Many years ago, I picked up a vintage Pelikan at a second rate antique store. I was collecting inkwells at the time, and while I've always loved fountain pens, I didn't know much about them. I did recognize the Pelikan name, though.

It's been sitting in my desk drawer for more than 15 years and is having a revival, now that I'm interested in using it on a daily basis. I know nothing about the type or date of this pen. The barrel is pinstriped green & black. The nib says 14c-585. It's a medium nib. I believe you'd call the ink resevoir a piston-type (sucks the ink up) The cap is black, and the cap rings appear to be gold plated. The bottom one is marked Pelikan - West Germany. The very top of the pen cap top has a green pelican engraving.

What kind of Pelikan is it, and does anyone have a guess as to when it was made?

I have no idea about the pen, though the green stripes are a common Pelikan design. Have a look at all the different models listed on this site http://www.ruettinger-web.de/e-index.html
Just cycle through all the links on the left hand side and check dimensions and photographs of all the different models. The W. Germany stamp obviously dates it as post WWII and pre Soviet breakup, so you would probably want to concentrate there.

Hope that helps a bit and welcome to the forum, of course!
Patrick

P.S. - if you could upload a photo, it would certainly help those who are more knowledgeable to name (and date) the pen you have.

Does it look like any of the pens for sale offered on this page:

http://www.thepenguinpen.com/pelikan/fspel.../fspelikan.html

The link was extremely helpful, thank you! I had been looking for a website like this and don't know why I couldn't find it on my own. Thanks for making quick work of it.

The pen is definitely a Pelikan 400 from the early 1950s. So nice to know what it's all about and a little bit about its history. I think I was in college when I bought it, and while I can't remember what I paid for it, I'm pretty sure it was no more than $20 (seeing as I was a broke college student). The piston is no longer working, but even when I just dip the nib, the pen writes like a dream. Far better than my fully functional Waterman ("Exclusive"). I have a fountain pen restorer within walking distance of my house, so I'll have to see what he can do about the resevoir.

Thanks for the link! As I mentioned in my previous post, it's definitely a 400 from the early 1950s. This link gives me a good idea of approximate value...very helpful. I think it's worth trying to fix the ink resevoir.

That is a bit of a shame - I found that I am not too keen on the modern Pelikans, but I find myself quite attracted to the vintage ones - so do get it repaired. It's always nice to see a vintage pen working again, especially one that you've had for a long time. And just think how much better a fountain pen is when it can hold ink!

Glad I could be of some assistance,
Patrick

Sorry to say so but the old 400s from the 50s are engraved "Günther Wagner Pelikan" below the filling knob. The cap may be marked "Pelikan 400 Germany" or may have no engraving.

The 400 NN has no engraving on the body but the cap is marked "Pelikan 400" or "Pelikan 400 Germany".

The M 400 pre 1997 is the first to mention "West-Germany or "W.-Germany" which became "Germany" again after 1999.

So if your pen is marked "Pelikan - West Germany" it is most likely that you have the M 400 pre 1997 which looks like the 400 from the 50s.

One other way to distinquish the old Pelikans from the 50s and 60s from the later models is the feeder: if the feeder has lengthwise channels it is from the 50s/60s. Crosswise channels belong to the M series.