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I discovered a hidden B&M store today. The personnel had absolutely no clue about the writing instruments they were selling. They declared goldplated M200 nibs as gold nibs, the bicolour 14c Lamy nibs as partly gold-plated and the rhodinized 14c nibs as steel nibs. They also knew nothing about the different filling mechanisms of the pens offered. So they told me that the modern Pelikan Pura fountain pens they had were all piston fillers, "because all more expensive Pelikan pens are piston fillers". Among the Pura fountain pens was another Pelikan with a modern design that strongly reminded me of the 2003 Pelikano. The handwritten Tag on it said "Pura" and it should cost the equivalent to 65 Dollars. I was given the pen to try it out and the lady behind the counter almost freaked out when I screwed off the barrelend to reveal the black plastic cartridge holder that was inside the pen. I needed to explain to her that this was not a piston filler and no harm done to it. I took a closer look at the rhodinized nib and saw an imprint on the side: 14c 585. So this was a gold nib. I tested it on some paper that I had brought along and explained why I wasn`t using the supersmooth testing paper they had in the shop. The nib of the pen was ugly as hell with the simple design it had, but it wrote smooth and had some springyness to it, too. Quite like the famous M200 steel nibs with a bit more softness. The line this medium nib made was an Oldschool-Pelikano medium like it used to be back in the 60s, 70s and 80s. The pen had a thick grip section and felt very comfortable in the hand while writing. The body was made from aluminium and very well machined. The barrel and grip section were made of one part and had grooves cut into them as a design feature and to prevent the pen from slipping. The barrelend and the cap had a matte, slightly brushed silvergrey finish and the metal clip and the ring at the cap opening had a champaign colour. On the cap top there was a black and white Pelikan logo, showing the bird with one chick. So this pen was a relatively new model. I bought it and got an aluminium "Pura" zipper case to transport the pen in. At home I looked it up at the Ruettinger website and found out that it is a Pelikan Epoch P361 "zirconia" fountain pen and no longer produced. On another website I found the tip to rip out the plastic cartridge holder with pliers. The cartridge or converter can then be inserted without the nasty holder around it, which is said to cause an inky mess over time and thus make this pen unreliable. For me, the Epoch 361 is the luxury version of the 2003 Pelikano. And without the cartridge holder inside this will be a bulletproof nononsense workhorse of a fountain pen for sure. And one that will last for at least decades. If it wasn`t made of aluminium I would try to convert this into an eyedropper. Any fans of the Epoch around here? What are your experiences with it? strawberry