Customer Favorite: Visconti Homo Sapiens

The Visconti Homo Sapiens is an iconic giant, omnipresent in discussions of fountain pen lovers' "holy grail" wishlist pens, and has reached an elevated status, grouping it with other extremely well-known, respected, and highly desirable modern fountain pens such as the Montblanc 149, Pelikan M1000, Sailor King of Pen, Lamy 2000, and Pilot Custom 823.  Why?  What makes the Homo Sapiens Collection so special?  To answer this question, I decided to reach out to one of Pen Boutique's most loyal store customers, Liz.  When I think of the Homo Sapiens, I immediately think of Liz and her devotion to these pens.  Whenever a new Homo Sapiens variation is released, I know I will see Liz, eager to add it to her collection.

Liz was very happy to get together with me to talk about her Homo Sapiens, her love for Visconti, and what makes the pens her all-time favorite. She even showed me many of the Homo Sapiens in her collection, including fascinating older models and limited editions that I had never seen.  She didn't shy away from discussing Visconti's past nib consistency issues, and impressed me with her mix of both practical and aesthetic reasons for returning to the Homo Sapiens again and again.  Thank you so much for your time, Liz!  It was a pleasure, and I loved hearing an experienced Visconti owner's perspective.

A "Holy Grail"

As soon as Liz and I sat down to talk, I admitted to her that, although I have worked at Pen Boutique for almost four years and have sold many Homo Sapiens pens, I don't feel like I fully understand them, and I've always found them a little intimidating.  She seemed surprised, and asked why.  I was at a loss for a definitive answer, but said that I think part of the reason is that it's a "holy grail" pen for so many people.  Liz laughed, and I could hear the affection in her voice when she replied, "Yeah.  It was for me!" 

Her first Homo Sapiens was "the OG," the Bronze Age model, which was released in 2010. This pen, also known as Lava Bronze, is all black, with solid bronze trim. It's the classic, and is the pen most people picture when they hear the name Homo Sapiens.  After coveting one for years, she rushed to Pen Boutique owner Leena to buy one in 2019 when Visconti made the announcement that they were switching from their original 23K "Dream-touch" palladium nib to the 18K gold nib they make in-house today. Both nibs are elegant and exceptionally beautiful, and Liz now owns far more of the current nib than the original, but she loved the two-tone nib and wanted to act quickly to get one while it was still available!

[Pictured:  Liz's pen with the two-tone 23K palladium nib on the left, and Pen Boutique owner Leena's pen with the modern 18K gold nib, on the right.]

"Why did you want a Homo Sapiens so much?" I asked, and Liz's answer floored me with its strength and simplicity.  "The first time that I held one, I just loved the tactile experience, the feel of the lava."  The classic Homo Sapiens models' body, grip section, and cap are all made from basaltic lava harvested from Mt. Etna, Europe's largest active volcano, which is ground to a powder and "catalyzed with nylon resin according to a secret process," as Coles of London, Visconti's US distributor, describes it.  The lava content is over 50%. This creates a material unique to the Homo Sapiens writing instruments, which has a smooth, but porous, matte texture, and a surprisingly velvety feel. The unusual hard-but-soft feeling of the material was also what stood out most to me when I began studying the pens for this article.

[Pictured:  Homo Sapiens Dark Age model, which has black trim rather than bronze.]

Texture is one of my favorite parts of the fountain pen experience, so I asked Liz to further describe what makes the Homo Sapiens' material so special.  She immediately responded, "Because it warms to your touch," then remarked, "You almost expect it to be a little bit rough, because it's stone, but it's not."  Holding the pen lightly by the grip section, she repeated, "[I just love] the way that it warms when you're writing with it," then added, "I'm a pretty tactile person."  I agreed. The feel of a pen, though sometimes hard to describe, can be one of the most important factors in what makes you reach for it and choose it to use regularly.  Even the limited edition models that are made from other materials are extremely well-balanced and comfortable to write with, so Liz's collection has expanded considerably beyond her first Bronze Age pen.

