Pelikan M750 Jubilee

[Mike S.]

Today, I received a wonderful pen from John Mottishaw and Classic Fountain Pens (www.nibs.com) -- a NOS Pelikan M750 Jubilee in Silver. I am very excited about this pen and wanted to share it with you! Here's a picture, lifted from www.nibs.com:

 

http://www.nibs.com/www/WEBSITE%20PICS/Pelikan%20website%20pics/M750JubileeSilverUncapped.jpg

 

http://www.nibs.com/www/WEBSITE%20PICS/Pelikan%20website%20pics/M750JubileeSilverCapped.jpg

 

http://www.nibs.com/www/WEBSITE%20PICS/Pelikan%20website%20pics/M750JubileeSilverCapAndNibDetail.jpg

 

I ordered mine with a fine nib and asked John to set it up to write as smoothly as possible with an inkflow of 7 on John's scale of 1 to 10. This is my birthday present to myself (my wife would never buy me a pen but it's a gift in itself that she doesn't complain too much when I buy them for myself). It was a total impulse purchase on my part -- I had never seen or heard of this pen before I stumbled across it on John's website the other day and decided to buy it on the spur of the moment. I'm glad I did.

 

It is based on an old-style M600 pen (smaller than the current M600 and the same size as the current M400 or M200 pens) with the old-style 2-tone Pelikan nib. According to John's website, "The Pelikan M750 Jubilee Silver is a striking gold-on-silver two tone piston filler which Pelikan brought out in 1988 to celebrate its illustrious 150 year history. The production ended in 1995." I really like the look of the older-style nib. To my eye, the nib is perfectly proportioned to the size and width of the pen.

 

This is not a heavy pen (I was expecting it to be based on the metal overlay) but in fact feels "just right" to me (whereas I find the standard M400 or M200 to be a bit on the light side, though not objectionably so). Upon opening the box (and old-style black felt clamshell box) and admiring the pen for a few minutes, I flushed the pen with a diluted water:ammonia mix (my usual M.O.), rinsing well with plain water afterwards, and filled it with my usual Aurora Blue ink.

 

It writes very well -- the nib is very smooth with no skipping or start-up problems evident so far. I like Pelikan fines, and this is my second good example (though both are the old-style nibs). Because the metal overlay has a barleycorn pattern, the body does not show fingerprints as much as my Silver 625 pen -- which, by the way, is quite heavy by comparison. The cap does, however, have a smooth rectangular box (do they call this a cartouche?) where one would presumably have one's initials engraved. This spot does show fingerprints, but is relatively easy to avoid as it is on the opposite side of the cap from the clip. So far, my favorite detail of the pen is the silver button at the top of the cap (in the old-style M600s of this era, the cap button was black with the Pelikan bird in the nest outlined in green) -- a nice surprise as it did not jump out at my from the pictures on the website. I also really like the green ink view window. The piston gasket inside is clear rubber.

 

I like Pelikan pens a lot and have a number of them (12 counting this one, 9 modern and 3 vintage). So far, I've never had any serious performance issues with any of my Pelikans -- they just work. I attribute this, in part, to their proven design and high-quality Bock-sourced nibs, but also to the fact that I have purchased nearly all of these pens from John Mottishaw. He sets them up to my specifications and tunes and/or customizes the nibs to perfection. I really believe it's worth the extra money to buy a pen from a repair-savvy reseller like John or Richard Binder and to know that the pen has been set up and tested before shipment and that the reseller will stand behind the pen and tweak it if it's not right when you get it. (I gather from other posts on this site that Chartpak's customer service is quite good -- so far I've never had to use it).

 

If you have a taste for gold, the M760 model might appeal to you (too much gold for me):

 

http://www.nibs.com/www/WEBSITE%20PICS/Pelikan%20website%20pics/M760JubileeGoldCapAndNibUncapped.jpg

 

Here's a link to the description of the M760 on John's website:

 

www.nibs.com/pelikanM750JubileeSilver.htm

 

I am very pleased with this purchase. With its nice weight and size, interesting look and feel in the hand, and great performing nib, I have a feeling I will end up reaching for this pen fairly often.

[teaguejb]

Wow. That's a striking pen. Nice find!

[Greg D]

Happy Birthday and congrats on your new pen! I have always liked the looks of the M750 but have never had the funds available when the pen became available. I do have a M430 (Sterling silver cap with gold trim) and the silver with gold accents is a very nice contrast. Congrats.

 

Greg~

[omasfan]

Wonderful pen! Thanks for directing our attention to it! I didn't know that it even existed.

[Ed44]

Congrats on an absolutely beautiful pen.

[greencobra]

Count me in as another one who never saw this before. Beautiful pen. Congrats on the birthday and the pen.

[CharlieB]

Wonderful pen! Thanks for directing our attention to it! I didn't know that it even existed.

 

My sentiments exactly! Does anybody know when these pens were manufactured?

[Abhik]

Congratulations! I am a proud owner of M760! I know the quality of M760/M750. Enjoy yours!

Regards,

Abhik.

[Mike S.]

Wonderful pen! Thanks for directing our attention to it! I didn't know that it even existed.

 

Does anybody know when these pens were manufactured?

 

 

According to John's post on the website, they were made between 1988 (Pelikan's 150th anniversary year) and 1995. Apparently, the earlier models had the "1838-1988" on the cap, but that was later dropped.

 

I would guess that my example is an early one because it does have the 1838-1988 on the cap and it says "Made in W. Germany." As far as I know, there was no such country after 1990. (I don't know when they stopped putting "W. Germany" and started putting just "Germany" on their pens).

 

An additional tidbit: according to John's post on the website, the 750 and 760 Jubilee pens "were look-a-likes to the model 520 series of the fifties." Anyone seen a vintage 520?

 

Mike

[Ten Thumbs]

I've had one since 1989 or so and cannot say enough good things about it.

It is awfully fun to pull out in a "power meeting" where everyone else is wearing a Mont Blanc....

(Yes, I probably do need a life!)

[Ed Ronax]

I have the pair, even if the 760 is too much gold you have to have the set. Thanks for the great review.

[breaker]

nice review on a nice pen