Pelikan 140 Vs Pelikan 400 / 400Nn Nib

February 11, 2017

Osmia or Osmia-Faber-Castell after 1950/51 are the nibs with the Diamond that are for sure semi-flex. If the nib don't say Osmia or Diamond with Faber-Castell it is not the nib I'm talking about.

Supra for maxi-semi-flex.

If you get a later mid '50's Osmia (three number...with less Osmia marking and more Faber-Castel on the pen) the plastic gasket should be OK.

Older cork Osmia or O-F-C pens might well need to be re-corked. When done by someone who uses British paraffin (a thick mineral oil) and beeswax....and then smears with silicon grease, should last 70 years. Marshal & Oldfield who have the best pen repair book, said Paraffin&beeswax is most slick....better than plastic gaskets. Certain early '50's MB pens are recommended by the two if the plastic 1.0 gasket needs replacing with the more modern '55 2.0 gasket that a properly prepared cork is even better.

@ the start of WW2 plastic gaskets 1.0 came in German Piston pens, cork didn't have to be imported and it was cheaper than cork. @ 1955 better plastic gaskets 2.0 came in....the old ones showed ware and the companies had to replace them. As far as I know those 1955 2.0 plastic gaskets are the ones in use today.

Osmia/O-F-C run some E/$20-30 more than Pelikan on German Ebay.

Even if the later Osmia have screw out nibs where you can put silicon grease in the pen your self, you should never go so low as to use O rings. It is not a Twisbi or Ahab which are made to take apart. By yanking any of the old Piston pens apart often, you will ruin them.

I would expect a standard Geha 790 (The Best Buy) to have a slightly better semi-flex than a Pelikan. It is lots cheaper. With great luck on German Ebay for 19E...30-40 or E-50 is more likely. It is as good as a Pelikan....at least. I have four. Pelikan 140 is running E-90-120 instead of the 50-70 of just a couple of years ago.

or the slightly more expensive 760 with the gold ring on the piston cap, which was the size of a 140....I don't have any. Every time I saw one....my wallet was empty. Medium small was IN in the mid '50-60s, the 140, 760 and Kaweco Dia.

Edited February 11, 2017 by Bo Bo Olson