Liz's second reason for loving the Homo Sapiens Collection is equally strong and simple:  "Their nib.  I'm an Extra-fine person--you know this--and the responsiveness and the softness of the nib, I just... I couldn't put it down." 

We discussed exactly why the pens' nibs are so special later, but not before she mentioned a third selling point that is less about the pleasurable experience of using the pen and more about its practicality:  "And, I had to fly for work a whole bunch, and I had discovered that the power-filler mechanism would keep it from leaking."

Visconti's power-filler, introduced in 1993, is a vacuum fill system that allows you to fill your fountain pen with one hand, while holding the bottle of ink in the other.  With one of her demonstrator models, she showed me how she was able to loosen the blind cap, hold her pen nib up, and drain the ink behind the plunger, then screw the blind cap closed again, sealing off the majority of the ink from the nib and feed.  This way, all the ink is trapped in the barrel, and changes in air pressure while flying will not cause the pen to leak. To resume writing again after using up all the ink from the nib and feed, simply loosen the blind cap again and allow the ink to flow back to the nib.  "When I'm getting ready to travel, I always reach for these, or a Pilot, but I prefer the softness of these nibs."

Those three great reasons differentiate the Homo Sapiens for Liz:  1) the feel of the pen itself in her hand, 2) the nib, and, 3) the filling mechanism.  Liz owns thirteen different Homo Sapiens, and, on the day I am finishing this article, she will be coming into Pen Boutique to get her fourteenth, the new Full Demo Limited Edition model, complete with bright blue detailing, skeleton nib, and even a blue feed.

[Pictured:  Homo Sapiens Full Demo Limited Edition, with Visconti Six Pen Holder.  This pen is stunning, and is also a great way to understand how the Homo Sapiens is built!]

The Defining Features

From the very beginning, Visconti "conceived the Homo-sapiens range of writing instruments for real writers... those to whom the fountain pen continues to represent an essential travelling companion, a daily friend to share the same civilization that writing helped create."

In their original brochure, Visconti explained that the name "Homo Sapiens" was chosen for the pen to honor the dawn of human civilization and the invention of writing that began more than five thousand years ago, during the Bronze Age.  The pairing of the primeval material, lava, "with natural bronze like the antique formula" was an inspired combination, and the shape of the pen itself has a classical and timeless look and feel.

The bronze used for the trim does not require plating or protection treatments, and retains its original almost pink color.  It develops a lovely patina with time, but can be easily polished if you prefer its original shiny look.  Liz likes to polish hers (right), while Leena enjoys the natural patina on her pen (left).  

The Homo Sapiens' special basaltic lava and nylon resin amalgamation is incredibly durable, virtually unbreakable, heat resistant to 200° F, and slightly hygroscopic, which means it will absorb moisture from the air and your fingers, giving you a more secure grip, especially if you are prone to sweaty hands.  That can be a game changer for some people!

In case you are wondering, basaltic lava is the kind that has low silica content and is rich in magnesium and iron, making it very fluid, hot, and able to travel long distances.  Picture the lava flows you see on the island of Hawaii.  This kind of lava forms when molten rock beneath the earth's surface erupts and flows, then cools rapidly to form new land made from the fine-grained volcanic rock.  More than 90% of the volcanic rock on earth is basaltic, and basalt is also formed on the moon and on other planets and moons in our solar system.  Part of the appeal of the Homo Sapiens is definitely just thinking about how freaking cool it is to be using a writing instrument that is made from lava and was once magma inside our earth's crust, and customers who come into the store to look at the pen often get very excited about this!

[Pictured:  Homo Sapiens Dark Age in front, and Lava Bronze in back.]

As we looked more closely at the pens and compared Liz's to the one I was borrowing from Leena for this article, Liz pointed out that the pores on her pen's cap were more prominent because she had been recently writing with her limited edition models instead, while Leena had been using her Bronze Age regularly.  "As you start to write with it again, and it picks up the oils from your skin, that would disappear."  In the photo below, Liz's Bronze Age pen is in the back, while Leena's lies in the foreground.

