Peacock pens

In my search for a hobby that would give me lifelong pleasure, I quickly ended up collecting fountain pens. The sheer pleasure of writing with fountain pens is so satisfying. When you start a new hobby at least you have fun with it, it has to be challenging and it shouldn’t be monotonous. In that respect, fountain pens have a lot to offer you.

Within this collecting frenzy, there is something for everyone. I think for many, the disturbing factor is the budget. So my strategy was to buy pens that are top price/quality. But I wanted to go through the whole range, from cheap to more expensive. That way I could gain experience of which good pens are available for each price range. So I actually started with a pen of a few euros to, my most expensive pen of 1000 euro, this in a period of 4 years. I kept buying pens that were a bit more expensive than the last one I bought. That’s how my collection was built. Today, that view no longer applies and I buy purely on feeling and how I got influenced. By poking around on the internet, I try to gain new experiences. To what point do I want to take you? The pen reviews I did followed a bit of the same trajectory. So most of the reviews I’ve done so far are just of my cheaper pens. I’ll leave aside the quality of the pen here. Now, with the Sheaffer Prélude, I have come to the point where the fountain pens cost me, more or less, 100 Euro. Now the nice thing about the fountain pen hobby is that there are beautiful and high-quality pens for everyone’s budget.

It’s time to switch to the pen swap I just did. I swapped The Sheaffer Prélude with a vintage Pelikan 400. With a pen swap I always do a short review of the fountain pen that is changed, in this case the Sheaffer Prélude. The replacement pen, Pelikan 400, is also briefly introduced.

Sheaffer Prélude matte black GT

Two years ago I bought this pen from a local dealer in Ghent, Temmermans. I paid 95 Euro for it. Of course, I realize that this is expensive compared to the price on the internet, bon, it is what it is. In the meantime, I have learned to look around before rashly buying a fountain pen. For a few Euro difference I will always choose to buy locally, but actually I have almost always found that buying online is cheaper.

The Sheaffer Prélude fountain pen is a cartridge/converter with steel nib. The version I have has a matte finish with golden trim. It is a metal pen covered with a coating. The quality of this coating is excellent. I often transport the pen in special circumstances, but so far no trace of damage such as scratches. The cap has the same finish as the barrel. There is a gold band (trim) on the open side of the cap on which the brand name is engraved.

The cap has a handy slightly wider clip with Sheaffer’s typical white dot at the top. At the top of the cap is a kind of white pearly gem. This looks like a more luxurious version of the normal white dot. The cap is a snap-on cap that opens very easily and is of good quality. When the pen is closed, the cap is securely fastened. You can use the cap in a posted way, it is very secure and does not disturb the balance of the pen. The pen has a very classic beautiful look. The pen is sold in a nice box with warranty papers and two ink cartridges. So far so good.

Unlike the other parts of the pen, the section is made of plastic with two cutouts for a better grip. You can compare it to the grip of the Lamy Safari, but less pronounced. As a manufacturer, it is always a risk to give the grip of a fountain pen an ergonomic shape. For some, it’s functional, for others, it doesn’t. In my case, it certainly doesn’t bother. What does bother me is that there are molding lines on the grip. I actually hate (sorry, I should not use that word) this. The manufacturer could have solved this problem by sanding it away. This really puts a damper on the joy. It seems that Sheaffer didn’t pay much attention to the grip, very unfortunate, but I’ll charge for this.

The pen has a Sheaffer dual-tone steel nib, in my case a medium. The nib looks nice and classic. As far as the writing performance is concerned, I’m really satisfied. The pen writes smooth, wet rather than dry, just on the edge. The line width tends to be more broad. There is some flex in the nib. Reverse writing is also possible and even very good. For me personally, I was able to sketch well with this pen because there is a good ink flow and because I could use the nib in different ways.

For cleaning purposes, you can pull the nib out of the section. I couldn’t remove the feeder, I didn’t want to use extreme forces to damage the pen.

To test this pen I used a converter. Sheaffer uses its own cartridges and converters. The converter is really great, fits well and doesn’t leak. The disadvantage is that the converter cannot be disassembled for cleaning. Strange, but good, is that the standard international cartridges can also be used. The ink I used is the Jacques Herbin Emeraude de Chivor. This is a very special and very popular ink among fountain pen enthusiasts. This ink has a beautiful teal with red sheen and gold shimmer. This shimmer ink can be tricky but this nib knows how to deal with it.

Overall, I can conclude that the Sheaffer Prélude is certainly not a bad pen. If they had paid more attention to the section, this would have been a winner. Now, the most important thing for me remains the writing performance and with this pen it is very good. I think the price of 95 Euro is too expensive. So I wouldn’t buy them again for the sake of price and quality.

What are your experiences with the Sheaffer Prélude? Would this pen be right for you?

Pelikan 400

Today I took the step to really use a vintage fountain pen. I’m talking about the Pelikan 400, black striped. I bought this pen on the old market last year, not knowing for sure if this would be a good buy. The pen has a 14K gold fine nib and is a piston filler. I filled the pen with Graf von Faber-Castell Olive green.. I promise you that I will come back with an extensive review of this when this pen is also replaced. I can already tell you… love is in the air 🙂