This review has been languishing in my drafts for the past two months, as life (and particularly work) has gotten so hectic. As I wrote the Franklin Christoph x Stilo e Stile 03 Sparkling Rock dry today, I thought that it was about time to finish this review and publish it.

I don’t write much about packaging since I don’t care much for it, unless it is clearly overdone and something that unnecessarily added to the price. Franklin Christoph’s packaging is one of my favourites as the outer box is simple and elegant enough to be sent as a gift to someone, without being flashy. But what makes it even better is that many of their pens come with a pen pouch. These pouches are fantastic, and the one that I got features a velvety interior that protects the pens from scratches, and a grey, denim-y like external fabric that I really like.

This collaboration between Franklin Christoph and Italian pen store Stilo e Stile is a model 3 pen with a gorgeous black, white and green resin with chatoyance, sparkle and a great deal of depth to it. Photos flatten it out and do it no justice. It’s a breathtaking material.

I purchased an extra-fine nibbed pen, and used it for writing and a bit of sketching using the Sailor Studio 224. The 224 grows a bit darker with time, but still features a lot shading and some gorgeous dual colouring. I was worried that it would be too light to be readable, but that was not the case.

I have a few Franklin Christoph pens and I love the pens that they make, but this is the first Franklin Christoph pen that I have that has a pen clip. So while the model 03 is as well made and well balanced as the other Franklin Christoph’s I’ve tried, I did notice that the finial above the clip had a tendency to screw itself a bit loose sometimes. It never got to the point where it screwed off and got lost, and I doubt that it will, so it wasn’t really an issue, just something that I noticed. The clip is secured to the cap with a screw, and is robust and springy, and completely unaffected by the state of the finial.

This is the Sparkling Rock 03 as I used it, uncapped and unposted (you can technically post it, but I don’t see why as it’s long enough and clearly better balanced to be written unposted), and it is perfectly sized to be comfortable for long writing sessions. Unless you grip your pen with your fingers right on top of the nib, the two ridges in the end won’t bother you. I found them useful as they helped me position my hand better.

The nib unit is a standard number 6 nib, and screws out easily, for both cleaning and swapping out. The pen itself, like all Franklin Christophes, is a cartridge-converter, and comes with a good quality converter.

This brings me to the reason for this review: in a pen market that features ever increasing limited-editions in ever increasing prices, Franklin Christoph offers a refreshing alternative. You can go to their website, find a variety of pen shapes in a variety of resins, know that you are getting a very good quality pen that will be a breeze to clean and maintain, and in many cases to convert to an eyedropper if you so please. And the prices aren’t eye watering. You can even splurge on an interesting nib grind, allow yourself to experiment a little, knowing that in the worst case you can easily swap out a nib on your own. It’s the ultimate fountain pen for those venturing out of the beginner pen group and wanting to experience something better, without paying gold nib prices or going the vintage route. It’s also very tempting to collect more and more of them, as you try out different shapes, sizes and resins, which explains why there are quite a few members in the 50th pen club (after buying 49 FCs you get the 50th, personalized, and for free).