regret I don't know the meaning of the last word in this section (forgive the pun) - but hopefully it might cover some aspect of my query.
I succumbed recently to a small group of French Waterman f.ps., and was a little surprised to discover on arrival that they each had an 18 K nib - a welcome surprise really since presumably it hikes the value of the pens a little.
Anyone know if there is a practical reason for this - does the iridium (or whatever) stick better to a higher carat/fineness of gold, or is it just the French showing off their limitless gold reserves??
One of the pens was described by the seller as having a nib suffering from some splitting - although when I received the pen there wasn't any evidence of this - admittedly the tines were looking heavenward very slightly, but what had obviously misled the vendor were two slits - on either side of the nib and in the area of the curves, just behind the point. These are very obviously intentional, and presumably created during the construction of the nib. Could be wrong, but these slits give the impression they allow for greater flexing of the nib - although there might be a temptation to press too hard and end up bending the forward part of the nib.
Anyone think this suggestion might hold water.
In fact all three pens had nibs with considerably flex, although oddly the chap with the slits flexed less than the other two.
