Early 1950 Pelikan 400 with a 18Ct Gunther Wagner friction nib

[Severn]

I've just received this Pelikan 400 pen and mechanical pencil set, which I was discussing earlier here.

It's in better condition than I expected and with a 18c Fine nib that writes perfectly and pencil functions fine. It has no Pelikan logo on the cap and has Gunther Wagner Germany stamped around the barrel. The mechanical pencil also has Gunther Wagner Germany stamped around the clip. At $110 for the set I'm not complaining.

As the seller was located in Strasbourg France I think it may be the friction version nib released between May and August 1950. I don't want to damage the nib by attempting to pull it out just yet, so would like to ask if anyone can confirm this?

Thanks to @dnic and his dedicated website it does look promising.

 

 

 

 

[joss]

Very nice find! That is a very rare nib and a rare pen indeed (no cap logo).

Dominic included this in his list as an exceptional export version but you probably saw that also.

[Severn]

Yes, it does look to be that version, and a one that's hard to find a lot of info about, but his site seems the most helpful.

[joss]

The 400 with these uncommon features is obscure indeed.

 

For what it's worth I can add that I found this rare "Günther Wagner" nib also on a 'normal' Pelikan 400 (normal in the sense that it had a common cap dome with the Pelikan logo imprint). So that pen does not fall into the category that is listed on the Pelikan Collectibles website but it may indicate that the nib also appeared on regular Pelikan 400 pens. I do not know whether my pen has a friction fit nib unit as I was not able to release it and did not want to force it.

 

This nib is also briefly mentioned on Werner Rüttinger's Pelikan website:

http://www.ruettinger-web.de/e-pelikan-federn-special.html

 

[Severn]

Thanks for that link; I haven't seen it before. They say it could even be a sample nib, but that one has a circle stamp at bottom of nib. I'm not sure what that means. The one I have, and the one Dominic has, has a plus symbol stamped at bottom. You can see a link to his here, which looks the same as mine.

[carola]

Wow, now that's a pretty rare catch! Nice!

[mana]

What a wonderful find/save! Glad that those pens found a home with someone who can fully appreciate them.

[mizgeorge]

What a great find! You must be delighted

[Severn]

Yes, and as my first Pelikan pen I'm very content and I'm happy to join the Pelikan family finally! It's such a lovely pen, and even more so person, and the history around it is makes me appreciate it even more.

[Barutti]

Nuostabu! Awesome!

What a rare nib..never saw such design on 400 series pen. Congratulations.

Giedrius

[stoen]

Hi,

Beautiful and very scarce pen.

I also have a 1950 Pelikan 400, only in tortoise and with standard 14k nib, the same type as used in Pelikan 100N. It has a standard screw-in collar. They only made one series of the friction-fit collar nib units, for just few months. Then they re-designed it in favor of screw-in.

 

There is a non-destrucitve way of finding out what kind of collar does an early 400 have. You only need a magnifying lens. If the collar has two diametrally opposed tiny slots at the outer rim viewed from the nib side, than it most certainly has a standard screw-in nib unit. I'll post a photo of my pen as soon as I can, but I'm sure you can also find such a picture in one of the Pelikan reference sites.

The slots were made to accomodate the nib removal tool.

 

Hope this can help.

[Severn]

Thank you, the tortoise colour looks great as well. I think I understand the two notches you mention - it's for the special tool to remove the nib. I had a look and I couldn't see any slots, so I decided to give it a light pull and the nib started to slide easily out. As I have it inked I pushed it back in firmly and it feels more secure now.

So I think it's safe to say it's a friction nib. I may take it out completely later and see if it has any other stamps on the nib.

[inkstainedruth]

Wow!  

I have a 1950s era Pelikan but just the pen and while it has the "Gunther Wagner" imprint on it, it's a more "normal" design on the nib, and is only 14K.  AND I paid more than you did.... 

You may very well qualify for "Sumgai of the Week" for this.  Nice going!  (And yes, if you hadn't already guessed, I'm totally jealous....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[OMASsimo]

4 hours ago, stoen said:

 

There is a non-destrucitve way of finding out what kind of collar does an early 400 have. You only need a magnifying lens. If the collar has two diametrally opposed tiny slots at the outer rim viewed from the nib side, than it most certainly has a standard screw-in nib unit. I'll post a photo of my pen as soon as I can, but I'm sure you can also find such a picture in one of the Pelikan reference sites.

The slots were made to accomodate the nib removal tool.

 

Hope this can help.

That’s the way to find out. Keep in mind that even in the screw-in units, the nib is friction fit after all. So, pulling the nib won’t tell you much.

 

Anyway, that’s a wonderful find and looks in great shape. Since the pen comes from Strasbourg, it makes sense that it has an 18k nib. 18k was the minimum gold content to call an item “gold” by law in France. So, 400 models for export to France all had 18k instead of 14k nibs. I have seen pictures of such nibs with various imprints beneath “German” like your cross, star, or circle, indicating different nib production lines. In my opinion that means that this kind of nib was not only produced for the few months that friction fit nib units were produced. I wouldn’t be surprised if that kind of 400 model was produced for longer than just 1950 as stated on Pelikan-collectibles. There simply is almost no info available on Pelikan pens in France.

[Severn]

I pulled out the nib unit and it is a friction nib. Was thinking about removing the nib from feed, but I don't need to and I don't want to risk damaging it.

 

 

[Severn]

Thank you Ruth! I was mainly interested in the pen too, but the mechanical pencil is actually a thing of beauty as well and the two together look very handsome.

[stoen]

Fantastic! True friction-fit indeed!

🙂

For disassembling the nib unit you need a “knock out block” and a soft hammer - the procedure is a bit tricky and requires experience. But do you need to disassemble - reassemble the nib unit? One does it only in case of poor ink flow problems. 

A way to clean it without disassembling is soaking it in lukewarm water for a few hours or putting it in ultrasound bath for a minute.

If there is no excessive ink coming off, there’s no need of disassembling it.

 

Another thing you can do now you have the barrel access open is cleaning it from the inside wirh a cotton swab and water.

 

Please be advised to gently heat the grip section to approx. 60 C before re-fitting the nib unit back. It makes the procedure easier and prevents from accidentally cracking the grip. 

 

Hope this can help.

🙂

 

[Severn]

Good idea about the cleaning. Yes, I have no reason to remove nib from unit as it writes perfectly. It also slides in easily with just a little friction.
I also noticed a small oval stamp on left side of nib; not sure was that was for.

 

[mana]

That is a French control stamp.
 

Quote

"In addition, some pens have punches or other symbols, some of which look like a damage or a material defect. These are so-called control stamps, which were applied by customs at the time of importation. The picture below presumably from the French customs, where this practice was carried out on nibs until 1994. On 4th of January, 1994, the Code général des impôts - Article 532 had been abolished."

 

Source: https://www.pelikan-collectibles.com/en/Pelikan/Nibs/Nib-units-since-1929/index.html

[carola]

mana. Always a source of some details you didn't know yet. 😁