Peacock pens

I haven’t actually been a second-hand buyer all my life. I was raised with the idea of buying everything new. I remember my parents saying that if you buy something second-hand, you are actually buying someone else’s misery. As I get older, I admit that this is rather short-sighted. This is probably why I have a questionable attitude towards second-hand stuff.

To relate to my fountain pen collection, I have to admit that, until recently, it consisted exclusively of new pens. The idea to add some vintage pens only became concrete from 2023, being the third year in my fountain pen collection hobby. At that time, I was willing, not rashly, to take the risk of investing in a vintage fountain pen.

On 27/1/2023, my birthday, we visited the old market Bij Sint-Jacobs in Ghent. This is a weekly market where the offer is mainly antiques. Our search for pens was daunting at first. At one point, our attention was drawn to a display case at a market vendor. Yes, in this display was the only pen on offer. At our request, we were able to view the pen. The asking price was 60 Euro. I recognized the pen as a Pelikan 400 with gold nib.

Of course, the pen looked used but I couldn’t find any visible damage. The nib looked good and the flex of the nib was remarkable. Suddenly I started to doubt because I was not sure if the internal piston mechanism would still work. So I decided not to buy the pen.

The idea of owning a vintage pen started to gnaw at me and knowing that I now really had the chance to buy a Pelikan 400 made me retrace my steps. My wife made an extra effort of persuasion with the idea that this pen could be a nice birthday present for me. So in the end, we went back to the seller. Fortunately, the pen was still there. To limit the financial risk of a bad buy, I asked for his lowest price. He told me that he couldn’t go lower than 40 Euro because the pen has a gold nib. I agreed and bought the pen! The pen wasn’t in a box so I just put it in my pocket. I realized that I was the proud owner of a vintage Pelikan and started thinking how I was going to go about it.

The pen has been in a pen case at home for a long time, untouched. First because I wanted to gather some information about my acquisition and also to think about the restoration possibilities. In fact, it was only in February 2024 that I took action. First, by cleaning the pen with water and checking the piston mechanism. This went smoothly. The reassurance that the piston mechanism was still working was a relief. I filled the pen with Faber-Castell Olive green ink. I do want to tell you that when I bought my first vintage fountain pen, there is not only a beautiful story attached to it, but that owning a phenomenal vintage fountain pen is a pride and a top pen in my collection. Talk about a happy ending!

As mentioned before, the pen is a vintage Pelikan 400 black striped. My gut tells me that the black striped editions are less common. The Pelikan 400 was produced from 1955 to 1956. By today’s standards, the Pelikan 400 is a small and light pen. The cap is a twist cap that just doesn’t need a full turn to open the pen. At the top of the cap we find Pelikan’s two chick logo in green. The gold plated clip is shaped like the beak of a pelikan, clearly recognizable. The cap has a metal inner cap. The cap has a gold band on the opening side with ‘PELIKAN 400 +’ engraved on it. These engraved bands were not produced by Pelikan until 1955. The cap is actually a metal cap surrounded by celluloid. The cap can be safely used in a posted way. I think the pen, when posted, looks luxurious and fits well in the hand with a perfect balance.

The black striped barrel has no trims. You have to look closely to see the black alternating stripes in the barrel. Between the stripes you can see the ink reservoir. The inside of the barrel includes the piston filler mechanism which is operated by a knob at the end of the barrel. On the barrel, just in front of the rotary knob, is engraved ‘GUNTHER WAGNER GERMANY PELIKAN 400’. In 1871 Wagner took over the Pelikan company. The Pelikan was the symbol of his family crest.

The barrel that serves as an ink reservoir can hold a significant amount of ink. Filling the pen by means of the piston is a piece of cake.

The nib is a gold 14 carat fine nib.In this case, it’s a script nib. The nib is provided with ink by an ebonite feed. This ebonite feed has four slits. From the information I have gathered, I noticed something strange. This ebonite feed only appears on productions from 1950 to 1954. The cap with engraved band was only produced from 1955 onwards. Is something not right here? What could be the possible causes:

• the information I have is not correct?
• Has there been an overlap in production?
• This cap does not belong to this pen?

So dear reader, if you are a Pelikan connoisseur or think you know the cause of this, please let me know, thank you.

The most important thing about a pen review is to assess the writing performance of the pen. If you will allow me to use one word for this: joyful! Although the pen feels slightly scratchy, the flex it offers is incredible, knowing that this is a fine nib. Obtaining the flex requires almost no effort. The ink flow is very good and I didn’t experience any problems with skipping or bad starts. In other words, this pen offers a satisfying writing performance.

As a general conclusion, I can say that this pen belongs to the absolute top in my pen collection. I dare to say that this pen is highly regarded within vintage enthusiasts, this is almost inevitable. Take into account the zeitgeist in which this pen was produced, Pelikan must have stunned the pen world. Worse still, the plans to bring this pen to market were already finished at the end of the 1930s, but due to the Second World War, this could not be implemented until 1955. Knowing that I only paid 40 euros for this pen and overcame the doubt to buy second-hand, I literally and figuratively did a golden business.

I hope you enjoyed this review and the story surrounding it. What are your experiences with vintage pens, how do you situate the Pelikan 400 in this?

Otto Hutt design 04

I see them so often on the internet: the Otto Hutt fountain pens. They get a lot of praise and in my own humble opinion I think they are beautiful and special. I have been in possession of an Otto Hutt Design 04, unboxed, for a long time, since November 2021. Now it’s time to unravel and test this mystery.