Liz said the first time the lava pores on her pen started to show like that, she freaked out a little, but then she went online and read about it and discovered that it is a natural attribute of the material and doesn't mean it's becoming brittle or that there is anything wrong with it.  Now she thinks it's cool!  She told me that if you don't like it, you can just get a tiny drop of hand lotion and rub it in.  Similarly, having hand lotion on or wet hands won't damage the pen, and is perfectly fine. Even though Liz's pen visually looked different from Leena's, the difference in the more prominent pores was too subtle for my fingers to perceive.  We both agreed it was a fascinating attribute to the pen, rather than being a drawback in any way.

I asked Liz if the porous material can get stained, and she said that, if she is lazy about cleaning her pen when she fills it, the grip section does get a little tinted with ink, but, since the pen is black, this is very subtle and is something only she notices.  She usually puts orangey-red ink in her Bronze Age pen, so it's tinged slightly red.  I couldn't see it!

Holding Liz's pen in my hand, I commented, "I like the balance a lot, too." 

She immediately agreed, "I do, too."

"And it doesn't feel overly heavy or anything, either," I added, thoughtfully. 

"No.  You almost expect it to, with the stone, but, of course, lava is a pretty light stone."

The classic Bronze Age Homo Sapiens is 42 grams, so it's not lightweight, but the body only weighs 26 grams, and most people use the pen unposted.  Although the cap can post, the Homo Sapiens is very long and a little back heavy that way; plus, the size and weight feel great unposted, even for people with fairly large hands.  There are also oversized Homo Sapiens, if you have especially large hands or prefer very big pens.

All Homo Sapiens models have the power-filler filling mechanism, either with a single or double reservoir, depending on model.  The inner mechanism is titanium, which resists corrosion. The single reservoir version has a 1.5 ml ink capacity, and the double holds over 3.5 ml.  In the double reservoir system, the front reservoir holds about one cartridge full of ink, and the large part is safely sealed off.

The filing mechanism is cool, but I kept coming back to the pen's appearance.  There is something uniquely striking about it, and I couldn't quite get a handle on what it is. I asked Liz, "What is it about the look of the Homo Sapiens that appeals to you so much?"

"I like the proportions. I love the bridge clip.  I like the ratio of where the rings are, and the rings themselves are appealing to me.  I like the look of them. And this is a little bit silly, but I like that you can change out your finials. And the nib is just pretty."

[Pictured:  Home Sapiens Carbon Moiré limited edition, from Liz's collection, on my Maruman Mnemosyne notebook.  This version of the pen is made from forged carbon with intricate gold leaf inlays.  The bronze pen rest was sent to me by a customer,  Patrick O'Leary, who designed it and had it machined. ]

The Ponte Vecchio bridge-shaped clip is a gorgeous arch, and a constant reminder that these are Italian pens, from Florence. This iconic detail is instantly recognizable to any lover of Visconti pens. Not only is the Visconti clip beautiful as it catches the light, but it's a very functional and strong spring clip that can withstand a lot of torture.  It does protrude quite a bit from the cap, so it's going to attract attention, and the arch shape isn't the best for attaching your pen to a notebook, but it works nicely in a pocket or pen case and is extremely distinctive.

The tops of the pens feature the Visconti logo, which is held on by a strong magnetic force.  When you order your pen, you can ask for the My Pen System, which allows a personalized Visconti.  A magnetic tool is used to remove the logo and replace it with a favorite semi-precious stone or your choice of two initials, embossed onto semi-circular pieces of metal plate which interlock to form a circle.  Liz has swapped out a few of hers for stones.

