According to Montgomery Pens (www.montgomerypens.com), this pen's name varies. Some call the Phileas pen while others call it the Kultur pen. The package my pen came in didn't have a name on it and merely called it translucent which is what it is (in this case translucent blue). Also, according to them, the pen was never offered for sale in the United States which is too bad as this is an excellent and very affordable fountain pen by Waterman. According to Pen Boutique in Columbia, Maryland this pen isn't for sale any more barring Ebay or maybe Amazon.
As far as I'm able to tell, the pen comes in 3 translucent colors - red, blue and purple. Also, it comes in a clear version. The pens I've seen offered on Ebay have all been fine point stainless steel nib pens which is what I prefer anyway. The pen can use the standard cartridge adapter so, you can use bottled ink and save money or you can use Waterman cartridges.
Prices on Ebay vary ($21 to $30) for the pen depending on what's included though usually the cartridge adapter isn't so, you'll have to shell out another $8 or $9 for that. Montgomery Pens have offered auctions on the clear pen (I lost one of those by 50 cents not that I cared much). Another pen seller called Pens N More on Ebay is offering a 3 pen set of these pens for $62.99 which I think is a really good price per pen as long as you don't mind getting 3 of them (and why I didn't care about losing the auction the Montgomery Pens pen I'd bid on).
Normally, I don't like stainless steel nibs with the rare exceptions like Pilot's Varsity disposable fountain pen. Also, this pen has a large nib. But, this pen writes really well for a stainless steel nib. Other steel nibs I've tried have scratched the paper when I've tried writing with them. This is why my preference is for 18 karat gold nibs which always glide across the paper. However, in the case of this pen, the nib does a good job on various papers and, the price is awesome for a Waterman fountain pen. In my opinion, Waterman is a really good maker of pens. I had 4 of theirs including 2 with 18 karat nibs (and if I had $220 lying around, I'd be getting another one) until I bought this one which I've been surprisingly pleased with.
Another plus of these pens is the fact their translucent or clear. This makes really easy to see how much ink you have left in the cartridge or cartridge adapter. I had a real problem with a Pilot retractable fountain pen I tried recently because of this. I didn't know if it was working when I tried to draw ink into the cartridge adapter via the nib. The only way to be certain with that pen was to pull the adapter out which can get messy and see.
Overall, I'm really pleased with this fountain pen and would recommend it. It writes well, is affordable and translucency (or clear) is an added plus with it. If you like fountain pens, you might want to check out the 2 sellers I mentioned or see what others are selling these fine pens for. I don't think you'll be disappointed with them. Happy writing all!
