In the six months since I first got into fountain pens, I’ve tried a lot of pens. Probably too many, as I’ve been constantly buying them since then. All of my pens have been relatively inexpensive so far though, running from £3 Jinhao 82s and £5 Platinum Preppys, to £25 Kaweco Sports, and £35 TWSBI Ecos. Of course, to people outside of the fountain pen hobby £35 for a single pen may seem ludicrously expensive, but once you’re deep inside the hobby and start seeing other people’s collections, you realize just how much money you can spend!

So far I’ve had a lot of fun with my cheaper pens, and I definitely don’t think you need to spend a lot of money to enjoy fountain pens. But a few weeks ago I decided that for me personally, I’d like to make more of an investment in the hobby, now I was certain it wasn’t a passing phase, and now I knew more about my preferences when it came to pens. 

There was one pen I’d had my eye on from quite early in my fountain pen journey, and since I also wanted to get my first gold nib pen, I decided it was time to take the plunge and buy it: the Platinum #3776 Nice Lavande. 

I was a little nervous about spending £185 on a pen, since that’s a lot of money, and because I’d never actually written with one, and only had my research to go on as to whether or not I was likely to like it. I also dithered over whether to get one of the basic colours of Platinum #3776 instead, as they were cheaper. But I figured that if I was already going to be spending a lot of money on a pen, I might as well pay a bit more for the one I really wanted. So a few weeks ago, after saving up for it, I finally ordered it with a fine nib from Cult Pens, and I was so excited when it arrived! This was my first real grail pen, and so it was amazing to finally have it in my hands and get to try it out!

It came in a nice, sturdy box, and also included a converter, which was great. Although the only disappointing thing was that the converter was the silver version, instead of the gold, which would have matched the rose gold trim of the pen better.

The beautiful lavender colour is stunning in real life, and the faceted finish makes the pen look unique, instead of just a regular purple demonstrator pen. I’d been slightly worried that as a plastic pen it might look cheap, but I actually think it looks and feels good for the price, and the rose gold hardware is an especially nice touch that really elevates the pen. I also adore the nib with the Platinum ‘P’ engraved, and the cute heart shaped breather hole!

I immediately inked the pen up with Diamine Jet Black as I wanted this to be my everyday writer for my journal, and thankfully once I tried it out, I absolutely loved it!

I never quite understood what people meant about ‘feedback,’ until I wrote with this pen, or got what the difference was between that and scratchiness (which is something I’ve definitely experienced with other pens). But whilst Platinums supposedly aren’t as feedbacky as Sailors, with the fine nib on this pen I could definitely feel a distinctive pencil-like feel to the nib as I wrote, and it makes a very satisfying scratching sound as it writes. 

But the thing I love most about the writing experience of this pen is the fineness of the line you get with it, as it’s much finer than many of my extra fine pens. I’ve been using this pen almost every day in my Moleskine journal since I got it, and despite Moleskine having famously bad paper for fountain pens, because of the fineness of the nib I’ve had no trouble with ghosting or bleed through. 

This is honestly my favourite pen in my entire collection, and I’m so glad I finally bought it!

So do you have a Platinum #3776? What do you think of them? What is your favourite pen in your entire collection?