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A picture to show the detail of these green pens’ caps & nibs. The 1990/91 M800 has an ‘M’ nib that is marked with the ‘Eagle’s head’ French assay mark for 18k gold, and the Swiss(?) ‘PF’ stamp too; The 1954 400 has one of the ‘script’ nibs, marked ‘F’ It has a beautifully-crisp italic grind, which is very similar to that of the ‘F’ nib on my modern Pilot Plumix - except that it also flexes a bit Pelikan has not made nibs like this for decades now - so anyone who asks to borrow this pen or nib is, in essence, testing my fool-pitying skills The 450 pencil is how I am confident that the 400 (& it) date to 1954. I bought them as a set. Various elements on the pen indicate that it is from late 1953 or early 1954. I assumed that the pencil would take leads of 1.18mm calibre, so paid a lot of money for some hand-made leads from Yard-o-Led, only to find that they won’t fit in to my 450! I then bought some cheap 0.9mm calibre leads, and those do fit in to my 450. I have downloaded a copy of the 1953 Pelikan catalogue. Only 1.18mm calibre leads are mentioned in it. So I doubt that my 450 dates to 1953. I also have a downloaded copy of the 1955 Pelikan catalogue. That one mentions that there are two versions of the 450; one that takes 1.18mm calibre lead, and one that takes 0.9mm calibre leads.

This is one view of the pens (& pencil) I own that would definitely be meet for inclusion in ‘Green Pen club’. They are: my 1990/91 Pelikan M800; my 1954 Pelikan 400; my 1954 Pelikan 450 pencil. Neither the fascinating chatoyance of the pens’ green stripes, nor the exemplary clarity of their barrels, really shows up very well on this photograph. I blame the numpty who took the photo!

These pens might be considered acceptable for ‘Green Pen Club’, or they might not be. They are: my Parker “51” aerometric in ‘Navy Grey’, from Q3 of 1954; my Lamy Safari in 2017 LE ‘Petrol’; my Lamy Al-Star in 2023 LE ‘Petrol’. As you can see even on this rubbish photo, under my fluorescent kitchen lighting the anodised finish on the Petrol Al-Star appears profoundly different to the matte plastic of the Petrol Safari. In actual daytime sunlight (which isn’t ‘due’ here until March) their colours are very similar.