Platinum Presteal 2022 Color of the Year Aura: A Limited Fountain Pen That Punches Far Above Its Price

Introduction

Platinum is one of Japan’s most established writing instrument makers, founded in 1919 as a fountain pen manufacturer. The company opened mail-order fountain pen sales in 1931, expanded into overseas export shortly after, and in 1956 practicalized the world’s first cartridge-type fountain pen, contributing significantly to the global industry. Headquartered in Tokyo, it remains a dedicated stationery manufacturer.

The Presteal 2022 Color of the Year Aura is a limited model released in July 2022, part of a series of limited-quantity colors Platinum has offered every year since 2017. This review covers the packaging, finish, nib, and how it actually feels to write with, so you can decide whether it deserves a spot in your rotation.

What the Presteal Color of the Year Series Is

The Presteal sits in Platinum’s low-price fountain pen lineup, but the Color of the Year models are a separate limited series running annually since 2017. Each release comes in a fixed number of units, and the 2022 edition was offered in three colors: a pink tone, a light grey-blue, and Symphony Blue, the version reviewed here.

Nib choices are limited to F and M. Each color was limited to 3,000 units, so availability can be an issue if you are shopping after the initial release window. The retail price was 3,960 yen tax included, which keeps it firmly in accessible territory despite the limited-edition framing.

Design and Finish: The Polarizing Pearl Coating

The Aura body uses an aluminum barrel coated in white paint with pearl layered on top, creating a polarizing pearl finish that changes appearance depending on the viewing angle and how light strikes it. Because this is the Symphony Blue edition, the barrel carries a subtle blue tint, and each colorway in the series has its own distinct tone under the same pearl treatment.

The chrome-plated clip is a rectangular shape, neither too stiff nor too loose, and grips firmly. The silver cap ring is engraved with Presteal, Platinum, and Japan markings. In the hand, the finish genuinely stands out; even among recent pens with lighter-colored bodies, this pearl coating is unusually eye-catching.

Cap Seal and Practical Details

One inherited strength of this platform is the perfectly tight-fitting cap and slip seal mechanism, which is said to keep ink from drying out for two years with the cap closed. The packaging itself states one year, but the commonly cited real-world figure is two years, a meaningful advantage if you write infrequently.

Inside the box you get the pen body and a black cartridge, so it is ready to write out of the package. Overall dimensions are a 142mm total length, 15.7g weight, and a 12.2mm grip diameter. The balance point sits low, and posting the cap shifts it slightly toward the front.

Nib, Grip, and Writing Performance

The nib is stainless steel fitted with a special wear-resistant point. The grip section is made of clear PMMA resin, so you can see the ink inside, which is a nice touch when running a blue ink like the one used here.

The writing experience is the headline. This nib is exceptionally smooth, so much so that it is hard to believe it is stainless steel at this price point. Compared with other Platinum limited models that deliberately retain a bit of toothy feedback, the Aura is in a completely different register: ultra-smooth with excellent ink color saturation on the page. It ranks among the top nib qualities found in budget fountain pens.

What Stands Out

Three things make this pen easy to recommend. First, the appearance: the polarizing pearl finish is beautiful and shifts with light in a way few pens at any price manage. Second, the nib quality, which sits comfortably in the upper tier of affordable fountain pens for smoothness. Third, the price, which makes a limited color accessible to beginners as well as established enthusiasts.

The bright pearl finish also seems likely to appeal to younger writers and anyone who likes a lighter, more expressive pen body.

Things to Consider Before Buying

There is one notable caveat. Because the nib is so smooth, if this becomes your very first fountain pen, you may struggle to find anything that beats it on smoothness afterward. That is a good problem, but it can recalibrate your expectations. If you plan to explore several pens as a beginner, it may be wiser not to make this your first one.

Otherwise, there is little to fault: the cap seal works as advertised, the clip is well tuned, and the dimensions suit most hands.

Buying Advice

The 3,000-unit-per-color production run is the main constraint. If you are interested in the Aura or any of the Color of the Year finishes, buying sooner rather than later is the safer play. Choose F if you prefer finer lines with this smooth character, or M if you want a slightly wetter, more generous stroke; the M in particular feels even more fluid than its already smooth F sibling.

Pairing it with a converter and a good blue ink makes for a very satisfying low-cost writing setup.

Conclusion

Low price, high quality, a genuinely beautiful body, and an ultra-smooth writing feel from a stainless nib: the Presteal 2022 Color of the Year Aura earns its limited-edition badge. It is an easy recommendation for anyone drawn to the finish, with the single caveat that it may set an unfairly high bar for smoothness if it is your first pen. If the color speaks to you, do not wait long.