Pelikan Level 65 pen and bottle

[jchch1950]

Time to unbury the Pelikan 65. Maybe I should wash the bottle and refill it with a new ink.😅

[amberleadavis]

On 11/19/2021 at 5:30 PM, Z man said:

I'm also a fan of the Go! Between you and OCArt, I'm on the hunt for one I've misplaced. (Whad'ya mean too many pens?)

 

I also found a display set of the Level 65 with each nib and cap color. I bought it when no one was thinking of them and I got a great price.  Then, I haven't used them because the display is too cool.  Sigh.

 

Anyway, @Z man welcome aboard!

[Z man]

9 hours ago, amberleadavis said:

 

I also found a display set of the Level 65 with each nib and cap color. I bought it when no one was thinking of them and I got a great price.  Then, I haven't used them because the display is too cool.  Sigh.

 

Anyway, @Z man welcome aboard!

Thanks, and, please, let me agree the display must be too cool.

 

BTW, put the vintage Skrip royal blue in a green Level 65, B nib. That was finished a couple days ago. The replacement is the temporarily misplaced Go! Filled with Bexley harmony green.

 

[amberleadavis]

@Z man Please show us pictures of your pen in use!  I have my Level 5 with a custom nib inked up now and I wrote you a note. I also included two pictures of the Demo box, one with the yellowed plastic cover and the other without.

[OCArt]

Hmm, minor curiosity, my Level 5 nib has the two-chick Pelikan trademark rather than the word leVel like yours.

 

17 minutes ago, amberleadavis said:

I have my Level 5 with a custom nib inked up now and I wrote you a note.

 

[amberleadavis]

Well, now I am going to have to go look at my other one...  I have two of the blue/white gold. 

 

Edited, I think these are steel nibs.

[amberleadavis]

I bought them back in 2015 or thereabouts.  The cap on one says Siemens. Both say LeVel on the nib.  I purchased one from missing-pen.de and one from a private seller. I did a little digging and I think these have the LeVel logo because they are steel nibs not the gold nibs.

[OCArt]

Ah, thanks. That makes sense.

 

1 hour ago, amberleadavis said:

I bought them back in 2015 or thereabouts.  The cap on one says Siemens. Both say LeVel on the nib.  I purchased one from missing-pen.de and one from a private seller. I did a little digging and I think these have the LeVel logo because they are steel nibs not the gold nibs.

 

 

[stephanos]

Thanks to this thread, I can see how my Level 5's internals work.

 

@amberleadavis and @OCArt

My Level 5 pen has a gold nib (18C-750), which is marked LeVel. That's what it says on the cap, too - no chicks to be found. But my model is blue with gold trim and a gold cap, unlike the silver/black shown in your photos, amberleadavis.

[Anne-Sophie]

 Level 5 are very interesting fountain pens. I briefly considered buying one, when they first came out. 

 

Then I heard concerns about their ease of cleaning, which gave me pause, then I forgot about them.

 

Is the Level 5 the same as the Level 65?

 

The first Level 5 I saw, was slick matte silver and purple, the bottle was enclosed in a cone shaped matching matte silver dome. It might have been a Levenger special edition.

 

Pictures of the pen, special bottle and dome set, from an old sale ad by a fellow FPNer

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/54712-fs-pelikan-level-5/

 

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/50000-cleaning-level-5s/

 

Proper Level 5 cleaning required an empty Level 5 bottle and Pelikan did not provide spare parts.

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/269359-pelikan-level-5-answers/

[OCArt]

Hi Anne-Sophie, the Level 65 was their budget version. More plastic look and steel nib.  IMHO Level pens are not designed to switch ink often as the cleaning process is a bit complex.  I emptied the original filling bottle (royal blue) and substituted Noodler's 54th Massachusetts ink. That's all I've ever used and my L5 has never failed to start in 3 years.  I use it when I want to address an envelope or some other task requiring waterproof ink.  They are wonderful writers and mine has been perfectly trouble free.

 

1 hour ago, Anne-Sophie said:

 Level 5 are very interesting fountain pens. I briefly considered buying one, when they first came out. 

 

Then I heard concerns about their ease of cleaning, which gave me pause, then I forgot about them.

 

Is the Level 5 the same as the Level 65?

 

The first Level 5 I saw, was slick matte silver and medium blue, the bottle was enclosed in a cone shaped matching matte silver dome. It might have been a Levenger special edition.

 

[Anne-Sophie]

12 minutes ago, OCArt said:

Hi Anne-Sophie, the Level 65 was their budget version. More plastic look and steel nib.  IMHO Level pens are not designed to switch ink often as the cleaning process is a bit complex.  I emptied the original filling bottle (royal blue) and substituted Noodler's 54th Massachusetts ink. That's all I've ever used and my L5 has never failed to start in 3 years.  I use it when I want to address an envelope or some other task requiring waterproof ink.  They are wonderful writers and mine has been perfectly trouble free.

 

 

 

It is good to know.

