I picked up a Pelikan 400 brown tortoise off Ebay for Christmas. It has a sweet broad flexible nib and is a pleasure to write with! My question is this, on all of my other Pelikans the pelican on the top is imprinted on the top but not embossed into the top. This one has the pelican embossed on the top but it has no color in the lines, it is dark brown like the rest of the cap. Was the bird done this way for a while or has the color been worn off with use? The pen shows very little wear in general.

If it's a vintage 400 from the 50s, then it's probably just the coloring that has worn off over the years. There are folks who restore the filled emblems by adding back the color and then those who don't.

By coincidence, I started a topic about my brown Pelikan this week, too (Noob needs detailed instructions - Pelikan refiller ) - and while I hadn't mentioned it, mine also has most of the gold worn out of the little pelican logo on the cap. I wondered about it, but figured maybe it was usual. Now I see it may indeed be usual, and that my observation that it was an incised design was a useful observation (I'm a total ignoramus about pens; I inherited my husband's collection and I'm just kind of learning about them now.)

Thanks for asking the question I *should* have asked!

Terry Hickman

Does it look like this:
http://www.nibs.com/PelikanM400BrownTortoise.htm

I bought one new (NOS, I suppose) 2 months ago on a trip to the Netherlands.
Mine is EF.

The colour wears off.
I have various 400s from the 50s and 60s and the pens that have seen some use have a worn off top.

Thanks for the responses I'm not really sure of the age of the pen. afruba, Yes it does look like that one! It has the brown cap and blind cap and single cap band. The only thing missing is the gold coloring in the cap. I may try to get color back in mine again, some Pels have green coloring on the end caps and I don't care much for that but a gold color would be nice. Is that a raised logo or imprinted down in the cap?

The logo is raised.

Hello

To fill pen engravings, like Pelikan cap top logo, Parker...... Caran D'Ache NEocolor I, water resistant wax pastels are fine for this job.
Will not damage the pen, completely inert, contrary to ink corrector that will damage celluloid pens.
Press the wax against the engraving, fill it completely, remove excess with a soft cloth.

Any other wax, if not water soluble, is fine. Water soluble wax will leave marks on the hands, clothes and not last like water resistant wax.

Hope this help.

VB