Pelikan 120 Id And Nib Question

[tgos3]

Greetings --

 

I have 2 Pelikan 120 pens bought in the late 1980s/early 1990s, sold with Pelikan medium Italic gold plated steel nibs.

 

I stoned the original nibs into unusability in my attempt to create a glass smooth steel nib. This was in the days before micromesh. I replaced the original nibs with Senator nibs, which were sold to me as the available direct replacements (ealy 1990s). I ruined those as well, although one still functions. I tried using a a Senator nib on a feed that came on a German FP bought from Nishimura (excellent cheap FP) but the (thinner) threads are too loose and it leaks.

 

So finally my question: from the pictures, can someone tell me if this is a "Pelikan Calligraphy Pen" by M&K, or a 'real' Pelikan 120, and which available nibs, if any will fit it. I have sentimental attachment to the pens ('they were a slave when I were a slave') but not enough to buy a Binder nib or similar expense. I'm interested in inexpensive Italic M or F equivalent to what I have now. My handwriting with standard nibs is dangerously illegible, but my Italic cursive is at least usable, after >30 years of practice.

 

Thanks for this wonderful website, which contains the photos and narrative description that gave me the courage to disassemble and fix my Omas Milord (Trafford Italicized) when there were no repairs available in the USA. I have been reading and lurking for many months, and learned a lot.

 

My 'real' Italicized pens never leave the house.

 

[whych]

The pens ARE M&K 120's.

The feed should press out of the collar and allow you to replace the nib with another nib, using the existing feed and collar.

Some of the old Bock nibs will fit.

[ANM]

Once the nib is removed from the feed and collar, modern M200 and M400 nibs will fit in the old collar with the old feed. Finding original nibs without the pen attached is tough.

Edited August 27, 2014 by ANM

[tgos3]

thanks very much for the info. I think when i put the Senator nib in the "German" feed, that's the procedure I used. It was around 1990 or 91, so my memory is hazy. I just looked in my 'box' o broken pens' and the Nishimura pen that the 'wrong' feed came out of was an "EK Design" "Germany" pen. IIRC the problem with the Senator nibs was that they were glued into the collar and feed...I will soon know, now that you have told me i can fit something else into the Pelikan feed/collar.

[tgos3]

In case someone else is in the same situation, here's what seems to have worked.

Since I will never buy a Senator pen, and the Senator feed doesn't fit my "Pelikan 120", I sacrificed the collar and feed of the Senator nib. I tried to pull or twist the collar off, and it didn't work, so I sawed a small slit and then pried off the pieces of collar. The nib has some retention ribs on it, and I think might have had the collar injection molded over it.

I needed to press out the retention ribs using a small electronics needlenose plier, then the Senator nib could be fit into the Pelikan collar and feed.

I screwed it in, filled the pen with Quink, and away it went.

The point (stoned by me in my comparative youth) writes like a cursive Italic, but handles like a formal italic -- very picky about position. I think i will refrain from messing with it further. 'The perfect is the enemy of the good'. It isn't anywhere near as comfy and nice as my custom Italics, but i won't be scared to take it out of the house.

 

Thanks so very much for the info, folks.