Care Of Vintage Pelikans

[pschwartz]

I have two vintage Pelikans a 400 Tortoise and a 400N green striated. Love them both and use them regularly but often I will rest them for a month or two. I was wondering if after cleaning it might be good to leave them with a bit of water in so that they wouldnt dry out?

[OMASsimo]

Pelikan introduced the synthetic piston seal in 1942 and your pens are from the 1950s. So, there's no need to keep the piston wet. This is only important for piston fillers with a cork seal. On the other hand, it won't harm the pens either.

[Freddy]

I was wondering if after cleaning it might be good to leave them with a bit of water in so that they wouldnt dry out?

Serves no purpose......No....On a personal note....I don't do it......Never did.....even with cork seals...'cause if done correctly

no need....Again 'tis my personal opinion and others may differ...........

Fred

"Small screw make big noise."

Wayne Carini

Edited March 30, 2019 by Freddy

[pschwartz]

Thanks to both...and since I have you. Will these pens stand up well to regular use?

[Freddy]

Thanks to both...and since I have you. Will these pens stand up well to regular use?

I have been usin' Pelikan 100 and 100N and others for more than three decades without any incident.....

Use 'em...enjoy 'em........

Fred

[carlos.q]

Thanks to both...and since I have you. Will these pens stand up well to regular use?

Definitely!

[DrCodfish]

"Will these pens stand up well to regular use?"

 

I am ever amazed that I write frequently with fountain pens that were made in the 20's and 30's which perform as well (I assume) now as they did the day they came off the shelf. Some of my older Parkers I store with the cap removed to help avoid the color of the material changing, and I usualy store my vintage piston filers with the piston turned about half way down the barrel to avoind them getting stuck at the top or bottom of their stroke, just my personal idiosyncrasy.

[OMASsimo]

I use vintage Pelikans and other pens from the 1930s through 1960s on a daily basis and have little indication that a current pen would be any more robust or carefree. Technically, Pelikan was ahead of its time during that period and so the 100, 100N, 120, 140, and 400 (-,N,NN) outperform many current high-quality pens in terms of reliability and writing experience, at least in my opinion. I think you can relax and just enjoy writing with these pens.

[biancitwo]

I use vintage Pelikans and other pens from the 1930s through 1960s on a daily basis and have little indication that a current pen would be any more robust or carefree. Technically, Pelikan was ahead of its time during that period and so the 100, 100N, 120, 140, and 400 (-,N,NN) outperform many current high-quality pens in terms of reliability and writing experience, at least in my opinion. I think you can relax and just enjoy writing with these pens.

Agreed. I love my vintage Pelikans.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Of course those pens are still good to go, and have much nicer nibs than fat and boring modern ones.

Got some 40 or so from that era...............it is possible that Plastic Gasket 1.0 goes bad after 50 or so years....but Plastic Gasket 2.0 from @ 1955 is the gasket material used today and is still good.

 

I have returned dead cork to Zombie....by soaking it a full week instead of a day........that must be kept wet..........even if it was NOS...............cork dries out after a while.....a couple of generations. If the pen has been kept in use with no generation gap, old cork is still good.

Eventually you will have to have your old Zombie cork replaced......don't go cheap and stupid and use O rings.........can bludge the pen.

 

 

Marshal and Oldfield in their Pen Repair book said fitted, & then boiled in paraffin (a thicker mineral oil) and beeswax cork is the smoothest of all gaskets. Francis also slathers silicon grease on it as the last step.

Your properly re-corked piston pen should be good for another 70 - 90 years. Just keep writing with it......

[pschwartz]

Of course those pens are still good to go, and have much nicer nibs than fat and boring modern ones.

Got some 40 or so from that era...............it is possible that Plastic Gasket 1.0 goes bad after 50 or so years....but Plastic Gasket 2.0 from @ 1955 is the gasket material used today and is still good.

 

I have returned dead cork to Zombie....by soaking it a full week instead of a day........that must be kept wet..........even if it was NOS...............cork dries out after a while.....a couple of generations. If the pen has been kept in use with no generation gap, old cork is still good.

Eventually you will have to have your old Zombie cork replaced......don't go cheap and stupid and use O rings.........can bludge the pen.

 

Do you know is it the same for vintage montblancs? I have a 142 and a 234 from the fifties......

 

Marshal and Oldfield in their Pen Repair book said fitted, & then boiled in paraffin (a thicker mineral oil) and beeswax cork is the smoothest of all gaskets. Francis also slathers silicon grease on it as the last step.

Your properly re-corked piston pen should be good for another 70 - 90 years. Just keep writing with it......

[OMASsimo]

This is the same for all piston fillers with cork seal and it is independent of the brand.

[Nyanzilla]

I would not leave any water in my pens. This might grow mould or bacteria by time, which probably won't harm the pen but may infect the inkwell.

When the pen comes from the factory it's dry and it will be stored dry in the shops. So there is no need to keep them filled with anything.

 

The only pens that shall not be stored dry are brush pens with natural hair. They usually are shipped with a cartridge inserted, filled with some colourless liquid (maybe Glycerol?).

Edited April 1, 2019 by Nyanzilla

[Bo Bo Olson]

Pschwarz

Francis....Fountainble is in Belgium and I had him re-cork my '52-54 only MB 234 1/2 Deluxe that died finally.

I also had him re-cork my MB rolled gold 742, that had the stuck piston with what looked to be NOS cork ...recorked in the cork was old. The 742 was one of the delicate telescope pistons, think the 234 1/2 Deluxe was also. (No idea why the Original owner way back when, didn't take that to the local pen shop or send it in for repair.

