Hello Everyone,

I want share some pics of the Pelikan M400 in tortoise(Mint, NOS) that I had the good luck to find sitting by itself in a pen store in Mumbai. This is my second Pelikan Souveran. The last time I had a similar fortune to find a NOS Old style M800.




When the shop keeper showed me this tortoise, I was totally floored and since I had also read some nice things about it here I picked it up immediately.



This pen still had its tag and barrel sticker attached. The original box was missing and the shopkeeper kindly included a contemporary box with this pen. This is a W. Germany pen with a single cap band. The band says, PELIKAN - W. GERMANY - The filler knob has no bands. But I saw a few pictures of a M400 tortoise on this forum by Richard binder where the pen has two rings on the filler knob. Can any one tell me more about these variants?




I wonder what the material of the barrel is, it's definitely different from the material on my M800 Old style, the lustre on this is luminous, more like that of celluloid. In the photo just above you can see the clarity of the barrel.

The cap jewel is engraved as is typical with the old style M400. He had only one pen with him and that too medium, the nib feels smooth and a bit springy when tested dry on paper.





I will muster the courage to ink this one up in a few days I think! I am afraid to spoil its looks, is it a concern, does the barrel stain easily?




Just a shot showing both my prized Pelikans side by side.

Regards,
Hari

later Pelikans have a trim ring at the nib and two at the filler end, i.e. current production.

I have an M400, like yours, in blue. Love it.

Hi,

Two very nice finds and finding both in a shop is pretty unusual especially for the M400, took me a couple of years and lots of lost auctions before I picked one up on ebay last year.

As Joe says lack of trim rings indicates the older model, but nothing wrong with that.

Enjoy the pens.

Andy

It's also true for one of the M400 Kaufhof Galeria tortoise limited editions, albeit with a different cap.

Bill

That's a beauty!

Are the cap and ends black or the more typical dark brown?

Greyfox

Hello Hari! What a lovely pen you found! Congratulations! Are you really ink this up? Dare I ask how much you paid? Lovely! As I have present day edition of white -tortoise, I always wanted to have one of this!
Let us know its future! Photos are usual very well taken.
Warm wishes Hari! I will write you confirmation mail next week!
Abhik.

Wow! what a find!

Enjoy it!

I don't think the barrel will strain with any normal ink. I have a few 400, 400NN &120 with me, & they are all very
Happy with Pelikan black/ Skirp blue.

If I ever decide to buy another modern pen(I have only one), it will definitely be a Pelikan, though their nibs are
too wide for me.

Do post a review of this beauty.
Regards,
Saswata.

Oh my. I'm in luuuuv.

Fantastic find Hari! My tortoise M400 is my favorite pen ^_^

I would personally ink it as I think it is too good a looking pen not to be used!

What a beauty! Great find - love those tortoise Pels :-)

I think it's an old style pre 97 m400.
The old style has engraved logo on top of the cap.
And there are no bands at the knob.
And the nib is single tone 14c, unlike the new style two tone.

I have a blue stroiped onld style M400 with similar trimmings.

Just wondering how much did you pay for it.
Cheaper than a current m400 ?

In Singapore, the old styles are selling at about half the list price of the current m400 but only the blue and green stripes are available.
Not tortoise models unfortunately.

Thank you all for sharing my joy. I had to leave on an official tour the very day I posted this, I think I will be inking the pen up as soon as I get back home.




They look black to me even in natural sunlight. Though I had read that they look brown in sunlight.



I paid approx the same price as a regular M400, in the shopkeeper's eyes, there was nothing special about this pen. How much do these old style pens go for in Singapore?

Regards,
Hari

The old style M400 goes for about 130 Singapore dollars (about 90US$) here though some shops may give firther discount

I bought both my Pelikans from the same shop. He seems to fish out these NOS pens from shops in Dubai through his agent as he told me. I have in fact never bought any pen without handling it or testing it except my Ratnams and Guiders which are available only through mail order.

Best,
Hari

Your M-400 is a great find. And new in the box as well. With an older Pelikan you also get an older nib, which some would argue are nicer writing nibs than some of the current ones. I hope you enjoy your Pel.

Very nice find! I wish mine was in that great of condition! Check when you get it near your other Pelikans on the color, mine has the deep brown cap that looks black until put up against a regular black cap.

The marking W. Germany on the cap band suggests that this one dates from before German reunification. I have one with the marking Germany. Another difference is that, if I judge the picture right, the logo on this one is engraved, while on mine the logo is raised.

This is a pre97 M400.
Yours is proabably a current model.

Hi Can you post a picture of this raised logo?

Hari,

Great find. I love the Tortoise Pelikans - more specifically the brown ones. I just recently bought a NOS one from here on the FPN - one grail pen found. I have a few vintage ones but getting ones hands on a mint one is just so, damn, great!!! Nice catch, Hari; so, where is this store in Mumbai?

-Vipul

Gorgeous! one of my projects is to have all the striped pelikans. So far I have the green (from the 80s, NOS and with two ink rotations so far), the blue (but it's a M800) and the white tortoiseshell (new this year, no ink so far). The brown is so difficoult to spot in mint conditions!

Congratulation for your find.

Andre

so nice.
congratulation!