Large pieces of mother of pearl are hard to come by, especially when the pieces have to be very long. They are not only costly, but one also has to wait for a long time just to procure a few pieces. We decided it was worth the wait, as you can see in these Maki-e designs for our collection. This pen is also made with the Eyedropper system. The nibs are #8, like both the Mikado and Genkai.