We next talked a little about the Hook Safe Lock system used to hold on the cap.  This revolutionary mechanism, developed by Visconti and patented in 2006, allows you to quickly cap and uncap your pen with less than 1/5th of a rotation, but completely prevents the possibility of it accidentally unscrewing in your pocket!  Coles of London has a cool diagram of the Hook Safe Lock system on their website, showing the inner teeth and flexible inner cap.  It's just as easy to use as the common screw system, and can be a little addictive once you get "hooked" on it. (Ha ha.) Liz said she had assumed the slightly chunky looking fastener might be uncomfortable, but that she doesn't notice it at all.  I agree, when I use the pen, it falls below the place where I touch the gripping section, and I love how convenient it is to be able to remove the cap so quickly!  It reminds me of the ease of clicking a Pilot Vanishing Point to jot down quick notes.  Very clever, Visconti.

How Does it Write?

When Liz and I started talking about how her Homo Sapiens pens write, I could immediately tell she loves this nib, despite experiencing glitches with a couple of her pens.  "I mean, I have other pens that write similar to them, but I always come back to the Visconti because of the way their Extra-fine works."  We compared the Extra-fine and Fine nibs, and palladium vs. gold.  As I wrote, I commented, "The nib itself definitely has a lot of tactile feel.  You can really feel the paper, but it's different from the feedback from a Sailor."

Yes, Liz agreed, the nib is a little soft, and the feedback is far less than what you get from a Sailor, but has lovely precision, and you can get line variation, even with an extra fine.  "I just fell in love with it."

"It doesn't have that intentional roughness feeling on the tipping material, like a Sailor does... it's more of a feedback because of the shape of the nib," I observed thoughtfully, enjoying the feeling. 

Liz agreed.  "As much as I love writing super fine, you'd think that I would lean toward the Asian pens, and I do love Sailors, but one of the very first pens I got post-college was an Omas 360, and that pen was very similar to this... just the softness of that nib, and the responsiveness, and such a tactile experience writing with that nib.  And that started me down [the path of] Italian pens.  From there, I fell in love with a lot of the Deltas, and the Delta nibs were very similar, again.  And when Delta went out of business, that's when I discovered the Visconti." 

Although Liz is obsessed with Extra-fines, and the main focus of our discussion was on those, Homo Sapiens are available with Extra-fine, Fine, Medium, Broad, Double Broad, and 1.3mm Stub nib sizes as potential options, depending on the particular model.  Nib colors also vary, including rose gold, rhodium, yellow gold, and black ruthenium.

When I compared Liz's Extra-fine palladium and gold nibs, the difference was very subtle.  Liz said there was a little more feedback in the gold nib, and that the palladium nib was slightly softer, more flexible, and more responsive, but I honestly couldn't tell the difference between the two.  They both are springy, wet, and feel extremely nice.   Liz agreed... although she has a soft spot for the palladium version, she loves both.  "It's the feel of it.  If I'm really wanting to write, for the experience of it, there's a handful of pens that I'm going to go to.  And I go, very heavily, toward the Homo Sapiens.  They are very comfortable to write with for a long time, and the feel of the nib is just one of those things that, when I'm writing with that particular nib, it's just one of those moments where I'm like... this makes me happy.  It sparks joy!"  I love that.

Coles of London Care

I reluctantly mentioned that I had read online about people having trouble with Visconti nibs needing tuning out of the box, and Liz's response surprised me.  "They had that problem, and I had it with a couple, but they've always jumped in and fixed it really fast, and they heard the feedback, they took the feedback, and I've bought Viscontis recently that have been right back to" the quality that you'd expect from a fountain pen in this price range.

"I'm the person who, on Reddit, whenever someone starts bashing Viscontis, I'm like, okay, well, that's fair that you had that problem, but have you tried one recently? Because they have fixed it.  It was their [quality control], and it was obvious... but they addressed it."

Liz has never taken any of her Homo Sapiens to a nibmeister.  One of the ones she let me try had a scratchy nib when she first got it, but Coles of London, Visconti's US distributor, took it back, corrected it, and had it back to her in a few weeks.  When Coles returned the pen to her, it wrote perfectly.

