Added a new Pelikan to the mix tonight: The M620 Place de la Concorde. It has a round medium nib. Very pretty, good size, feels nice in the hand...but it's a hard starter. I've been writing nonsense on all sorts of paper tonight: cheap looseleaf, Clairefontaine notebooks, and the plain inkjet paper for my printer [normally not adverse to fountain pens]. And on each sheet, the pen skips on downstrokes and just basically gives me a hard time. Even when it doesn't skip, it just lacks that smooth writing I experience with my Pelikan M200 blue demonstrator [broad nib]. It can't just be the difference between a broad steel nib and an 18kt-gold medium nib, can it? I'd ordered the medium because as much as I like my blue Pelikan, the broad nib is a bit too much for my handwriting size. But I think this pen's reluctance to write points to something else. I rinsed the pen out with water before I filled it with ink. So far, I've tried it with both Private Reserve American Blue and Waterman South Seas Blue. Anything else I should try, before I call Pam Braun? [She's been such a great help when I was deciding on the purchase, but I don't want to pester her with "my pen won't write!!!" if there's a solution I can do myself]. Any advice you guys have would be greatly appreciated.

Ack, I just remembered something. When I rinsed the pen out and filled it the first time, I used one of the [clean] house Kleenexes to wipe it off. But then I realized these are the fancy-schmancy, annoying tissues infused with aloe lotion or some junk. I tried to wipe off the residue but it's possible I didn't get it all. If so, would washing out the pen again help at all? How can I make sure I've got the lotion-y stuff out of the nib and feed? [stupid Puffs tissues. I hate them! They smear my glasses and now they antagonize my fountain pens]

Well. Pelikan QC is not the most reliable, so you may have got a nib with a 'baby bottom' problem, so the ink in the nib tip can hardly reach the paper. A nib exchange to a nib tested by Pam before shipping should do.

I have now a new M620 'Madrid' from Regina Martini since last week, and I asked her to test the EF nib before shipping. The nib is ok, with a little 'Aurora tooth', and needs a free flowing ink.

if it is the tissues than a couple of thorough washes with soapy water should fix the issue - just remember not to dry it again with those tissues.

That's why I switched to Puffs Ultra - just as soft but none of that lotion carp.

nah, the difference between medium and broad in terms of smoothness shouldn't be significant. if it's still picky- nib exchange. Pam's great and isn't going to consider you pestering her - she's all about customer service. I would not expect the baby-bottom as much on a medium as a nib, but it still happens.

oh... aside from that - what do you think of the look of the pen?

I recently ordered one of these with a fine nib and an extra medium nib so that I could alternate. The medium would hardly write at all unless I gave it a lot of pressure, but the fine was wonderful. I've had issues in the past with Pelikan nibs and pursued exchanges without any problems. The Concorde is a really lovely pen in my opinion. I like the color scheme a lot, but I realy love that underneath the laquer are some silvery patterns that are vibrant when they hit the light - the pictures I saw didn't capture that at all. I think it's my favorite design thus far.

Ooh, I forgot about the soapy water trick! I scribbled a few lines before work this morning and to my 6 a.m. [eastern standard time] eyes, the pen was behaving better. But having written a few more lines now [name, address, pen name, etc], it's still skipping occasionally. So the plan for today: rinse the pen out at home tonight with some soapy water, find non-lotion tissues to dry off the pen, and try again. If it's still misbehaving, I'll contact Pam.

Other than the skipping, I REALLY like this pen. It's my first "very fancy, expensive pen" above $150. The color scheme is gorgeous and there definitely are subtle pearlescent highlights on the color bands. Perhaps it's time to sell off some of the pens I don't use much anymore, and focus more on Pelikans. I was going back and forth between this pen and the Picadilly Circus but I'm glad I got the more subtle Concorde. Now if only I could get the nib to stop skipping...

I agree with you about this pen Sonnet. I was also debating on this or the Picadilly, and might end up getting the latter as well, but for now I am very pleased with the Concorde. So did your efforts get the pen to write skip-free?

Update: Pam Braun was sending a new nib out Friday? so I'm waiting for that to arrive in the mail, and I sent the original medium nib back to her. Despite all my efforts, it was still skipping madly. So once I get the new nib, and it hopefully works, I'll do a more complete review.

That was smart to buy it through Pam. I've bought most of my Pelikan stuff from her (other than Binderized nibs) and she has always been really great about exchanges and making sure a customer is happy. I'll be curious to read your update.

Another quick update: The new medium nib came yesterday. It's already a major improvement over the original nib. Virtually no skipping or fussiness. I think I've gotten so used to the broad [steel] nib on my Pelikan M200 that the medium nib's slightly finer line requires some adjustment. It is infinitely smoother than the previous nib, however. Besides, if I find I really do prefer the broad point, I can always do an exchange with Pam or ChartPak.

Again, full review to follow.

Hopefully the nib will give you no skipping at all. Your experience with the 200 is what you should be having with the medium nib on this pen. There should be no skipping at all. A medium should not be a dry writing nib on this pen, just FYI. Recent experiences, which have all been taken care of until I was happy, have led me to believe that Pelikan is really just pumping these nibs out without necessary giving great care to the writing quality of each. Pam often deals with these issues (I know she has with me ) and has always been happy to exchange nibs that are poor writers - especially when it comes to their skipping. I'll look forward to the review.

My full review of the Pelikan Place de la Concorde [with replacement nib] is now available for your reading pleasure. Enjoy, and thanks for your help!

Glad you decided to do a review! Love the word pearlescence you used to describe the pen.