 

Was the royal blue, in the bottle, Pelikan Blue, the 4001 ink?

 

Does it needs to stay in its bottle and silver holder, all the time?

 

Do you know if a bold or double bold nib is available?

 

Where did you get it and how much was it? 

 

 

[OCArt]

I assume it was Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue but I just unscrewed the top of the original container with pliers and dumped the ink into another bottle that I gave away.

The pen only needs the silver holder or special bottle when refilling. One fill lasts a *long* time.

Mine is a M and I haven't looked for other nibs, I got mine from Rolph at missing pens.com for maybe $109 3 or 4 yers ago.

 

24 minutes ago, Anne-Sophie said:

 

It is good to know.

 

Was the royal blue, in the bottle, Pelikan Blue, the 4001 ink?

 

Does it needs to stay in its bottle and silver holder, all the time?

 

Do you know if a bold or double bold nib is available?

 

Where did you get it and how much was it? 

 

 

 

[amberleadavis]

On 12/14/2021 at 12:31 PM, stephanos said:

Thanks to this thread, I can see how my Level 5's internals work.

 

@amberleadavis and @OCArt

My Level 5 pen has a gold nib (18C-750), which is marked LeVel. That's what it says on the cap, too - no chicks to be found. But my model is blue with gold trim and a gold cap, unlike the silver/black shown in your photos, amberleadavis.

 Interesting.

[amberleadavis]

10 hours ago, Anne-Sophie said:

 

It is good to know.

 

Was the royal blue, in the bottle, Pelikan Blue, the 4001 ink?

 

Does it needs to stay in its bottle and silver holder, all the time?

 

Do you know if a bold or double bold nib is available?

 

Where did you get it and how much was it? 

 

 

 

10 hours ago, OCArt said:

I assume it was Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue but I just unscrewed the top of the original container with pliers and dumped the ink into another bottle that I gave away.

The pen only needs the silver holder or special bottle when refilling. One fill lasts a *long* time.

Mine is a M and I haven't looked for other nibs, I got mine from Rolph at missing pens.com for maybe $109 3 or 4 yers ago.

 

 

 

Yes, it was 4001 Royal Blue, but other colors were available at one time.

The little cone covered a smaller bottle with the special nib.

 

@Anne-Sophie the 65 are shown above in my pictures of the demo box with bottle.  As you can see, I have one of each nib in the 65.  As for the Level 5, I have two broad nibs, one was custom ground for me.  I just looked and Missing Pens is still selling them on the bay.

[Licue]

21 minutes ago, amberleadavis said:

 

 

Yes, it was 4001 Royal Blue, but other colors were available at one time.

The only other Level-Ink color I've heard of is Black.

Were there more? 🤔

 

 

Recently I saw an unused L5 offered for 15€. Probably steel nibbed, but still..

Unfortunately I waited too long 😶

[amberleadavis]

I can't find them, and haven't seen them in years. I didn't buy them because they were $25 each for the little tiny bottle. 

[amberleadavis]

BTW, has anyone tried the OASO Automatic Ink FP?

[stephanos]

3 hours ago, amberleadavis said:

BTW, has anyone tried the OASO Automatic Ink FP?

 

 

I have.

It wrote OK, and I like the container for the ink bottle. I don't remember how much I paid for it, but it didn't seem overpriced.

Having said that, there's a fiddly little black thing at the bottom of the ink-holder/converter part (a seal/gasket of some sort) that I discovered pops out rather easily. It did so when I was refilling it (or perhaps cleaning it; don't recall). The blasted thing rolled away and I've not been able to find it. So the pen is now a monument to my clumsiness.

 

Isit worth buying? Perhaps. If you do, though, be careful with the filling mechanism.

 

 

Incidentally, I visited Berlin a couple of years ago and went to a stationery store there. They had spare bottle of Level 5 ink, which I snapped up as a spare: The price on the sticker tells me that I paid €4.88.

(Zeichen Center Ebeling, Triftstr. 39, www.zc77.de: it was a lovely place.)

[amberleadavis]

On 12/28/2021 at 2:30 PM, stephanos said:

 

 

I have.

It wrote OK, and I like the container for the ink bottle. I don't remember how much I paid for it, but it didn't seem overpriced.

Having said that, there's a fiddly little black thing at the bottom of the ink-holder/converter part (a seal/gasket of some sort) that I discovered pops out rather easily. It did so when I was refilling it (or perhaps cleaning it; don't recall). The blasted thing rolled away and I've not been able to find it. So the pen is now a monument to my clumsiness.

 

Isit worth buying? Perhaps. If you do, though, be careful with the filling mechanism.

 

 

Incidentally, I visited Berlin a couple of years ago and went to a stationery store there. They had spare bottle of Level 5 ink, which I snapped up as a spare: The price on the sticker tells me that I paid €4.88.

(Zeichen Center Ebeling, Triftstr. 39, www.zc77.de: it was a lovely place.)

 

Thank you for the info and great job and purchase!