Liz added that her worst problem with a Homo Sapiens was entirely her own fault, and she was incredibly impressed by Coles of London's responsiveness.  She had "made the really stupid mistake" of filling one of her transparent limited edition models with an extremely intense blue, Noodler's Carmel by the Sea.  "It wasn't quite Baystate Blue, but it was bad.  It stained the hell out of it, and I was so crushed and devastated, and I took it to the pen show and introduced myself to Mark [Cole.]" She asked him if anything could be done, and he said, "Sure.  Give it to us."  Their repair guy tried to fix it and couldn't do anything, so they sent her pen to Italy, where they re-polished the inside of the barrel.  She said it took a while, but they got it back to her in perfect condition and didn't even charge her.  "And it was my screwup.  It wasn't anything of theirs, it wasn't anything about the pen.  It was me putting a stupid Noodler's ink in the demo pen."

Beyond Black Lava

Although the original bronze trim black lava fountain pen is the most iconic, the Homo Sapiens Collection also comes in rollerball and ballpoint variations, and the Lava Bronze version is even available as a mechanical pencil!

There have been many different collections within the Homo Sapiens family, including but not limited to:

• Bronze Age/Lava Bronze (black lava with bronze trim)
• Dark Age (black lava with black trim)
• Steel Age (black lava with steel trim)
• Magma (black lava with red trim)
• Skylight (like Bronze Age or Steel Age, but with a metal-trimmed ink window cut into barrel to view ink stored in the large ink reservoir, and a smaller window behind the pen’s grip offering a view of ink stored in the smaller ink reservoir)
• Crystal Dream (like Bronze Age, but with a very large ink window in the body)
• Dark Crystal (like Dark Age, but with very large ink window in the body)
• Lava Color, with colored resin (including Inferno, Sandstorm, Blizzard, and Ultramarine)

[Pictured:  Lava Color Inferno and Ultramarine in the sunlight.]

...and many limited edition pens, including the Earth Origins series, made from beautiful Jonathon Brooks resin.  (This series is one of Liz's favorites, and she owns all five:  Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Aether.)

[Pictured: Earth Origins Aether, Fire, and Air.]

Lotus Garden and Iris Garden are another series of especially lovely limited edition Homo Sapiens that we still have in stock.

[Pictured:  Iris Garden in the natural sunlight near the front door of our store!]

In addition, some of the variations are available in an oversize version, for those who like a really hefty writing instrument!

As Liz started to show me some of her limited edition models, I could see how excited she gets about the different materials, especially the ones with complex resins that you can get lost in.  Liz is a huge fan of "swirly" pens, and we like to good-naturedly joke about it, because I tend not to go for those materials myself, although I love seeing other people enjoy them.  

"A lot of what I love about pens is... to me, they're functional jewelry.  I don't wear a ton of jewelry, so these are my jewelry, but they write.  So, when I'm writing with them... I'll stop and just be staring at the pens."  

Part of why she loves the Homo Sapiens is that there are so many different interesting limited edition versions, each with the same harmonious shape, filing mechanism, and nib that she loves, but with so much variety in the materials, always keeping her coming back for more.  Most of them have the visual interest of complex swirling patterns full of depth and variation in color.  

"Like I said, I'll stop writing, and be like... look at that little pink... and just gaze at it and get lost in it."

[Pictured:  Iris Garden closeup. What a beautiful pen!]

I loved seeing the look in her eye and hearing the delight in her voice, and I think I finally got it.  "Okay! That's cool!"  

"But yeah, tactile, and visual, and just the writing experience of the nib."

"I mean..." I agreed, "those are the big three reasons to love a pen, in my opinion."

"Yeah!  They're great to handle, they're beautiful to look at, and I adore writing with them.  So, I mean... what else is there to say about them?"

We both laughed.  What else indeed!

-Laura P.

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[Pictured: Leena's Skylight Homo Sapiens, with an ink window and additional "skylight" view into the barrel.]