My first gold nib pen was made by Sailor. It was my introduction into the Japanese mid-range pen segment. My wife had introduced me to the brand a while earlier, and we were shopping for pens together. We both got ourselves a Pro Gear Slim Mini, she got a modern model, I got an older model in rose taupe.

Soon I realized that Sailor’s speciality were special editions, seasonal designs and shop exclusives. For me – a girl with a severe urgency to complete collections – this was a problem. Soon we were looking at special editions, custom designs and limited releases. In 2019, they had released the Angels Delight Special Edition for the 10th anniversary of the Cocktail line of fountain pens, and it caught my eye immediately.

By that time, the Pro Gear Slim mini had become a constant presence in my everyday writing. I use it for poetry, notes, and – occasionally – my share of snail mail. I tend to switch pens fairly frequently, de-ink and re-ink them. The Sailor, however, remains inked with the ink I had put in it the day I got it: ‘Sailor Shikiori – Okuyama’. I love the size. It is tiny, and I need to post it to use it; otherwise it slips through my fingers. The cap screws to post, so it is not the best pen for quick notes or the desk – regardless, I had bought a second one already: A Sagittarius special edition from the Zodiac series.

I knew I wanted to try a Pro Gear or Pro Gear Slim at some point, and the Angel’s Delight was at the top of my ‘Grail Pen’ list. Long sold out, I had never believed I would just stumble upon it. When we visited Berlin for a conference, we stumbled upon it in a small fountain pen store. It was gorgeous and I had to buy it.

The Angel’s Delight Pro Gear is a tricolour resin pen. The grip section is a dark lavender colour, the barrel an even darker Bordeaux. Both are translucent. The cap is a milky white, with a very slight warm tint. Cap and barrel have a clear, transparent finial. All the hardware is white silver. The pen uses a 21k dual tone gold nib, silver out. Mine has a fine nib, but if this is ‘fine’, I prefer not to see what ‘extra fine’ looks like. It writes exceptionally fine.

My wife lent me her Pro Gear Slim Fika Hallon Grotta for this comparison. Thank you! <3

Compared to my Pro Gear Slim Minis, the Pro Gear is longer and feels heavier than the Slim and the Slim Mini. It is also a little wider. It doesn’t seem as significant in this picture because of the clear finial. The caps of the Slim and the Slim Mini seem to be of the same size. The mini has a different barrel shape than the other two, I assume this is to allow it to be posted more easily. Here are some numbers.

When looking at the length of the pens, the Pro Gear Slim and the Pro Gear are not as far apart – posted or unposted – as the Pro Gear Slim and the Pro Gear Slim Mini. The two larger siblings fit in my hand fine when not posted, while I absolutely have to post the Mini. Considering this, the Pro Gear Slim Mini is the heaviest pen of the three when I use it to write: Posted, it comes in a little heavier and longer than the larger Pro Gear.

When it comes to nib design, most if my pens have plain nibs with little decoration, but that’s because most of my everyday pens are plain and simple as well. Think ‘LAMY Safari’ or ‘TWSBI Diamond 580’. I like the nib design and the pen to fit well together. Sailor – as you can see – can do both. While the Zodiac series comes with very plain nibs, the two other special editions seen in this picture come with intricate decorations, even dual toned. Both fit the vibe of the Pro Gear very well. It can be an elegant, sophisticated pen but can be playful or simplistic, too. The choice of resin colour, nib decoration and hardware finish is spot on in all three of them.

Using the pen

Comparing it to my two Pro Gear Slim (MF and M) Mini with this one (F), I admit that the F nib doesn’t feel as smooth and perfect as the M. The MF coming in somewhere in the middle – it needed some adjustments when I received it, which was done beautifully by the seller – Fontoplumo – in the Netherlands. When Sailor say ‘fine’ they really mean it. The nib isn’t scratchy at all, with no line direction standing out, indicating a well aligned nib. There is a lot of feedback though, comparable to the finer EF nibs by LAMY or the EF PILOT steel nibs, all of which I find pleasant to use.

I must admit, that if I were to buy this pen again, I’d probably choose a MF nib or maybe even an M nib. To me, a wider line means that the ink and its properties have a wider stage. I love shading inks and my handwriting – a mix of German teaching script and adjusted block writing – with its many short lines, works well to show that off. With a narrow line, this is harder to see. This does not show so well in the writing samples above because of my ink choices, so I added a Faber-Castell broad test using a quite shady Sailor ink (Yozakura 2021 – mauve pink) to demonstrate.

To ink up the Sailor Pro Gear Angel’s Delight, I selected ‘Poussiere de Lune’ by Herbin. This is not only one of the most beautiful colours I have seen in an ink, it also shades very well. The Sailor nib puts down a decent amount of ink despite the narrow line width, giving this lavender moon dust awesomeness a stage to present itself on properly.

If possible and sensible, I try to choose ink that fits the colour or appearance of the pen. ‘Poussiere de Lune’ was the obvious choice for me. I love the colour and shading of the ink – it is my favourite colour – and it almost fits the two tones perfectly, Sailor uses in the grip section and the barrel of the pen. The cap, with its off-white milky resin, reminded me of the moon as well. To me, this is the perfect ink for the pen. The colours fit, the ink’s and nib’s properties work very well together, and it is a feasible choice for my everyday writing.

The overall form factor of the pen, the balance, nib and colour make this pen a perfect addition to my collection. It was an expensive pen to pursue, but to me, it was definitely worth it. I enjoy this pen in so many ways: Using it, looking at it, handling it … I just hope that this pen – being one of my grail pens – does not become too precious to use.