Benu Talisman Fountain Pen Review

May 2022

Benu Talisman Review

Have you ever wished upon a shooting star? Did your wish come true? Here at Goldspot, we wished FOR a shooting star. And, this is what we got. In this pen profile, we take a look at the magical Benu Talisman fountain pen.

The Magic Behind the Benu Talisman Fountain Pen

A "talisman" is an object believed to have magical powers, which are granted to its owner. For example, when you find a penny head's up, it's considered a "lucky penny." In the Talisman collection, Benu infuses each fountain pen with a substance that has mythological attributes such as good luck, prosperity, healing, and protection against evil.

It is a common belief that, if you wish upon a shooting star, your wish will come true. As you know, a shooting star is not an actual star, it's a meteorite entering Earth's atmosphere. Yet, the falling space rock takes on a supernatural mystique.

For the Talisman Shooting Star, Benu added meteorite stone powder to the material of the body of the pen. Holographic stars float between the shimmering deep blue and translucent turquoise of the pen's opposing ends. The body of the Talisman pen has an elongated honeycomb pattern of facets around the cap and barrel. A sword-shaped, rocker-style pocket clip and silver-filled Benu logo complete the rounded cap.

Not convinced this pen is magical enough? Watch this! After charging under natural sunlight (or LEDs and desk lamps), the pen's body and cap glow in the dark.

Comparing Benu Talisman Fountain Pen with Other Fountain Pen

So you can get an idea of the Benu Talisman's size, I compared it here with the Narwhal Key West and the Sailor Professional Gear Regular fountain pens shown here. In contrast with pocket-sized Benu pen designs like the Briolette and the Chameleon, the Talisman is slightly larger than an average-sized pen.

Measurement	Narwhal Key West	Benu Talisman	Sailor Pro Gear Regular
Length Closed	5.62 in. / 143mm	5.43 in. / 138mm	5.11 in. / 130mm
Length Uncapped	4.96 in. / 126mm	5.16 in. / 131mm	4.55 in. / 115.5mm
Length Cap Posted	6.53 in. / 166mm	6.53 in. / 166mm	5.63 in. / 143mm
Barrel Max Diameter	0.49 in. / 12.5 mm	0.53 in. / 13.5mm	0.55 in. / 14mm
Section Grip Dia.	0.35 in. - 0.43 in. / 9mm - 10.5mm	0.37 in. - 0.43 in. / 9.5mm - 11mm	0.39 in. / 10mm
Pen Weight	0.9 oz. / 25.5g	0.74oz / 21g	0.7oz / 19.8g

Writing with the Benu Talisman Pen

Unscrewing the cap two and a quarter rotations uncovers the tapered grip section and stainless steel #6 size nib made by Schmidt in Germany. The nib is decorated with scrollwork along the shoulders. Below the breather hole, you'll find the nib size stamped in script surrounded by a fancy frame. The Talisman is available in fine, medium, or broad nib options.

Choose between the plug & play long international ink cartridge or the standard twist piston converter included with each pen. For maximum ink capacity, you could eyedropper ink directly into the barrel and silicone grease the threads for a secure seal.

Wish I may, wish I might, with this Benu I shall write. For this demonstration, I inked the Talisman Shooting Star with Sailor Shikiori Yuki-akari ink.

Most writers will be familiar with the German-made Jowo #6 size nib. The Schmidt nibs are similar in line width, producing a 0.32mm, 0.42mm, and 0.55mm line for the fine, medium, and broad nibs respectively.

Since I have the memory of writing with Esterbrook's Jowo nibs fresh in my mind, I feel like Benu's Schmidt nibs are very similar with a couple of subtle differences. For a steel nib, it has slightly more pliability than you might expect. All three nib sizes seemed to exhibit a higher degree of feedback compared to Jowo. As with most nibs, the larger the Benu nib size, the smoother the writing experience.

Since the Talisman is made of mostly resin save the pocket clip and the steel nib, the overall pen weight is light. Even with the cap posted on the back, the pen is easy to streak across the page. The sparkly resin grip section and barrel threads offer a comfortable area for your fingers to grasp.

Although I picked the light turquoise of Yuki Akari, there are many blue fountain pen inks that would be an excellent match for the Shooting Star. Others I would recommend are Robert Oster Shake n' Shimmy Blue Moon, Diamine Shimmertastic Arctic Blue, Diamine Shimmertastic Blue Lightning, Colorverse Supernova, and Pilot Iroshizuku Kon Peki.

Packaging and Pricing

Benu Pens packages the Talisman pen in the standard, 2-part Benu paperboard gift box. The top and bottom are finished in matte white texture with handwritten decoration on the top lid. Inside the box, the pen is enclosed in a white envelope with the Benu logo foil embellishment. Also included on a bed of shredded paper are a blue international long ink cartridge, an instruction booklet, and a pamphlet that shares the namesake inspiration behind the design.

The Benu Talisman fountain pen starts at $128 for the non-luminous designs and $139 for the luminous, glow-in-the-dark styles like Shooting Star and Mandrake. In late 2021, Benu introduced the Talisman in seasonal, limited editions such as the Mistletoe and the Wild Rose. The Shooting Star is the latest design limited to 300 pieces and is only available at Goldspot Pens.

Conclusion

We hoped you enjoy this pen profile of the Benu Talisman fountain pen. If you already own this pen or this post helped you in purchasing a pen, please feel free to comment below with your thoughts.

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