Adding To The Flock

[DilettanteG]

@inkstainedruth completest = expensive. I don’t know why having the entire manufacturer’s line up of a specific model line is so satisfying to me. It just gives a warm fuzzy feeling, illogical though it is. I have the same problem with different ink lines. And I love the Piccadilly Circus as it lets me put purple ink in it without fear of staining while still matching the pen. Pelikan could use more purple pens.
 

The Athens is actually much prettier in person. The translucent blue  and yellow combines to form a lovely sea green in places.  One of my favorite pens that I lucked into used from Mottishaw’s shop, I think? I bought some cheap acrylic pen display stands and my city series will be the first to fill them when they arrive.

 

And sticker shock is real. Unfortunately, everything I’ve avoided buying because the price tag was way too high at the time is now at least 50% more. i’m looking at you Mount Blanc Calligraphy Flex!

[DilettanteG]

Half of my fancy Christmas gift to me arrived a few days ago. After seeing @N1003U 's very pretty avatar photo and a bit of wrangling with my conscious over so much self indulgence, I scoured the internet for a M605 and K605 Black Tortoise set Special Edition. Scored the ballpoint from Altman Luggage, a site I'd never heard of before, but that had it on sale and let me use a 30% off promo code on top of that. Thanks Altman, whoever you are! The pen arrived I think two days later in perfect condition.

 

 

I've ordered the fountain pen from Dan Smith at The Nib Smith. The price even includes a Cursive Italic Grind on the in stock Broad nib! I've never ordered from him before and the reviews on FPN seem to be 'beautiful work, but slow and communication isn't his strong point.' So, the pen isn't scheduled to arrive until late January, early February. (Purchasing it with just a nib tune up would have been quicker, but I've been writing with my custom grinds by Richard Binder lately and I'd forgotten what a superior a product a nib mister can turn out.) Fingers crossed I don't regret the seven to nine week lead time. Until then my K605 will languish in loneliness without its partner/fraternal twin/ spouse/hetero life mate. Sad, but as long as it doesn't end up a widow.)

 

On a less cynical note, I really like the Black Tortoise bind. A lovely pattern and my first Pelikan Tortoise with silver colored fittings. 

 

[amberleadavis]

On 12/4/2023 at 4:45 PM, DilettanteG said:

Could have sworn I had an anthracite. Guess I’ll have to buy the Moonstone.

Love those!

[DilettanteG]

@amberleadavis Thanks, here's another one for you: Pelikan M205 Star Ruby with a Fine Nib

 

 

 

 

First Impressions: More sparkly in person, especially under artificial light. Performs exactly as it says on the label. A nice little lightweight pen. 

[N1003U]

On 12/16/2023 at 1:24 PM, DilettanteG said:

Half of my fancy Christmas gift to me arrived a few days ago. After seeing @N1003U 's very pretty avatar photo and a bit of wrangling with my conscious over so much self indulgence, I scoured the internet for a M605 and K605 Black Tortoise set Special Edition. Scored the ballpoint from Altman Luggage, a site I'd never heard of before, but that had it on sale and let me use a 30% off promo code on top of that. Thanks Altman, whoever you are! The pen arrived I think two days later in perfect condition.

 

 

I've ordered the fountain pen from Dan Smith at The Nib Smith. The price even includes a Cursive Italic Grind on the in stock Broad nib! I've never ordered from him before and the reviews on FPN seem to be 'beautiful work, but slow and communication isn't his strong point.' So, the pen isn't scheduled to arrive until late January, early February. (Purchasing it with just a nib tune up would have been quicker, but I've been writing with my custom grinds by Richard Binder lately and I'd forgotten what a superior a product a nib mister can turn out.) Fingers crossed I don't regret the seven to nine week lead time. Until then my K605 will languish in loneliness without its partner/fraternal twin/ spouse/hetero life mate. Sad, but as long as it doesn't end up a widow.)

 

On a less cynical note, I really like the Black Tortoise bind. A lovely pattern and my first Pelikan Tortoise with silver colored fittings. 

 

I am pleased I could be such a bad influence. I must admit, they _are_ lovely pens.

[amberleadavis]

3 hours ago, DilettanteG said:

@amberleadavis Thanks, here's another one for you: Pelikan M205 Star Ruby with a Fine Nib

 

 

 

 

First Impressions: More sparkly in person, especially under artificial light. Performs exactly as it says on the label. A nice little lightweight pen. 

 

Very nice.

[DilettanteG]

5 hours ago, N1003U said:

I am pleased I could be such a bad influence. I must admit, they _are_ lovely pens.

you are leading by example.

 

I think the Pelikan Special Editions have become the default focus of my collection. Now if I can just frind a M800 Brown Tortoise or a M205 amethyst…

[DilettanteG]

Found a new special edition to collect and it has an INK WINDOW! Say hello to my 2011 101N:

 

 

[Misfit]

@DilettanteG nice photography on the Golden Beryl pen. The sparkles are obvious. Glad your Moonstone arrived. I found it hard to catch its sparkle in photographs. 

[DilettanteG]

@misfit it’s hard to get that shimmer in photos. I’m glad they came out considering it’s usually me balancing a pen on an open journal trying to frame the shot with my iphone in the opposite hand, before coffee…

[Lam1]

3 hours ago, DilettanteG said:

Found a new special edition to collect and it has an INK WINDOW! Say hello to my 2011 101N:

 

 

 

Congrats! The M101N are, IMO, among the best modern Pelikans!

You seem to be on a roll!! 😁

[DilettanteG]

@Lam1 I think you may be on to something there. 👍
 

Though, I’m going to try and slow my roll a little bit. I just did a year’s worth of buying in the last month! Having said that, the rest of the 101Ns are definitely on my wish list.

