At my local bike collective, they have crates full of old, mostly junky parts, priced almost free. When they get their hands on a more valuable, collectible, or otherwise desirable piece, they display it in a glass cabinet and price it accordingly. The other day I saw a Cinelli quill stem there, and I'm curious about it.

The director and volunteers were busy at the time, so I didn't have them take it out of the cabinet to let me examine it. I'm basing my description on what I was able to see through the glass.

It looked like a typical quill stem for the most part. It's the type that has an expander plug inside the quill, as opposed to an external wedge. But the part that clamps onto the bar did not appear to have any split. It's one continuous loop. a bolt goes into the bottom of the stem, just aft of where the bar goes, and I assume this pushes forward on some sort of block to exert pressure on the bar from within.

What can you tell me about this? Is it strong, durable, and easy to use? It has a really elegant appearance, and I wonder if it's also a functionally excellent design.