Pelikan 500 Sea Green

[rhr2010]

I sourced a Pelikan 500 with body not tortoise but green. It was a mess, with steel nib and turning knob frozen up. Furniture was perfect though and seller accepted my low offer. Yesterday I got the pen and I was so excited that I spent a couple of hours last night restoring it ad now it is one of my favorite. I installed a correct OB nib and it is just plain great pen. I will try and take some photos tonight, but with my poor macro photography skills, I am afraid it will be difficult to see real color etc. However, I am very puzzled by the color. It is fantastic, it is a strong green, very intense, almost blueish, kind of a modern Pelikan Moonlight Raden. Now I am suspicious that the color is the result of some chemical reaction and not the original Pelikan color. Color does not was away with water, ammonia, dish soap etc, it is not painted, no extra layers on the outside or inside, I took apart the entire pen and extracted piston and the pen appears totally normal. However, the turning knob end and section if you look carefully are of the brown type as well as the logo at the top of the cap. Now, it would be easy to swap a turning knob and a cap, but not so easy to swap a brown section onto a green body, right? Also, I see some hint of brown in the binde. Can this be a tortoise that underwent some chemical/physical reaction that turned it into a wonderful green? Which color should be section and end of turning knob of a seagreen 500? Whatever it is, the color is fantastic! One of the most intriguing Pelikan greens! I will see if I can post photos.

[joss]

a Pelikan 500 with vibrant green-blueish colours? You make me very curious to see pictures of that pen ...

 

Are you sure that it is a vintage Pelikan 500 and not a modern one with gold cap? I would not describe the colour of the seagreen 500 as being vibrant, it is dark green and black. If I remember well the section and upper part of turning knob is black. Turning knob itself has a gold sheet. Is there an imprint "Pelikan 500 Günther Wagner Germany" on the top of the barrel (just below the turning knob)?

[rhr2010]

Thank you Joris, it is for sure a vintage pen. I have a tortoise Pelikan 500 as well, and this is exactly the same pen. It has the imprint "GUNTER WAGNER PELIKAN" just under the turning knob that is indeed covered by gold sheet. It came to me in original box. Feed and collar were intect, but somebody put in there a worthless steel nib (non Pelikan). Other than that and a frozen knob, the pen was in very good shape, no brassing and it was in original box. However, the color is very puzzling to me. I will try and take some photo tonight. It is a green-bluish, but the section is brown, as well as top of the cap and end of turning knob. I really like the color, but I suspect maybe it was stained chemically or physically with UV radiation? I would assume nobody would go to the trouble of swapping a section of a Pelikan 500. The pen was in rough shape, it was in US, but box and instructions are in German, so it was brought here at some point. When I look at the pen, the light reflections make me think of mother of pearl, Raden, green-bluish. Since I see some brownish in some small spots on the binde, maybe it was stained by very aggressive ink? Whatever it was, the result is great.

[Bo Bo Olson]

My tortoise '90-96 400, has the darkest brown I ever saw...thought it was black until put next to a black pen and stared at.

 

There are Pelikans with more normal brown parts.

 

Hurray, after staring at the section for some 10-20 seconds, next to a black pen...yep the section is 'brown' too.

I'd swore it was black.

[ele]

I think I remember seeing it on ebay. It looked like a black stained barrel there to me...

[rhr2010]

My theory is that the pen was tortoise and stained by blue ink (blue+yellowish=green). However, pen was washed in water and ammonia and dishwasher soap and left to soak for hours. Photos do not do justice of the colors of the pen that in daylight resembles green mother of pearl. I put next to it my standard Pelkan 500.

[Rick Propas]

I'm going to take a guess on this one that somehow ink got between the barrel and the binde to stain it that iridescent greenish color, especially as the section is brown. Other possibilities would include a really intriguing lunchtime project. Or a successful dye job. But the greatest likelihood is staining.

[amble63]

Whatever happened to it, it's beautiful.

[rhr2010]

I'm going to take a guess on this one that somehow ink got between the barrel and the binde to stain it that iridescent greenish color, especially as the section is brown. Other possibilities would include a really intriguing lunchtime project. Or a successful dye job. But the greatest likelihood is staining.

 

Thank you Rick. I would bet you are right, but it is strange that the green is uniform. Somebody must have submerged all the pen in ink. I examined the pen outside and inside even with piston out and there was no damage, cracks etc. The piston seal was still good and I didn't have to change it. The piston was mechanically frozen, but no ink there. Ink might have travelled by capillarity between the entire binde/barrel surface. Whatever is the story of the pen, I like it and it is in my rotation!

 

 

 

[rhr2010]

Whatever happened to it, it's beautiful.

 

 

Thank you, I feel the same way.

 

 

[ScottieDarin]

I somehow find the stained colour more attractive than its original hue. This one is on my next-pen hunting list

[Bo Bo Olson]

They have a Bay State Green?

[KenS]

I'm in the camp that believes that whatever happened, resulted in a very attractive pen.

 

Enjoy your good fortune!