A very Special M800

[jpr]

Thanks again for the wonderful comments.

I know the pen has been used but I haven't crossed over to the inking stage yet.

Still in the holding and examining portion of the honeymoon.

This is the reason for my not posting a writing sample so far.

[penmanila]

jp, could you tell us more about the rarity of this pen--how many were made and why is it so hard to find? (and looking forward to your 75th anniversary pelikan, ha ha!)

[jpr]

As I understand it, when the M800 was first introduced and produced in the late '80's,

the tortoiseshell was part of the first few runs and was done in very very low numbers

( I don't really know how many were produced).

When the M800 took off commercially, the early examples became somewhat collectible.

The tortoiseshell being, IMO, the most collectible. Subsequently, early adopters of the

M800 tortoiseshell knew they had a winner and kept them either as collectible or as their

users and weren't all that willing to part with them.

[penmanila]

ah, i see, thanks! that makes it even more interesting (and valuable, to me), to have been part of an initial production run rather than to have been as some kind of limited or special edition. a rarity indeed!

[Bill Smith]

Congratulations on finding the holy grail of M800s, the Tortoise M800 is on my wish list but it will be a while before I get around to finding one.

[Jason Oliver]

Indubitable Pelikan quality.

 

(But I love silver trim models better.)

 

 

...yeah, what about an M805 tortoise?

[Rick Propas]

The trick is getting them to do anything in tortoise in the 800 size again. Even though it would wipe out a corner of my business, I wish they would do it.

 

Though, in my personal opinion, a tortoise with silver trim would look dissonant.

 

Indubitable Pelikan quality.

 

(But I love silver trim models better.)

 

 

...yeah, what about an M805 tortoise?

[tanburi]

 

...a tortoise with silver trim would look dissonant.

 

Indubitable Pelikan quality.

 

(But I love silver trim models better.)

 

 

...yeah, what about an M805 tortoise?

 

I agree. Indeed my own dissonance with the 'goldy' models somewhat quiets down with the tortoise line.

Edited November 21, 2009 by tanburi

[jpr]

imo, the golden brown shade of the tortoise blends well with gold furniture and would not lend itself

well to silver trim.

[drifting]

The trick is getting them to do anything in tortoise in the 800 size again. Even though it would wipe out a corner of my business, I wish they would do it.

Rick, have they ever articulated to you just what that reluctance is? There always seems to be a lot of interest on these boards, but I still kick myself over not snapping up a new G-K M400 tortoise in 2006(?) when German FPN members reported them launguishing in clearance displays for 80 Euros or less (the price gets lower and lower in my memory as the years pass and my regret grows ). Apparently, they just weren't selling. Well, until there weren't any more of them, of course, and you, of all people, know how that turned out. Are they worried about producing an M800 people won't buy?

 

Ryan.

[MVice78]

That IS a beautiful pen and I know someday I should add a tortoise to my collection. In the meantime I hope to be equally enamored by the M1000 I will be getting from Mr. Rick Propas

[Rick Propas]

Ryan,

 

Exactly. The price, by the way was 99€. They were "blown out" by Kaufhof.

 

Rick

 

The trick is getting them to do anything in tortoise in the 800 size again. Even though it would wipe out a corner of my business, I wish they would do it.

Rick, have they ever articulated to you just what that reluctance is? There always seems to be a lot of interest on these boards, but I still kick myself over not snapping up a new G-K M400 tortoise in 2006(?) when German FPN members reported them launguishing in clearance displays for 80 Euros or less (the price gets lower and lower in my memory as the years pass and my regret grows ). Apparently, they just weren't selling. Well, until there weren't any more of them, of course, and you, of all people, know how that turned out. Are they worried about producing an M800 people won't buy?

 

Ryan.

[Minimax]

What a beauty! Congratulations!

 

Too rare to be seen, the tortoise shell M800 is one of my dreaming pens... Wondering if you could share more pictures of your loving beauty...

[chainwhip]

Wow! Congrats on your find - truly special! Did yours come with a matching pencil? Are there any marks on the nib (like "pf")?

[jpr]

No matching pencil for me since I specified to Rick that I didn't want a set, just the FP.

[dannzeman]

Holy smokes!

[Rick Propas]

What follows is my understanding of the production of the tortoise M800:

 

As I believe it to have happened, they produced a bunch of these around the late 1980s. They did not sell successfully and were, in fact, sold out finally through the company store for around 300 DM.

 

As far as I know, they produced only fountain pens and ballpoints.

 

I do, however, own a three piece set, fountain pen, ballpoint and pencil. However, the ballpoint and pencil look to have been what are often referred to as lunchtime projects.

 

Why they won't release more tortoise M800s is a mystery.

 

Wow! Congrats on your find - truly special! Did yours come with a matching pencil? Are there any marks on the nib (like "pf")?

[Ondina]

An absolute dream of a pen, who could.....Congratulations, a fabulous pen, nib and from the hands of Mr. Propas.

[capdek]

The brown tortoise is such a beautiful pen and your 800 has got to be one of the most beautiful and certainly one of the more rare tortoises.

I certainly agree with you on the beauty of the tortoise - I have two 400 tortoises in my little collection of Pels and they are truly wonderful to behold.

Congratulations on your find! And yet another thumbs up for Rick.

[Caneta]

this is Pelikans view on th tortoiseshell

 

Will the tortoiseshell colour become available again, either as a permanent product or a limited edition?

 

"Pelikan stated that they are aware the tortoiseshell colour was very popular and that they have considered producing it again. They stated that the material used to produce the tortoiseshell is especially made for Pelikan and that this results in extremely large minimum order quantities. Therefore, at the moment, it would not be economically viable to produce a run of pens which are able to be sold at a reasonable cost. They will reassess this often."

 

full article at http://www.nichepens.co.uk/acatalog/Pelikan_Factory_Visit.html