Pentrace is quiet nowadays and I’m not sure why. But, if you’re reading this, then I’ll assume that you, like me, appreciate a new post now and then and won’t mind a little rambling pen chat here on the yellow board as I give praise to two of my pens.
I had sat down at my writing desk the other evening to answer a letter from a friend. I soon realized that every pen in my inked pen rotation was out of ink and had run dry except these two pens. Somehow, the weeks seem to fly by these days and I had fallen behind in my once-a-month pen flushing/inking routine. I took care of that a couple days later, but I’ve been thinking about these two pens ever since. They aren’t breathtakingly beautiful, yet they are aesthetically pleasing and quite handsome. They aren’t big, but they are comfortable in my hand. They are excellent writers.
I marvel at how reliable they are — easy to clean, easy to fill, never needing repair, with the added bonus of being first time every time writers. I have various nibs that I swap out from time to time, although I tend to keep the original fine, gold-plated nib in the 200 because it writes perfectly. The nib doesn’t dry out even if left uncapped for a long time.
I thought I’d bought the 200 shortly before I’d started a new job in 1987, but all the expert sources on Pelikans state the first year of production was 1988 for the marbled blue. So 1988 it must be, and my pen is already 34 years old!
Old photo of my Pelikan M200 in Marbled Blue that I bought new for $49.00, which was a lot of money for me to spend for a pen back then.
(I also bought a bottle of Pelikan Black ink that cost $1.29 at the time. How prices have gone up since then!)
Pelikan Green Stripe M400, old style c. 1982-1990
I’ve had this pen for 14 years now and couldn’t be happier with the purchase.
This old photo shows it with a gold-plated crisp italic nib, but I still have its original 14c EF nib.
The 400 is currently fitted with this Binder-modified flex nib.
I would love it if some of you would join in with discussion on which of your pens you consider your most reliable.
Responses
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