an interior, magnetic closure box. Inside, the pen floats in magnetic closure, clear, thin rubbery sleeve. The sleeve is interesting but unfortunately, the material became a little clouded so it looked a little unpleasant. The idea behind the packaging was cool but the execution didn’t quite meet expectations.
The Wild Celluloid is available with gold or rhodium trim and both feature a matching toned 14K nib in either medium or music nib. For this review I was sent both the gold and rhodium trimmed pens, both with medium nibs. Maybe someday I’ll get to try the music nib.
The black celluloid, shot through with ivory reminds me of licorice and white chocolate. The ivory accent is a creamy ivory color and the black is completely opaque. Aesthetically, I find the material very appealing and the celluloid feels weightier than some of the other polymer materials.
While I love the gold nib, I think I prefer rhodium trim on the Bologna Wild Celluloid pen.
The pen fills via a captured converter. The cover over the converter is etched and beautiful. I don’t know the longevity of cartridge converters but I enjoy looking at this one.
I love the etched nib. The design is beautiful, yet simple. So elegant.
The Bologna Wild Celluloid is one of the higher priced pens that I’ve reviewed. As such, I don’t have a great deal of experience or points of reference in which to compare this pen and it’s performance to other pens in this higher priced tier.
The Bologna Wild Celluloid is definitely a large pen. It’s one of the largest pens in my house at present.
The ASC Bologna is about the same width as an Aurora Optima and similar in length to an M600 (probably more so to an M800). Capped, the ASC Bologna is about 5.5″ long and uncapped is just slightly longer than 5″.
All the pens are post-able though I don’t think the ASC Bologna really needs to be posted though. Posted, the ASC Bologna is 6.75″ long.
The ASC Bologna is weighty at 48gms capped and filled and 36gms uncapped.
However, once I started using this pen, it was clear to see that it performs at a higher level than lower priced pens. The 14K nib is so smooth and delicious to write with. It’s listed as a medium but writes more like a European F or a Japanese MF. The gold nib gives a little bit of flex to the writing but it’s more bouncy than flexy.
Because the nib is finer than the average Medium nib, there is a little tooth to the nib so that it is not so slippery that I feared the nib would get away from me but at no point did it feel scratchy. It wrote well from just about any angle I held the pen (overwriting, underwriting or side writing — lefties try it all).
I really don’t know what else to add to this review. If you have a spare $745, I would firmly recommend this pen. I’m certainly starting to save up for a ASC Bologna.
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by The Pen Family for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
well, a big ad means you’re removed from my pens bookmarks. Later, skater.
Sorry that you find sponsored posts reprehensible. I would be unable to afford to review as many pens as we do if it were not for the kindness of pens shops and pen manufacturers in loaning us pens for review. The “sponsored” part gives the review premium placement on the site for a set amount of time but does not change the thoroughness and thoughtfulness that we try to give all our reviews.
Thanks for yet another wonderful review. The most important point for me is transparency. Thank you for being transparent and disclosing the nature of each review whether “sponsored” or not. These are luxury pens. I believe 100% of pens are manufactured and sold by companies trying to make a profit. I have no problem with that. Furthermore, if you only review pens you purchase: a) it would limit the pens reviews as I imagine your funds are not unlimited and b) it would infuse significant bias as you would already probably have made a favourable opinion of the pen prior to purchase …
Keep up the great work!
Thanks, Sergio. I appreciate your understanding. It’s true my budget is such that I can’t afford to invest in higher end pens. And getting to try pens I might not otherwise get to see or use is educational for me and you.
Nice work, Ana. Appreciate your great blog. But in this case methinks too much money for not enough difference from much lesser type pens. Sincerely, R. Trinity
Totally understandable. I would love to see the nib placed in a slightly more accessible price point.
I’m a year late, but what is the difficulty of “uncapturing” the converter? Is this easy to do or does the pen have to go in for repair is the converter fails? I’m wondering why they opted for this instead of just a converter.
Do you think that the photos do the material justice or is in person very different than in a photo?
Thank you for the review.
Honestly, captured converters Gary from company to company but I do think it’s a challenge to modify them or repair them yourself. As for the color, I did my best to accurately show the color but the color calibration of your device may alter the colors slightly.