What breed of Pelikan is this?

[paulandreg]

Hi, I really hope this isn't a dumb quetion - but can anybody help me identify this pen please. It 'feels' 50's or 60's. Has a blue window and a small white dot with a green circle on the barrel base. Nib is 14ct/585 gold Pelikan. The cap has "Faber-Castell" inscribed on it, but the clip and nib seem to be Pelikan. Were these 2 companies ever partnered together? Many thanks, Paul in Singapore.

Images are here:

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m163/pa...kanMysteryA.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m163/pa...kanMysteryB.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m163/pa...kanMysteryC.jpg

[mike1]

I have no idea, but it surely is a pretty pen.

[Rick Propas]

It's hard to tell from photos, but the pen appears to be a marriage of a Pelikan 140 nib and cap to a Faber barrel, commonly called a "Frankenpen."

[paulandreg]

Rick, Many thanks for answering. You are the Pelikan guru. If I may, can you help me ID this Pelikan too. It's quite a bit chunkier than a 120 or a 140 but with no visible numbers. Though it does have "QC.16" on the barrel and "Pelikan DRP" above the clip. Many thanks, Paul

[superfly]

It's hard to tell from photos, but the pen appears to be a marriage of a Pelikan 140 nib and cap to a Faber barrel, commonly called a "Frankenpen."

Yep, It looks like the 140's nib, but I don't see the width mark? F, EF e.t.c.

 

 

Nenad

[Rick Propas]

Nenad, not all Pelikan nibs have the width marked. I sare say, half do not.

[Rick Propas]

Paul, as far as your pen, that one kinda beats the heck outta me. It clearly has Pelikan elements, and I suspect that the cap band is an added "overlay," but the rest??

[Kalessin]

The Faber-Castell/Pelikan may be a little more mysterious than it looks. The cap shape is that of a Pelikan 140 (though with a shorter cap-top), as is the nib design, clip design (including thickness of the metal), and the cap band. However, the section isn't flared out by the nib like a 140, and instead has the exact shape of the section from the 1970's Pelikan 120 made by Merz & Krell. The cap threads are the same as the Pelikan 140 (or actually may be a bit longer than on 140's). Pelikan 120/140 ink windows are all green, as far as I know.

 

I'm wondering if there's any possibility this was [a] a licensed design or a prototype or [c] a fake. hmmm... I wonder what happens when a magnet is held near the nib?

Edited October 5, 2006 by Kalessin

[superfly]

Nenad, not all Pelikan nibs have the width marked. I sare say, half do not.

Thanks Rick, Im still a newb, and I have two 140's both with marked nibs. Good to know,, otherwise, Id stayed away from those

 

 

Nenad

 

p.s. are 1970's Pelikan 120 made by Merz & Krell good pens? Gold nib and all?

[Oxonian]

Hi Nenad,

 

I can't say anything in particular about the Pelikan 120's that were made by Merz & Krell but ,if they were as well made as the Diplomat and the Senator ranges of the day, then they were well made, reliable and in general very nice all round pens. The gold plated trim on the cheaper Senators wasn't too hot but some of the cheaper Pelikans had the same trouble.

 

IMO M&K pens were at least as well made as anything Pelikan or anyone else was doing at the time relative to price level. As I am posting that comment in a Pelikan centred forum I am now ducking waiting for the incomingcomments.

 

The cap on your pen looks very much like the Senator cap on one of my 1950's pens as far as shape and proportion goes; to be clear though there were many makers like Tropen and Osmia amongst a host of smaller, some unbranded makers at the time that used the same shaped caps; the thick and heavy looking cap band however is a new one on me, although some of M&K's top range Diplomat pens in the 50's and early 60's went in for serious cap bands none of those that I have had or seen were quite that heavy.

 

Sorry not to be of more help and best of luck with the research into your pen.

 

Cheers, John

[paulandreg]

I held a magnet to the nib - and fortunately, nothing happened. Cheers, Paul

[Kaweco]

Hi Paul

I have got it! It`s a Castellican!

To come back to reality: Pelikan and Faber had no joint ventures. The combination of cap and barrel is incidental, just curious if the screw really fits. I tried several combinationes and it never screws in. I had never seen the white dot at the end of a Faber barrel. It looks like a repaired blind cap.

Kind Regards

Thomas

[Kalessin]

p.s. are 1970's Pelikan 120 made by Merz & Krell good pens? Gold nib and all?

I have a 70's Mertz & Krell 120. There's no clue to who made the nib, it's simple with just a Pelikan symbol, a 14K mark, and an M for medium.

 

The gold plating must have been very thin, it's completely worn off the clip and cap ring except for a few faint traces on the clip.

 

The M nib is actually a bit more towards fine, and it's a somewhat dry writer, so it's perfectly suited for my Moleskine notebook. It's also smooth with just a helpful bit of toothiness and a joy to write with.

 

It was leaking a little bit around the base of the nib when I bought it for $25 or so in the mid-late 1990s, but not long after I joined FPN a few months ago, I unscrewed the nib unit from the pen, soaked the threads in water, reassembled, and the leaking stopped.

Edited October 5, 2006 by Kalessin