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Dear members of the forum, today I went into a bookstore (!) to order a book and at the checkout, behind the counter hidden away in a dark corner, I saw this little box. I think I have been to this store a hundred times but had never seen it before: http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg565/Serlo78/Mobile%20Uploads/E432945C-B1A4-4225-ABE0-BF05700891C4_zpsquftkf6q.jpg Of course, I had to have a look at this because I know that some of you are Pelikan aficionados and I have only read good things about Pelikan so far; I think my first school fountain pen actually was a Pelikan, alas, I lost it. So the lady hand the box over to me and I had a look at the back of the box and knew immediately that this, indeed, is a very old pen. The price is still in DM and the postal code has only got four digits (I think that this was changed in the 90s, although I am not sure when exactly). The price for this pen was 188 DM (about 125 if converted into today's currency so it was far from being a cheap pen even back then) and it says that the box is modeled after the original presentation box from 1897. It also says that it contains a M400 schildpatt brown - I had never seen this combination before - with an M nib and a bottle of ink "1897". http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg565/Serlo78/Mobile%20Uploads/B89CAB33-765C-400F-88AD-88D5D88A0C7A_zpsbww1trvi.jpg I was very close to buying an M805 Stresemann a couple of weeks ago, but didn't pull the trigger and decided to go for the Montblanc WE Balzac instead. Well, I am still waiting for this pen to arrive. Of course, I had to ask how much it was. "Oh, this is a very old pen, indeed. We used to sell pens, but we stopped selling them about 20 years ago. Nowadays you can get cheaper pens from big chains like Müller, and this is the only one left. I ordered it for a doctor, but he went for a green pen and I kept this brown one. Actually I thought about keeping it myself as no one buys pens and stationary here anymore." "Can I have a look at it?" "Of course you can!" So I opened the box and this is what I saw: What a beautiful pen it is and I like the brown translucent body; I don't have to explain that it was love at first sight! http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg565/Serlo78/Mobile%20Uploads/9599351A-649E-4220-B589-4EC388448C75_zpsgu6knyhr.jpg http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg565/Serlo78/Mobile%20Uploads/6C76A61D-EF0D-41DF-9BC4-5AB362A8DE75_zpsjohuqlau.jpg http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg565/Serlo78/Mobile%20Uploads/8014D86E-4D5A-45EE-8926-57FFBEFD0A3E_zpscqfadx4s.jpg I also had a look at the nib. This 14C gold nib is not like the bicolour nibs that Pelikan uses today, but it looks very nice, indeed. http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg565/Serlo78/Mobile%20Uploads/810AD9E4-E4F4-4CA2-9AF1-F079FEB18FB1_zpsspilaa6m.jpg http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg565/Serlo78/Mobile%20Uploads/3FA898C4-0080-4449-9718-050FE3ACF2EC_zpssevzfwvl.jpg And now, what did I pay? She gave it to me for less than the price I would have had to pay when it was produced (and much less than I would have to pay for a new pen), so I guess that this is a bargain that none of you could have resisted. And apparently the pen has never been inked before. I don't want to try it today as I am still at work (without a bottle of ink and I don't want to open the bottle that came with the pen; do you think that this ink still can be used? Probably not...). I can't wait for tomorrow when the pen is going to write for the very first time after at least 25 years. Can someone tell me more about the pen I bought? I wonder when it was manufactured and how old it really is. Is it enough to flush the pen before inking it? Or would you leave the pen untouched as it is (I don't think that I can do that as I am not a collector but a user). I hope that I can take more pictures tomorrow (with writing samples). The nib feels as if it was rather flexible - I had to "write" with it, even if it wasn't inked - and it also feels quite smooth. Thank you for bearing with me and I hope that you enjoy the pictures.