A Turn With The Century

Platinum #3776 Century Review

I am shocked to note that it’s been quite a while since I wrote a post here, Life has been rather busy of late and, as I’m sure you know, things tend to fall by the wayside as a result. Anyway, I’m back and I am reviewing the widely acclaimed Platinum #3776 Century. which has been in production since 1978. The #3776, as you probably know, refers to the height of Mount Fuji in Japan.

The Platinum #3776 Century cap features the ‘Slip and Seal” mechanism which prevents ink drying out in the pen. A handy feature for people who do not use a pen on a daily basis. Sadly though, it no longer comes with a converter supplied. This is a particular bugbear of mine. If one can buy a pen for sub-£5 with a converter included, I am at a loss as to why a £100+ pen would not offer the same facility. Nonetheless, at a reasonable £179 for a pen with a 14k nib in a wide range of options, this does fall into the affordable luxury bracket.

This particular pen came with the less common Coarse nib, which is essentially a broad nib with some line variation and I was quite excited to have the opportunity to try it out.

First impressions

I have owned a Platinum #3776 Century before, so no real surprises with the pen itself. The material is a nice, semi-transparent acrylic, in this instance, a pleasing burgundy colour with gold trim. The section is rather short, so you may find yourself with the screw threads uncomfortably beneath your fingers, unless you hold it close to the nib. Overall, the pen is fairly light without feeling cheap, so if you don’t have an issue with the section length, it is quite a pleasant pen to hold.

The Platinum #3776 Century comes with Platinum’s 14k gold nib, which exhibits the usual toothiness I associate with this pen. In other words, it has a pencil-like feedback as you write. This did surprise me as I had not expected this to be the case with broader nibs.

I should perhaps mention that I sold my Platinum #3776 Century as I didn’t get on with the short section and nib feedback. I even had the Fine nib tuned and still didn’t like it. This was quite disappointing, as I had heard a lot of good things about the #3776. Also, I really like Platinum’s cheaper steel-nibbed offerings, such as the Preppy and (old) Carbon pen. In fact the latter is my favourite pen for drawing.

Nonetheless, I was excited by the opportunity to try out the Coarse nib, which was something of a novelty for me. I am a fine nib user by preference, but a part of me hankers for something that lays down rivers of ink and can show off all the shading, sheen and shimmer inks in my ink lake. I had high hopes that this nib would certainly fit the bill.

Writing Experience

So, with the rivers of ink box ticked, I proceeded to start a letter with this pen. It did not go well.

Disappointingly. it is not just the finer nibs on the Platinum #3776 Century that suffer from feedback. The ink did flow well, it is true, but it seems that I am just not that fond of writing with broad nibs. Indeed, I am at a loss as to how people manage to use them at all for writing letters, where you can barely fit a sentence on a sheet of A5. It felt like writing with a wax crayon and I was almost compelled to grasp the pen in my fist like a child.

I also had some difficulty with my spelling of longer words as I had lost sight of the start of the word in the distance by the time I reached the end. Alright, I am exaggerating for effect here and appreciate that this is a personal preference. If broad nibs are your thing,  then this is unlikely to be your experience. Nonetheless, the nib does have feedback, albeit not the squeakiness of their F and EF nibs.

The Coarse nib is supposed to exhibit line variation depending on the angle at which it is held. Again, I had some difficulty with this, as I could not find an angle where it was not writing broad. Even tipped up at an unnaturally vertical angle didn’t seem to make any difference. I tried it high, I tried it low, I tried it sideways and upside down.  Still broad. I gave up.

In Summary

The Platinum #3776 Century is an aesthetically pleasing pen, but it is like Marmite. You’ll either love it or hate it. I like the wide flared flatness of the nib shape, but hate the feedback. The section is nicely proportioned, but very uncomfortable for me.  So unlike Marmite, which I love, I can’t honestly say I’m fond of this pen as a writing instrument.

This saddens me, as I was quite excited to try it out and really did want to like it. It’s a nice, light weight without feeling cheap or plasticky like some pens, but that isn’t really enough.and I just didn’t enjoy using it. This is often the way with pens, I find. As much as we want to like them, they just don’t tick our boxes for comfort or usability. Of course, these things are very subjective and this is just my personal view.

On the positive side, at under £200, it is quite affordable for a Japanese pen with a 14k gold nib.

Pro

• 14k Gold Nib
• Wide range of nib options
• Affordable
• Slip and Seal cap

Con

• Toothy/feedbacky nib
• Converter not supplied
• Short section

Who is it for

• People who hold the pen close to the nib
• Intermittent pen users
• Lovers of the pencil and crayon vibe
• Poster artists

The lowdown

This particular Platinum #3776 Century  was kindly supplied to United Inkdom for review purposes  by Write Here in Shrewsbury and retails for £179. All colour variants are available here.  Other retailers also carry the popular Platinum #3776 Century range.