Pelikan m910 Toledo - Red

August 19, 2007

At First Glance

The Pelikan m910 Toledo comes in a plain cardboard stocking box with a very simple label stating in German, English, French, and Spanish that one has “1 Fountain Pen M 910 Toledo” in rot/red, with a sticker indicating the nib size, in my case “F”. Open it up and find the Blue Pelikan box with a similar label, indicating that the nib is size “M”, not encouraging considering that I have small handwriting and find Peilkan’s medium nib a bit broad for legibility. When I opened the blue box, there was a glossy black wooden case with a pelican with open bill and another feeding a baby – the same pattern that has been executed in .925 silver on the barrel band. I opened the box to find a striking red and silver pen (see photo below). Now, I’ll admit that I’m not one for really bright pens, the brightest one I owned before this purchase was a junior Vacumatic in the Golden Web pattern, but there was something about the photos of this pen in Bill Riepl’s Stylophile Online review (http://www.stylophilesonline.com/index.htm) that made me think that this bright red pen would be an exception. When I opened the case, I saw a very attractive red pen with a strikingly engraved silver band sitting in a bed of grey acetate.

I opened the pen to check the nib size and found that the outer box told the tale; the nib was indeed an 18K 750 Fine. The engraving on the wider of the two cap bands announced this to be a Pelikan Toledo. Engraving on the barrel band told me that I had pen serial number 9/AI 26 EH.

When I picked it up, it felt weighty and substantial. It did not need to be posted to feel balanced or to be held properly, at least not in my hand. I realize that how pens feel in the hand depends entirely on the hand that’s holding them, but when I posted the pen it felt a bit cap heavy. Without the cap being posted, the pen sat just right in the web between thumb and index finger, with the crisp cuts in the barrel band engraving making the pen feel very secure without the need to hold it very tightly. My sixth-grade penmanship teacher would be very pleased that she’d be able to come by and pluck this pen right from my fingers. However, I don’t think she’d be happy to know that she’d just committed a felony.

Design and Appearance

The m910 Toledo is sized similarly to the standard m800 Souverain. The approximate lengths are 140 mm posted, 127 mm open, and 167 mm posted. This is a large pen, but not quite the brute that the m1000 is. The closest non-Pelikan pen in size to the Toledo that I own would be my MB 146. As mentioned the pen is red, or perhaps I should say RED. This is a bit out of my normal line of preference for somewhat understated (or as a friend says, drab) appearances. I don’t know, maybe this is the start of a mid-life crisis; I could go out and buy a Porsche next.

The engraving on the barrel band is very crisply executed with the excellent choice of a matte charcoal background. As mentioned in Bill Riepl’s review, the barrel band does not affect the balance of the pen, nor does it seem to have any appreciable effect on the weight. Unlike Bill, I don’t have to return this pen to Pelikan after writing this review, so I can report that he was absolutely correct, you can indeed ink this pen up and write with it all day – I’ve done just that. I normally use three pens in any given day; writing one page of notes with each I turn, I find that this keeps my hand from tiring, and anyway variety is the spice of life, but I didn’t feel the need to do that with this pen.

Nib

Ok, here’s where the rubber meets the road, metaphorically speaking. As mentioned above, I have smallish, maybe even cramped, handwriting (sample below) so I tend to stay away from anything larger than a medium nib. Past experience has shown me that a German “fine” nib would be a little closer to what I, a confirmed Parker Vacumatic and Sheaffer PFM user would consider to be a medium, but still be able to give me a legible result.

I loaded the pen with Noodler’s “Luxury Blue” (it can be seen in the engraving on the nib at left) and brought to work for a few days’ test run. Using this ink, the pen wrote with a wet, generous line, but was not so wet that feathering was evident. The nib has lived up to the admittedly clichéd, but oh so true reputation that Pelikan has for butter-smooth nibs. The 18K, 750 nib glides over the paper that I use, a fairly close-grained notebook paper sold by Levenger. I suspect that it would do just as well writing on a paper bag. I don’t use a large amount of pressure when I write, so I didn’t really exercise the nib’s flexibility, but I got the impression that if I bore down a little bit more, the nib would show a moderate amount of flexibility.

Filling System

The Pelikan Toledo uses the same plunger system used on the rest of the Souverain line of pens. It operates smoothly and the pen seems to hold a more-than-adequate supply of ink, visible through a grey-tinted window.

Cost and Value

OK, let’s face it; we all know that this is no bargain basement pen. The cost is significant, listing well in excess of $1,000. It’s new, so you won’t be finding any big discounts yet. But when you consider that the engraving is hand executed and takes someone about a month to do, I don’t see this as an unreasonable price. Expensive, yes – but consider that the basic m800 series lists at about $350… well OK, it’s still hellishly expensive. But, the quality of materials and workmanship can make me confident that in about 25 years, with reasonable care, the pen will still be performing flawlessly and that the silver will have attained a nice patina from use and this pen will truly be one of a kind.

Conclusion

This pen is not for everyone, which goes without saying. Both the price and the color will scare some people off. But, if you’re willing to part with the cash I’d say it is well worth the premium over the normal m800 price. To quote Bill Riepl:

Based on the looks of the sample, and my experience with Pelikan M800 pen in the past, this is one that I am not going to have any trouble at all recommending. Whether to use everyday, or simply to collect. (My vote would be for the former!)

I’ll go with Bill - and I took his advice and went for the former.