[carola]

The (M)101Ns ARE pretty cool, aren´t they? I had been thinking about the all red M101N a lot and I also had the chance to see it in person, but I simply couldn´t make up my mind whether I really wanted it. I would have liked the M101N Lizard, but then got me the 101N Lizard instead. Somehow I still would like to have both, but decided to be reasonable and stick with the vintage one as a single child. The Lizard has a cousin, the 101N Tortoise, and those two are the ones I really wanted and got. With one exception, one that I would love to own but probably never will: the 101N Toledo. I am afraid I may put that one on my wish list as much as I like, this probably isn´t going to happen. *sigh

[inkstainedruth]

I know how you feel....  

At an early pen show I went to a talk that Rick Propas gave about collecting Pelikan pens and some of the vintage ones he had were just drop dead gorgeous.  And of course WAAAAAAY more than I can afford.  And I say that as a person whose two most expensive pens are modern M405s (the Stresemann and a blue black).

Heck, I get nosebleeds just at the prices of the M620 pens.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[senzen]

On 11/29/2023 at 9:43 AM, alfredop said:

Found a M625 at the last Bologna penshow at a good price (not cheap, but good):

 

 

Alfredo

 

Wow, I don't think I'd never seen a Pelikan section not made of plastic, very nice.

[DilettanteG]

2 hours ago, carola said:

The (M)101Ns ARE pretty cool, aren´t they? I had been thinking about the all red M101N a lot and I also had the chance to see it in person, but I simply couldn´t make up my mind whether I really wanted it. I would have liked the M101N Lizard, but then got me the 101N Lizard instead. Somehow I still would like to have both, but decided to be reasonable and stick with the vintage one as a single child. The Lizard has a cousin, the 101N Tortoise, and those two are the ones I really wanted and got. With one exception, one that I would love to own but probably never will: the 101N Toledo. I am afraid I may put that one on my wish list as much as I like, this probably isn´t going to happen. *sigh

The 101N Toledo is a really impressive grail pen!

 

The M101N was not a pen I was considering as I thought the M6xx series was my cinderella pen. Then I bought that Tortoiseshell brown on impulse and I think I like it even more than my M6xx pens. Fortunately, there's only five in that series to collect, so I hopefully won't go too bananas like I have with the M20X demonstrators.

 

The vintage 101Ns are just exquisite and I'd love to have some of those flexy nibs. However, I buy pretty much everything sight unseen over the internet and getting the modern pens new in the box is just such a low risk transaction. 

[N1003U]

13 hours ago, DilettanteG said:

@Lam1 I think you may be on to something there. 👍
 

Though, I’m going to try and slow my roll a little bit. I just did a year’s worth of buying in the last month! Having said that, the rest of the 101Ns are definitely on my wish list.

Of the M101Ns I have seen in person, I think you have the most attractive of them. The Lizard is a close second, but those are getting hard to find at reasonable price. I have the Blue grey and the red flecked ones, and if I added the brown-green tortoise like yours, I would be satisfied.

 

I am starting to pare down my flock a little bit by giving some birds up for adoption. I have reached the limit of pens I can use in an annual rotation, so I am moving to a roughly "one pen in, one pen out" acquisition mode. Now that I have the Red-White M600, I don't even care about finding a Pink Pen anymore.

[DilettanteG]

3 hours ago, N1003U said:

Of the M101Ns I have seen in person, I think you have the most attractive of them. The Lizard is a close second, but those are getting hard to find at reasonable price. I have the Blue grey and the red flecked ones, and if I added the brown-green tortoise like yours, I would be satisfied.

 

I am starting to pare down my flock a little bit by giving some birds up for adoption. I have reached the limit of pens I can use in an annual rotation, so I am moving to a roughly "one pen in, one pen out" acquisition mode. Now that I have the Red-White M600, I don't even care about finding a Pink Pen anymore.

That sounds entirely too sensible. 😆

 

Sounds like the Lizard M101N is next on my list I think I'm going to try and gamify collecting the M101Ns. I'm planning on making them rewards when I reach some goals in 2024. Guess I better get disciplined.

 

I also have more pens than I can reasonably use, so I bought another pen chest. I've also got some more pen stands on order so I can at least decorate my office with the ones I'm not currently using. How it looks so far:

 

 

 

I've thinned the herd in the past, but I'm realizing I'll probably never spend that much time on acquisition and modification again. I have some broken pens that could probably stand to be rehomed. We'll see how much time I have as I work on the house and the horses this year.

 

[N1003U]

1 hour ago, DilettanteG said:

That sounds entirely too sensible. 😆

 

Sounds like the Lizard M101N is next on my list I think I'm going to try and gamify collecting the M101Ns. I'm planning on making them rewards when I reach some goals in 2024. Guess I better get disciplined.

 

I also have more pens than I can reasonably use, so I bought another pen chest. I've also got some more pen stands on order so I can at least decorate my office with the ones I'm not currently using. How it looks so far:

 

 

 

I've thinned the herd in the past, but I'm realizing I'll probably never spend that much time on acquisition and modification again. I have some broken pens that could probably stand to be rehomed. We'll see how much time I have as I work on the house and the horses this year.

 

Oooh...nice display!

 

That warms my heart to see so many lovely M6xxs in one place...and prominently displayed...

 

[jmccarty3]

On 12/19/2023 at 8:22 PM, DilettanteG said:

Found a new special edition to collect and it has an INK WINDOW! Say hello to my 2011 101N:

 

 

This and the blue M101N are two that I would love to add to my collection. Too bad they're only available in M nibs.