Pelikan 100 & Auch Pelikan

[soapytwist]

This is the first in a (long overdue!) series of reviews where I thought it would be fun to concentrate on the 'other halves' of some of my pen sets.

I don't know about you, but I have always enjoyed searching out the ballpoints and pencils that compliment the fountain pens I own; sometimes, I've even acquired the non-FP side of the equation first and had to hunt down the FP to complete the set! So I'm going to give my impression of how the pens act as a set in looks and feel, and also which gets used more.

 

http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd485/soapytwist/FPN/Pen%20Sets/a7842a79.jpg

 

I'm starting with one of my favourite FPs, the Pelikan 100. The fountain pen is very distinctive; short and stubby looking when capped, but long, and surprisingly slender to hold when the cap is posted. It is also very light, despite being solidly built. The Auch-Pelikan ('Also' in German, as Pelikan wanted to assure potential buyers that it was made to the same high standard as the pen) is built very solidly, and if anything feels better made than the pen, thanks to the extra heft given to it by the mechanism.

 

http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd485/soapytwist/FPN/Pen%20Sets/1f085200.jpg

 

The pencil looks beautiful in its own right; the large modern-looking button juxtaposed with the elegant vintage clip, give it a feeling of being very much an individual instrument rather than as part of a set. Having said that it unmistakably matches the 100 (and 100N) in colour and finish, down to the clip and the the way the model name is engraved above the clip.

 

http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd485/soapytwist/FPN/Pen%20Sets/7b82103f.jpg

 

The pencil is also wide enough that it feels as wide as the pen when gripping, and the materials give it a warm and non-slip grip.

 

http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd485/soapytwist/FPN/Pen%20Sets/dd1b4045.jpg

 

The 1.18mm lead size makes it a writing pencil rather than a drafting one, and I quite like the fact that you can use either the FP or MP for a day - I use the pencil for shopping lists and note-taking.

 

http://i1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd485/soapytwist/FPN/Pen%20Sets/18218c5f.jpg

[ToasterPastry]

Thank you for reviewing one of the icons of industry. This is a pen by which all pens, including other Pelikans, have been compared to. Pelikan's piston-filler was a design well ahead of its time. Much like Mont Blanc's snowflake, Pelikan's design has been a running theme for the past 70 years.

[Inkwisitor]

Thanks for the review. I had never given much thought to ballpoints appearing vintage in the same way as fountain pens but, of course, many of them do. They make quite an impressive partnership, don't they?

[Brian]

Very good condition with little to no wear. What a great find. It seems that finding good pens is sort of like finding good real estate, e.g., except that in pens its condition, condition, condition.

 

Congratulations.

[breaker]

nice review thanks!