Pelikan 100N With Factory Bbb Nib

July 31, 2018

So this happened....such an amazing nib. I have never seen a factory BBB that also had the nib size imprinted on the piston turning knob. Super flex too.....

What do you guys think~

July 31, 2018

Yay! Those are super awesome, wide, smooth, crisp, wet, springy/flexy/responsive and everything else that is good in the fountainpendom... on the broad side that is.

For my 100N "script" style nibs... I have two earlier unmarked BBB nibs, and one BB & B (both marked accordingly so a bit later).

The B is the most practical, BB is a bit more fun while still being usable. I currently have that one in one of my EDC pens, great for titles/headlines and well, general use too.

The BBBs... well, they are the most fun but as they are both wide as a spade and wet to boot they are completely ridiculous for everyday use (nominal line width is about 1.5 - 1.6mm and both go up to 2mm and more when flexed). This combined with a wet and generous flow, well, if you want to write very big and bold letters fast, yeah, those are your ticket.

The only piston units that I have that are marked are B. No BB or BBB, sadly.

On that note, how much tipping does that nib have? The BBBs I have are a bit on the slim side but it seems that they were made so (tipping profiles are crisp on both so it is not due to wear).

Edited July 31, 2018 by mana

July 31, 2018

juicy addictive.

July 31, 2018

Vintage German nibs are on the whole 1/2 a width narrower than modern.

My impression was that was one real skinny BBB. Real skinny.....looked BB to me.

I have a picture of what I guess is a BBBB.....but none of a BBB. That nib shown in the video is one a hell of a lot thinner than the BBBB.

A '30's Osmia Supra Deluxe....a grail pen of mine....once the Lottery Fairy comes .A real signature pen.

I have a cheap Manuscript pen with a italic BBBB....only good for writing big headings on the top of a page.

I have a 100n, superflex left foot F....not marked. Easy Full Flex, 5 X tine spread, that strive to keep at 4 X in order not to stress and eventually spring the nib. (Mark in your mind, what ever you 'test' a superflex nib to, and stay one width under that.)

I have an unmarked because they didn't mark the nib in '50-54* 500 with what I guess is a OBBB maxi-semi-flex and a 30 degree grind...unmarked because they would have had to ruin the rolled gold barrel or piston cap overlays. .................that is un-usable except for signatures......2/3rds to 3/4ths a page for a legal signature.

I have a couple vintage semi/maxi OBB's and a couple modern regular flex OBB ones...a pre'97 small 600 and a 1005. One of my two vintage OBB's is actually an OB 1/2. Have a '36 Parker Canadian nail nib is factory BB stub, and a Australian made Sheaffer Snorkel with a factory stub BB in maxi-semi-flex.

That's why I think that BBB is rather narrow.

All the nibs with semi-flex or more, were stubs. Some companies were cheaper with the 'iridium' than others. One of my Osmia OBB's...don't recollect if I have two of them or not. Has only a small flat pad of 'Osmium' in the middle of the nib....nothing to the sides that I can see. Works just fine.

Then like now 'Iridium/Osmium' was much more expensive than gold........which might well be why the Germans stayed with stubs to '65-70, in it was cheaper to make than the American Bump Under style nibs.

Well Lamy making nails were using the bump under nibs.

With the 400's Pelikan on the whole imprinted the nib size on the barrel '50-54. I have a '54 'transition' 400. Pelikan on the cap ring, and size on the nib instead of the barrel. The '55 400n had that, as did the 400nn. The 400's before that had nothing on the cap ring, nor size on the nib....just the barrel.

My post war 100n, has no size marking. My maxi-semi-flex post war Ibis OF is on the barrel. The 100n and Ibis were still made until 1954.

Edited July 31, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

July 31, 2018

Will need to take pics of the nibs I have (with measurements) later today.

July 31, 2018

Ok, here goes... last two are unmarked but their line widths put them in the BBB category. Nowhere near that monster of a nib that Bo Bo posted (and somewhat slimmer than I remembered) but plenty wide enough for me.

July 31, 2018

Mana, your BB nibs look at least as wide as the thought to be BBB, from what I could see.

It is possible there had been a nib change. I have ....what luck I didn't have...I had won an 400 OM, and then shortly later another 400 in OB. Then the disappointment, it wrote only as wide as the OM. So I now have two 400 OM's.

Some one had swapped nibs. The '50-54 were body marked....mostly.

I do have a '54 transition 400 semi-flex B, nib marked, cap ring stamped Pelikan. Like the later 400n, 400nns.

That slight difference in the roundness of the piston is not all that much. I'd bought it as a 400n. In it was tortoise, I didn't get too upset when I found the cap was too short to be a 400n.

The 400nn's cap is only 400 long, and is a medium-long pen. The 400n is standard, but posts as long as the 400nn, from what I understand....with the longer cap. Like a 140 posted is as long as the standard posted 400.

That 100n, does have a real nice superflex nib though.