Hi all,

My story with Pelikan pens started at school; in Spain, their products were insanely popular in the late 80's, the only ink that fed my Inoxcroms was the Pelikan 4001 royal blue and the most desirable gadgets ever for a 10 year old were the Pelikan cases, I have found a couple of examples:




None of those are as cool as the one I had, mine was way bigger, had a fighter pilot drawing on the cover and it even had a calculator watch embedded, as you can imagine, I felt at the time I could rule the world with that case.

Anyhow, I tell this story just to make a simple point, every time I see a Pelikan pen I can't help but think of my old world-ruling, butt-kicking case and, for some reason, I just can't envision Pelikan as a fine writing product's company and therefore I never got myself into buying one... until a couple of days ago.

I was hunting in eBay for a vintage Montblanc, and by chance found an auction for tortoise vintage Pelikan, snapped it at the last minute for around 60 euros and here you have it





As you can see, it is not in mint condition, the clip needs to be adjusted and has some brassing, there are also some light scuff marks around the barrel, but man, it is gorgeous to look at. I briefly inked it and it writes fantastic a nice medium not too wet/not too dry line and it is so light... to sum up looks like a great acquisition, and now I see Pelikan pens different eyes.

I also have some questions for the experts:
1. The seller said it was a 400NN, looks to me that it is a 400, anyone can confirm it
2. How do I adjust the clip?
3. Can I disassemble the nib section for deeper cleaning?
4. The piston knob seems to be dark brown but the cap is black, is that normal?
5. How can I polish off some of the scuff marks?

Thanks for reading.

I can tell you the cap and filler knob on the 400 should be this deeper brown color.
The ring above the clip is actually a nut. You can grab it with a rubber coated grip tool and unscrew it. This will allow you to remove and adjust the clip, along with the inner cap, for a good cap cleaning.

Nice piece!
Regards,
Pelikanyo Paul

I am not a Pelikan expert so I cannot help you with your questions - sorry.
However, great pen - a real beauty in its current condition that I am sure
will be stunning when you clean it up.

Thanks for sharing your story and the pictures of the really cool case. I've
never seen anything like that here in the States. Cool company, Pelikan.

Enjoy the pen!

Regards,
Vintner

As far as i can see (and compare it to the pictures in "Pelikan Schreibgerate" from Dittmer/Lehman) it is indeed a Pelikan 400. A 400NN has a much rounder knob a the end (much like a Pelikan 140). If the piston knob is made of hard rubber it is not unusual that it turns brown this happens over time. I know there are pen restorers that can "re-blacken" hard rubber, but i'm not sure if the knob is hard rubber and if it is wise to reblackken.

I have never tried it, but it should be possible to remove the top gold ring of the cap. This hold the clip in place. I should be very carefull, it would be a shame to damage this pen.

Great find, i also have an old (green) Pelikan 400 and it is a great writer (like all Pelikans i own i might add). I hope to find a nice tortoise one too one day.

This 400, if "correct" should not have any hard rubber parts.

I have been using the pen today and it is fantastic, the more I buy vintage, the less interested I get with modern pens.

@Pelinkayo
I tried to unscrew the cap, didn't move, I'm going to Madrid in a couple of days and go to a pro, to adjust it.

@Maine
The cases were so cool, it's a pity I couldn't find more pics since the ones I posted failed to represent Pelikan's artisans at their finest...

What about polishing the barrel? any ideas there?

As others have mentioned, the pen is a 400.

1. see above
2. You can disassemble the cap: the gold ring can be unscrewed and the clip comes off. Now you can bend the clip (carefully!) closer to the cap and reassemble it.
3. You can unscrew the nib assembly but not the section itself. Once the nib is unscrewed you can flush the pen. With a Q tip you get it cleaned pretty good.
4. A 400 tortoise has a dark brown cap. Filling knob and cap should have the same colour. The black cap seems to be a replacement cap.
5. I have polished my vintage Pelikans with Wenol. This works nicely. Don't know where you live and what you might use.

Hope this helps a bit.