Be cheaper to send both pens......"""I have a 142 and a 234 from the fifties......""""

Is your 234 1/2 4 1/2= nib size) the regular one like the '30-40's or is it a Deluxe with different cap ring and meister clip?

 

If you can't find Fountainble in the members list.....PM me.

[pschwartz]

 

 

Is your 234 1/2 4 1/2= nib size) the regular one like the '30-40's or is it a Deluxe with different cap ring and meister clip?

 

I wish I knew. It is not nearly as elegant as yours. It looks to have been made with poorer quality materials and has BAyER logo on the top. I am assuming it was made as a gift for some folks from BAyERduring the war possibly?

I had Max recork it and it works fine now. It is an OBB and writes beautifully. I try to use it often. But I would be happy to learn more about it, humble as it is.

Thanks, Paul

[Bo Bo Olson]

Your pen was made from the late 30's through the mid '50's. Your feed is faster/slicker than mine. Should be semi-flex.

 

Yours is not a War Pen, it has cap bands...so with a gold nib would be either before the Summer 1938 when Hitler stole the gold or a couple years after the war when gold came back.

I do 'know' the regular 234 1/2 was made up to and including the Deluxe's run from '52 to 54................not everyone liked the cigar/torpedo 146/9.

 

8-9 years ago, when I won mine at a live auction I was so 'noobie' dumb...I'd never seen any MB but a 146/9....and thought the MB in the 4 pen live auction lot ugly.

 

The other three pens were a 400nn, a 450&455 BP&MP. I was going to sell everything but the 400nn, to get my money back or the 70 Euro I allowed for the cost of the 400nn.

So I did hit my max that that ugly MB drove the price up too. I'd not yet had Andreas Lambrou's Fountain pen book, and didn't know the 234 1/2 Deluxe was a refined version of the 139....didn't even know what a 139 was....much less the regular 234 1/2...................should be on the piston cap if your nib is 4 1/2 or 4.

 

I looked it up after the fact...auction....I bought the lot for E170+25 % auction cost and tax.

Was real happy to find out my ugly MB pen was rare.........then $200.

 

I did a balance test or two of my 20-30 pens.........at the time I was still noobie enough that I found the 234 1/2...a standard sized pen to be a bit thicker than I had.........and it was back weighted with brass guts............so I had not expected it to win the balance test. Gee that pen had become good looking, with such great balance, a real fine nib....and $$$ more than I paid for it. I did like the pictures of the pre-war MB pens....so in this case ugly was my ignorance.

 

#2 was a thin Medium-Long Geha 725 one of the sleekest classic black and gold pens....picture with permission of Penboard.de....rolled gold trim....was developed to beat MB and did IMO. Semi-flex F in my case.

 

 

There are two slightly curved lines on the clip that gives it a real boost for classic.

 

Third was a silver P-75 also standard.

 

4th was the 400nn that I won......but that took a couple years for me to decide the 400nn was a slight tad better balanced than the 400.

 

A couple years ago, my Deluxe was up to $500......and last year some Idiot Hunter was looking for months at $900. I am willing to sell mine for that... ..No not yet......and $500 is a fairer price due to it's rareness. I do really like the KOB nib....and back then the OB or B nibs were writing nibs not signature nibs of today.

MB nibs of the '50s are @ the same width as Pelikan, Geha Osmia and so on. All were stubs....outside of Lamy...perhaps Herlitz.

Modern MB nibs are fat and stubbish................Modern Pelikan gold nibs...fat and blobby.

Edited April 4, 2019 by Bo Bo Olson

[wallnot]

Agree with everyone else—they are great daily use pens. I carry my green stripe 400NN to class every day of the week.

 

One thing to note (and this is just speculation—anyone who disagrees/knows more than me, feel free to chime in!): since the celluloid used to make the caps shrinks a little over time, and the inside of the cap is made of metal, I think you may eventually develop hairline cracks even if you're careful. This happened to my pen. Not a big deal, and not a catastrophic failure, but definitely affects the value some.

[OMASsimo]

I'm not sure why you think the cap or any part of the 400NN would be made of celluloid. I do not have any indication of this. Also, the inside of the cap isn't metal at least for the ones I have. The cap ring extends for something like 10 mm into the cap on the inside. That's probably what you refer to.

 

Anyway, I have not seen much cracking in old Pelikans and I have not experienced much shrinking or cracking of vintage celluloid pens either. A good part of the problem is the quality of the original material used. There are certain vintage brands I avoid like the black death because of the cracking properties of the material used. But Pelikan certainly is not one of them.

[Matlock]

I'm not sure why you think the cap or any part of the 400NN would be made of celluloid. I do not have any indication of this. Also, the inside of the cap isn't metal at least for the ones I have. The cap ring extends for something like 10 mm into the cap on the inside. That's probably what you refer to.

 

Anyway, I have not seen much cracking in old Pelikans and I have not experienced much shrinking or cracking of vintage celluloid pens either. A good part of the problem is the quality of the original material used. There are certain vintage brands I avoid like the black death because of the cracking properties of the material used. But Pelikan certainly is not one of them.

 

To quote Pelikan's Perch. "The cap was constructed with a metal inner liner, presumably engineered to help prevent cracking".

[Bo Bo Olson]

One can learn with out trying here.

The 400nn, also has a slight click or often does, when the cap closes fully.

Mine I think don't, but others have nn's that do.