Uncommon Pelikan M200

[christof]

Well, last Saturday was flea market day and I catched an interesting pen. After the first look, I wanted to lay it back but then I detected that there was no inprint at the cap top. I have never seen that before, so I bought that pen.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7047/6955192753_0bf662117e_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7040/6955193055_d6dedba0fe_b.jpg

At home I flushed the pen and was quite surprised to discover this:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7053/6809083204_a6d677e114_b.jpg

It's a friction fit nib unit!

 

According to the Pelikan book of Dittmer&Lehman, there was a friction fit nib unit only for the very first time, when the Pelikan M400 was introduced in 1982. This was changed after a very short period to the screwed nib collar wich is still in use. I have to mention that the pen has the same dimensions as an M400.

 

So, what Pelikan pen is this exactly, and when was it made???

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7201/6809082826_4dd44a28c0_b.jpg

Edited March 6, 2012 by christof

[FPFan]

I have two of these. They were purchased in the 70's and are definately M150's. When they left making them in green, they went to a maroon color before finally settling on making them in black. I personally would love it if they would go back to making them green. But that definately means you got an older model. Cherish is the way I do mine. One of mine even had to go back to Chartpak once for a cap/clip repair and is just as good as new. Congratulations on a sweet find. What did you end up paying for it, if I may ask.

[christof]

Thanks a lot for your informations!

 

Can you confirm that the nib units on your pens are pluged also? And do your pens also miss the inprint on the captop?

The lenght of my pen is 127 mm caped. I thought that the M150 was a tad smaller, isn't it?

 

Thanks again for your help.

 

PS:

according to the Pelikan Book by Dittmer/Lehmann the

 

_ M150 was introduced in 1984

_ M200 was introduced in 1985, but black only

_ M200 was introduced in 1988 in green

 

but all of them were produced after the period of friction fit nib units.

Edited March 7, 2012 by christof

[TorPelikan]

I have one in black.

Gold plated nib unit is friction fit.

Captop Pelikan logo is missing but when I unscrewed the captop, I found a logo engraved on the inner captop.

 

Is this common for these pens?

 

 

added:

Mine is exactly the same size as usual M200/250.

Looks very similar to yours except black barrel color.

I believe it to be some variant of old M200.

 

 

Tor

Edited March 7, 2012 by TorPelikan

[pmn]

I believe the M150 from the 80´s differs mostly form your find in size.

I find it closer to the current M300 in size.

Here´s a pic of the one I used in the late 80s, it has the logo on the cap top and the gold plated nib.

 

A similar pen in the size of a 200? that's very interesting...

 

Edited to replace pic with one comparing to the 400.

Edited March 7, 2012 by pmn

[christof]

Captop Pelikan logo is missing but when I unscrewed the captop, I found a logo engraved on the inner captop.

Is this common for these pens?

 

I have not disassembled the cap yet, but will do tonight!

[christof]

I believe the M150 from the 80´s differs mostly form your find in size.

I find it closer to the current M300 in size.

Here´s a pic of the one I used in the late 80s, it has the logo on the cap top and the gold plated nib.

 

A similar pen in the size of a 200? that's very interesting...

 

It's not clearly visible on the picture, but yours seems to be an M150 with conical cap lip, right? Theese are smaller than M200.

[pmn]

It's not clearly visible on the picture, but yours seems to be an M150 with conical cap lip, right? Theese are smaller than M200.

Yes, that was my point, supporting the idea of an early M200.

[TorPelikan]

Here's some photos of old M200 and "Uncommon M200" under discussion side by side.

 

 

 

A few difference -

 

number of cap rings ----- double vs. single

captop logo ----- present vs. absent(or hidden)

nib unit fitting ----- screw vs. friction

ink window color ----- gray vs. green

 

 

 

Tor

[christof]

Here's some photos of old M200 and "Uncommon M200" under discussion side by side.

 

 

 

A few difference -

 

number of cap rings ----- double vs. single

captop logo ----- present vs. absent(or hidden)

nib unit fitting ----- screw vs. friction

ink window color ----- gray vs. green

 

 

 

Tor

 

Thanks a lot for your great help!!!

 

Yesterday evening I unscrewed the cap top, and surprise (!): there was an engraved blind cap hidden. So it seems that we definitely have the same pen - just in different colours. Perhaps this was an early pre-series for testing the market and customer reactions. Who knows.

 

Thanks again.

[christof]

Got a link to this catalog scan from FPN member TorPelikan:

 

So it seems that this pen was made for the Japanese Market. But still, it remains the question about the friction fit nib unit: Why did they manufactured two different systems at the same time?? (I have never heard of a M100 with this nib unit...)

Perhaps, we never will know...

 

FYI:

Because I do not collect Pelikans from this epoch, I will probably move this pen to the classifieds forum soon.

[christof]

Just to complete the informations:

 

The Pelikan 481 is dated to the year of 1984 in the book of dittmer & lehmann.

[jcho74]

This is very interesting.. I've had this model for several months (from ebay), for which i've been slowly trying to figure out its genealogy: blue marble, gray ink window, approx 127--130cm capped, gold band on the body at the base of the piston knob, one band at the cap base, and no logo on rounded cap top. Few weeks ago i decided to unscrew the top of the cap, to find a hidden logo on an inner cap end (in the style of old 400's)! That was a pleasant surprise. It has a screw-in gold-plated M steel nib. I still haven't found any description that matches this pen exactly and had decided it's either an unusual export model or one that's been put together with parts from other models. It is a beautiful, smooth writer -- amazing, really, for it's price (less than about 40 GBP). It is my EDC. I will soon be outfitting it with a 14C 140 KEF nib and have dubbed it my "Frankenstein's Monster": 140 nib, 200 barrel, '400-like' cap".

 

 

Here's some photos of old M200 and "Uncommon M200" under discussion side by side.

 

 

 

A few difference -

 

number of cap rings ----- double vs. single

captop logo ----- present vs. absent(or hidden)

nib unit fitting ----- screw vs. friction

ink window color ----- gray vs. green

 

 

 

Tor

 

Thanks a lot for your great help!!!

 

Yesterday evening I unscrewed the cap top, and surprise (!): there was an engraved blind cap hidden. So it seems that we definitely have the same pen - just in different colours. Perhaps this was an early pre-series for testing the market and customer reactions. Who knows.

 

Thanks again.

Edited May 9, 2012 by jcho74

[penspouse]

The blue marble would be an M200.