Pelikan "vintage" nib

[yerach]

Hi pen people of the world!

I've read around about the greatness of Pelikan "vintage" nibs, they are said to be terribly smooth, with just the right amount of flex, and more true to size.

I thought of grabbing myself one to fit to my m400.

The thing is, I've found some classic vintage nib up for sale (I mean the type which is single tone gold, with two lines on each side that don't touch the slit, and the logo at center) only it had a plastic feed just like the modern ones, so 1. is this normal (aren't they all ebonite with vertical fins)? 2. is this a "real" vintage nib, or is this a similar looking modern nib that doesn't have any "superpowers"?

I've also seen a nib labeled "vintage" by the seller, which is almost identical to the current modern nibs, only has 2 chicks in the logo and a slightly different mean of engraving (they looks a little sharper than the current type), is this guy a "vintage" nib, in the sense of what everyone raves about or not?

Thanks!

[mana]

The vintage nibs ”everyone raves about” are nibs made between 1929 and 1965. And yes, they are really good.

 

They should also always come in a nib unit with an ebonite feed and collar, that is, unless someone has retrofitted an earlier nib to a newer nib unit.

Sometimes earlier modern nibs (made after 1982) are also referred to as “vintage” (by some sellers who think that items that are out of production or over 25 years old can be deemed as “vintage”). I’ve no idea on the particulars of those, though, other than that those earlier nibs they ain’t.

 

The modern (post-1982) nibs have the nib size marking in italic, if that helps. Vintage ones either do not have a nib size marking, or if they do, it is in non-italic.

 

You can read more about Pelikan nibs here:

 

https://www.pelikan-collectibles.com/en/Pelikan/Nibs/Nibs/index.html
 

and here:

 

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

[OMASsimo]

The term „vintage“ is quite relative. Isn‘t a pen from 2000 vintage too by now? The embossing style of the nibs changed gradually. But the nibs up to 1965 came with the ebony feeds like you mention and that’s a pretty clear indication what to look for. At least in my opinion.

[WestLothian]

The early nibs can be identified by the changes in the font and lettering. These are Pelikan 100 nibs from about 1937.

The "K" or "k" in Pelikan varies as does the dot over the "i". The capitals have no serifs on the middle nib.

 

 

 

You might find this source interesting:

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

[tacitus]

Beautiful 100 nibs!

 

For a long time, I wanted to ask you Pelikan pen loves. What is the hole at the base (not the vent hole) for?

 

My guess is that it is to position and hold the flat nib plate in place when it is set in the mold and pressed into the rounded shape (there is a protrusion like one as below (arrow) on the mold that fits into the hole in the nib plate).

 

 

https://youtu.be/ufhPXZElFfs?t=251

 

The screen shot and movie link are Aurora nib making.

 

I'd like ask your opinions.

[WestLothian]

Tacitus, 

 

I agree that the positioning hole theory is the most likely function. The two holes would provide perfect interface to align the blanks to tooling-press quickly and accurately. This is also likely to explain why the Waterman style hearts disappeared.

 

 Alistair

[stoen]

  On 2/27/2023 at 5:45 PM, WestLothian said:

These are Pelikan 100 nibs from about 1937.

The "K" or "k" in Pelikan varies as does the dot over the "i". The capitals have no serifs on the middle nib.

 

 

 

Expand  

Important comment in dating Pelikan nibs, thanks,  @WestLothian.

 

Yet, the leftmost nib does *not* appear to be a Pelikan100 nib, but an early 1950s Ibis130 or Pelikan140 nib. You may eventually succeed in fitting it into a 100 nib unit, but its geometry is different and is much too short for a Pelikan 100 nib.

 

  On 3/11/2023 at 2:50 PM, WestLothian said:

I agree that the positioning hole theory is the most likely function. The two holes would provide perfect interface to align the blanks to tooling-press quickly and accurately. This is also likely to explain why the Waterman style hearts disappeared.

Expand  

In my findings the development line of the earliest Pelikan nibs does not give in to plausible explanations:

 

1. There is a four year gap between the hearthole disapearance and the second hole appearance.

 

2. In geometry it appears that early Pelikan 100 nibs have been made from the same blanks as Montblanc #4, which also had “Waterman style heartholes”. They were in in fact made by Montblanc since GW did not own the nib forging technology and tooling by then.

 

3. The disappearance of the hearthole (late 1929 / early 1930) coincides with production stopping of the corresponding Montblanc pen (they might have continued forging Pelikan100 nibs for few more years, according to the nib geometry).

 

Until 1934/5 Pelikan was still outsourcing all of its nibs. Maybe the second hole could have appeared as early as GW acquired and developed the technology and tooling aimed at starting their own in-house nib production? This sounds plausible, but in lack of written evidence still somewhat inconclusive to me, for so far.

 

Here’s a thread I’ve opened for discussing the earliest Pelikan nibs:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/357983-pelikan-nibs-by-montblanc/?do=findComment&comment=4567662

 

The second, inward nib hole started appearing as of the nib shown in (Fig.6).