My first Pelikan M400, an uncommon one.

[Kyon Thinh]

Hi everyone,

the other day I got my first Pelikan M400 from Hamburg with OBB nib, price was 80€, condition is very good, cap has Germany and not W.Germany. I was thinking why the barrel looks so nice unlike most M400, the cap also has gold color, the feed is definitely M400 though. Turned out this one is the 1982 friction fit nib M400, produced for only short period. This nib is quite springy, I don't know if it is comparable to the real vintage one, but truth to say still very nice to write as it is wet and smooth, although it took me a while to learn how to be familiar. It got me hooked, I will compare it with vintage Pelikan and if it is good enough, I will try to find another 1982 one.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Yours could be a 481 or such.

Could be your collar is broken. I have a 400nn I live with with that problem. the nib is well set, and hasn't given me any problem since I stuck the nib back in. Christopher, told me my color was broken, not a rare friction feed.

 

I do know the W.Germany '82-90/91 nibs are a tad more springy than the '91-97 nibs...but one has to have both to feel the slight difference. I have the 800, small 600 and a couple 200's all W.Germany.

 

I refused to get a 800 until I could get a W.Germany one. I couldn't be sure if I would be able to make sure it was a '91-97 regular flex, and not a stiffer nib from '98 and to now. I liked the nib, not the pen.

 

A passed member  had won a W. Germany 800 on German Ebay, but the idiot refused to ship outside of Germany to Spain. The 800 was then and still is for me too large. However the nib was ever so nice. I played with it for three days, before shipping it to Spain.

Not semi-flex which I had....but nice and springy.

.............................................

What's the feed look like....4 longitudinal combs are semi or maxi-semi-flex, in someone could have put a better nib on the pen.

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

I didn't notice the  green stripes on my first reply. So it's a 400.

It will help out lots to have a good clear  close up of the nib...in some are older. Could tell if it indeed one of the friction '50 pens or not.

 

As I mentioned I thought my 400nn was a friction fit, but someone with an idea said no, just a broken collar. After putting it back in twice, I never thought about taking it out the third time. In it works fine, I'm not sending it off for repair until last.

 

A vintage OBB is a good writing nib...1/2 a size narrower than modern. It is not IMO a signature nib.

 

I have a W.Germany 600 OBB (a fancy 18k 400) and post 2000 800 OBB, and the older 600 is narrower by a half a width.

[Mercian]

5 hours ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

I didn't notice the  green stripes on my first reply. So it's a 400.

It will help out lots to have a good clear  close up of the nib...in some are older. Could tell if it indeed one of the friction '50 pens or not.

When one enlarges the OP’s final photo of the pen, one can see that on the underside of its feed it has the transverse fins that indicate that it’s a modern, plastic, feed.
Which, given that the pen has a friction-fit nib/feed unit, means that it is (as he said) one of the first series of M400 pens that were made in 1982.
(Rather than being one of the first 400-model pens that were made in 1950, whose friction-fit ebonite feed would have longitudinal fins.)

Nib-wise, the 1950 400 with a friction-fit ebonite feed would have had one of the Pelikan ‘script’ nibs.

When one enlarges the photo, one can also see that the OP’s pen has one of the ‘fir tree’/‘logo’ nibs whose lines don’t quite meet up with the nib-slit. And that its nib-grade is marked in slanted, ‘italic’ letters.
Which nib is correct for the 1980s-90s M400.
(A 1964/65 400NN would have a similar ‘fir tree’/‘logo’ nib with a gap between the nib slit and the ‘fir-tree’ lines, but its nib-grade would be marked in orthogonal, ‘roman’ script. And those would of course be fitted on to a screw-in ebonite feed unit.)

Slàinte,
M.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Thanks for looking harder then me.

 

But it could still be a cracked collar.

[Kyon Thinh]

On 6/19/2024 at 4:54 AM, Mercian said:

When one enlarges the OP’s final photo of the pen, one can see that on the underside of its feed it has the transverse fins that indicate that it’s a modern, plastic, feed.
Which, given that the pen has a friction-fit nib/feed unit, means that it is (as he said) one of the first series of M400 pens that were made in 1982.
(Rather than being one of the first 400-model pens that were made in 1950, whose friction-fit ebonite feed would have longitudinal fins.)

Nib-wise, the 1950 400 with a friction-fit ebonite feed would have had one of the Pelikan ‘script’ nibs.

When one enlarges the photo, one can also see that the OP’s pen has one of the ‘fir tree’/‘logo’ nibs whose lines don’t quite meet up with the nib-slit. And that its nib-grade is marked in slanted, ‘italic’ letters.
Which nib is correct for the 1980s-90s M400.
(A 1964/65 400NN would have a similar ‘fir tree’/‘logo’ nib with a gap between the nib slit and the ‘fir-tree’ lines, but its nib-grade would be marked in orthogonal, ‘roman’ script. And those would of course be fitted on to a screw-in ebonite feed unit.)

Slàinte,
M.

You're correct, it has modern plastic feed.

By luck I have both friction fit 400 and friction fit M400. They look different. Top one is M400 OBB, bottom is 400 OB. M400 has darker color barrel than the 400.

 

 

 

[TorPelikan]

In case of my #481, the nib unit is composed of nib, feed and thin metal collar.

So I've been thought it's not friction fit "nib" but friction fit "nib unit".

Does anyone know any case, in which nib and feed are directly fitted to the section unit?

 

Tor

 

[stoen]

On 6/24/2024 at 12:19 PM, Kyon Thinh said:

By luck I have both friction fit 400 and friction fit M400. They look different. Top one is M400 OBB, bottom is 400 OB

Would you please share a photo of both nib units? Thanks.