Search the Community

A very kind person and friend in Chennai, India sourced this pen for me. The P381 aka the "New Classic" was apparently produced between 1992 to 1995 as per this source. link I had heard from some friends that the pens were being sold for really cheap in markets like Singapore. Anyway I came to know that recently the pens had started to become available in Chennai as well, so I requested my friend to enquire which he did. I got the pens for a really good price from the Chennai market, almost too good for a gold nib pen, IMO. The only issue was that only one color, the Vintara-green was available, that too in Broad. Now broad is a nib size that I prefer so I said OK. The pens arrived yesterday. I inked one up today and here is the review: The pens are made of brass with a lacquer coating and gold plated trim. All the Pelikan elements are present, Pelikan logo on cap top, beak clip, and the trim at the ends... It is a slim pen, nearly 5 1/2 inches capped, slightly more than 6 inches with cap posted and nearly 8mm at the ribbed gripping section. The pen employs the Pelikan C/C system, one converter was included. http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/Pelikan-P381-B-Green/IMG_8991.jpg http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/Pelikan-P381-B-Green/IMG_8992.jpg http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/Pelikan-P381-B-Green/IMG_8993.jpg The nib: http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/Pelikan-P381-B-Green/IMG_9004.jpg http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/Pelikan-P381-B-Green/IMG_9006.jpg http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/Pelikan-P381-B-Green/IMG_9005.jpg The pen's ends http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/Pelikan-P381-B-Green/IMG_8996.jpg Nib width sticker: http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/Pelikan-P381-B-Green/IMG_8999.jpg Ergonomics: Due to my grip, any pen and any size is comfortable for me. This is a slim pen but comparatively heavy at 26gms capped and 18gms without cap. Due to the length I like to use it unposted. First inking: I put in Pelikan Turquoise first, the flow was good initially but it tapered and became sad. I found that the feeder was not conducting properly. Had to remove everything, clean and refit, I then used Waterman's Green after the refit and everything seems to be ok now. Ink still tends to stick to the converter walls maybe it will take some more exposure to the ink to stop this tendency. hopefully. The nib disassembled: http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/Pelikan-P381-B-Green/IMG_9008.jpg It is a tiny 23mm nib, made of very thin sheet of gold. Some writing samples: http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/Pelikan-P381-B-Green/IMG_9009.jpg http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/Pelikan-P381-B-Green/IMG_9010.jpg Line variation: http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/Pelikan-P381-B-Green/IMG_9011.jpg I hope people considering purchase will find this useful. Cheers! Hari