exPENsivePhotography

Here is a quick look at my new Sailor Pro Gear, Angel’s Delight.

First of all, here it is…

Angels’ Delight, Sailor’s latest offering in the Pro Gear Cocktail Series line, carries through the semi-translucent looks of it’s predecessors; Tequila Sunrise, Apres Ski, as well as 2016’s much coveted, Blue Lagoon.  The main departure of this 2019 model however, is the translucent material extends to the cap only, versus the full cap, section and barrel of those other pens in the series.

Unusually, the barrel and section are made out of different resins, the barrel being a burgundy colour, with the section being a slightly more purple colour, as you can see below;

I find this mis-matched barrel and section a curious combination, but perhaps has something to do with the actual Angel’s Delight Cocktail.  (At least I had thought as much, until I actually google-imaged it, and found it to be a candy pink concoction??!)

Either way it somehow works, and even though purple isn’t normally my colour, (though I do like burgundy, and currently have my Angel’s Delight loaded up with Pen & Message’s Old Burgundy), I have to say I really quite like the looks of this latest edition to the series.  Much more so than last years Tequila Sunrise.

Note the purple finial- same purple resin as in the section…

Here shown next to the Apres- Ski with it’s cherry finial…

Note the majority- silver with gold inlay two-tone nib, vs the Apres Ski’s majority-gold with silver two-tone nib.  All Sailor Cocktail series fountain pens come with solid 21k gold nibs.

A brief diversion into Medium nibs…

Speaking of nibs, the Medium nib on my Angels Delight is a real “delight” to write with.  Luscious ink flow, with just a hint of pencil-soft Sailor feedback.  I’m not usually a fan of Medium nibs, and in fact recently had a mass-cull of factory Medium nibs in my now (much-shrunken/ highly curated), fountain pen collection.  The tally now stands at 3.  In addition to the Angel’s Delight there is my Visconti Watermark and my Nagasawa Kobe, Suma Rikkyu-Rose (Pro Gear Slim model).  Curiously, all 3 of these factory Mediums have the ability to bring out the sheen in even the most un-sheeny of inks.

Unobtanium…

The only other Cocktail Series in my collection is the Apres Ski.  I’m glad I got that one as the soft melon finish (some call it Jade), is a sight to behold.

I was late to the game on 2016’s Blue Lagoon, and have been searching for it ever since…  Black Velvet’s the other one (sparkly dark brown resin with the cream socks), that holds a similar unobtanium.  I have been mulling 2018’s Tequila Sunrise for over a year now, but somehow still haven’t managed to pull the trigger.  And now the prices keep hiking up on the secondary market.  Might have to let that one go…and wait eagerly for 2020’s offering!

It seems  Apres Ski had been made in a Limited Edition run of 800, whereas I believe all the other pens in the Cocktail Series were made in a run of only 300.  Sailor sense they’ve got a hit on their hands with this series, as the Angel’s Delight has a whopping run of 1,500!  And they’re still sold out at pretty much all the on-line vendors I’ve checked.  No doubt next years offering will be in the 3,000 range.  I’m all for that, as it means sourcing my yearly dose of Sailor won’t require a too much digging around, or come at too high a premium.