Aurora Internazionale

Usual bias alert: I collect Aurora pens. That Aurora logo means I’m emotionally invested at baseline, but I always challenge myself to be objective when writing about Aurora Pens.

My “grail” pen is the Aurora Duplex in the lapis finish. Senior sized. I don’t even know if they made lapis Duplexes in the big size, but I want one.

The price of senior size Duplexes in okay condition–if they show up for sale–can easily exceed a thousand dollars. The lapis finish is especially desirable.

The Aurora Internazionale is modeled after these pre-war pens and I knew I had to have one the moment I saw it. I might not actually have a chance to acquire my white whale, so this is a nice substitute.

The Internazionale is a bit larger than a big Duplex, but otherwise Aurora did a fantastic job keeping this pen as close to its roots as practically possible. If it were a lever filler, one may be hard pressed to know the Internazionale is a modern pen, at least at first glance.

The vermeil trim ring and engraved clip are very classy, perhaps approaching garish to some. The details are fabulous.

The pen is comfortable in hand. It sports a classic-styled gripping section that is quite thick and the pen is well balanced. The cap posts, but it is very long while posted so I don’t do that. It takes nearly 2 turns to remove the cap.

The celluloid material is soft to the touch and beautiful to behold. It doesn’t appear identical to the vintage material in all aspects, but it’s a great homage.

The nib is a fine and it writes as an Aurora should. This pen features the unadorned nib  that appears on some of Aurora’s limited edition pens that closely resembles the Aurora nibs of yore. The nib unit is otherwise a modern Aurora and is interchangeable between similarly sized Aurora models–sacrilege, but doable.

The piston filler is functionally identical to all other modern Auroras. It operates smoothly and draws 1.5mL of ink into the pen. The pen is equipped with Aurora’s (in)famous Magic Reserve system as well.

Aurora is releasing other finishes of the Internazionale–black with rose gold trim and a jade finish–but I’ll stick with just the lapis, for the time being. I’ll give Aurora credit, here–many companies (including Aurora) have a tendency to release the same pens over and over again in different finishes. They took a risk with something different, and they absolutely crushed it in my opinion.

While it’s not my dream pen, the Internazionale is as close as it’s likely going to get for me. I don’t use it often, but once I have it inked up I can barely put it down.

Pros:

• This pen is a work of art, and a masterpiece at that.
• It is a very functional pen. Writes like a dream.

Cons:

• It doesn’t have an ink window–which would mess with the aesthetic anyways.
• Cumbersome when posted.
• The magic reserve can be handy, but also makes cleaning the pen completely a bit more challenging.

Specs:

• Cap:
  • Screw cap. Push to post.
  • 1.9 turns to remove.
• Nib:
  • Aurora 18k nib unit.
  • Theoretically it could be equipped with any large Aurora nib unit. I think the Internazionale-style nibs are limited to EF, F, M, and B and maybe Stub.
• Body:
  • Lapis Auroloid (Aurora’s celluloid.)
  • Black is available. Jade is becoming available as of this writing.
• Filling system:
  • Piston filler.
  • 1.5mL capacity.
• Length:
  • Capped: 138mm
  • Uncapped: 132mm
  • Posted: 175mm
• Weight:
  • Total: 25g
  • Pen: 17g
  • Cap: 8g
• Section Diameter:
  • 10.5-11.5mm

Alternatives:

• Obviously there’s a bunch of vintage pen alternatives.
• Parker Duofold Centennial.
• The Aurora Talentum is a cartridge/converter pen that is very similar in size and shape.
• Pelikan m800.
• Ranga model 3.
• Conklin Duragraph.