pen size comparisons

[tomee]

hey guys,

 

newbie here sorry

im not soo much of a pen enthusiasts, but my wife has just started becoming interested in calligraphy / fountain pens and i thought i would surprise her with a kind of 'step up' pen.

 

thought id register on here

 

i have read the FAQ and went through the links for a pen suitable for a woman.

i know she wants something small, as currently she has a beginners calligraphy pen that looks to be small at around 4-5" long, and thin

 

so ive kind of narrowed it down size wise to:

 

Pelikan M2xxx to the M4xxx

mont blanc 145

visconti? im not sure what range is small

 

price range: around $400AU give or take

 

sory if posts like these are always asked, but i have searched and couldnt find much size comparisons

 

thanks

Edited November 16, 2009 by tomee

[jar]

Check Relative Pen Sizes.

[tomee]

thanks for that.

 

i just went into a store and physically saw the size of hte MB 145 and its a good size.

 

very helpful salesperson aswell.

 

i asked him if MB do pends that have nibs that are interchangeable with a calligraphy one, and he said no.

 

so my question is if there is a pen out there that can do this?

[langere]

As I understand it, there aren't really fountain pens that are calligraphy pens. One reason is that you do not want to use calligraphy ink (that might have iron gall) with fountain pen ink. The calligraphy inks can mess up the ink flow mechanisms in a fountain pen. That said, you can get some really neat fountain pens with different kinds of nibs and also flex that can make for interesting handwriting.

 

I'm sure others can chime in who have more expertise.

 

Good luck!

 

Erick

[jar]

True calligraphy nibs generally suck for normal use. Cursive Italic nibs work better for all around use allowing line variation as well as smooth writing.

 

Pelikan is a modern company that has interchangeable nibs, I think some Lamy pens do. Conway Stewart offers Cursive Italic nibs from fine to broad. Montblanc does offer oblique nibs and the Montblanc Bold is a flat stub or cursive italic.

[limesally]

It depends what kind of calligraphy she wants to do. It can certainly be argued that "true" calligraphy shouldn't really be done with a fountain pen, but if you have a look here at FPN member Caliken's samples done with inexpensive fountain pens with italic nibs. Inexpensive (but very nice anyway) would be Manuscript, Sheaffer No-nonsense, or Lamy Safari/Vista with the italic nib.

 

If you still want a "step up" kind of pen, Pelikan nibs are readily interchangeable and you could get her a Pelikan 2xx or P4xx with a regular round writing nib and an italic nib as well. Richard Binder would be one source, but I'm sure there are others. It's worth looking at his site to see examples of what can be done with italic (and other) nibs on a fountain pen.

Edited November 16, 2009 by limesally

[tomee]

wow awesome fast replies!

 

i love this forum already, and you guys might make me want to take up writing

 

the writing she is into is more italics, where the lines can go from thin to a nice thick rounded part.. i hope im explaining myself well as im still trying to learn about this for her. (the things you do for love)

 

are the pelikan 2xx and 4xx similar in size to the 145?

 

i really liked the filling system of the MB too. how you could use a cartridge aswell and fill it up with a ink bottle

[cowboyjack]

Since you asked... those Pelikan 200s are a great starter pen and all kinds of italic nibs are available at very reasonable prices. Not a true caligraphy pen like a dip pen, but you can have an awful lot of fun for a very reasonable price. I'm not sure how much shipping is to Australia, but Binder or Mottishaw have great pre-ground nibs for the Pelikan.

[jar]

From what you said in the OP I guess you're in Australia.

 

If you are anywhere near Melbourne there seems to be a pretty active pen group there.

 

A couple places and folk you might want to check with are Melbourne Vintage Pens (Peter Ford) and Old Post Office pens.

 

The Pelikan 200/400s are about the same size as the MB 145 but are piston fillers, so bottled ink only. However they also hold far more ink than any cartridge or converter.

[tomee]

thanks again guys.

 

to clarify, we're talking about the soveran line correct?

particularly the m300, m400.

i see there is a R400, R405 a R420 a R425

what are the differences with them all?

 

looking at their website and numbers confuse the hell out of me as im a simple man

Edited November 16, 2009 by tomee

[Deirdre]

For Pelikan, the R series are rollerballs. The M series ending in 5 have rhodium trim, so an M400 and an M405 are basically the same (but offered in different colors). The M420 and M425 are different models with sterling silver caps, not sure why they're different model numbers.

[bernardo]

For calligraphy I strongly recommend the Lamy Joy.

[tomee]

thank you again for the info guys

 

really appreciate it.

 

now that i think about it, it will be pretty fidly to muck around with a fountain pen to do calligraphy work.

so i might aswell get her a lamy joy calligraphy set, and a dedicated writing pen aswell...

[tomee]

looks like ill be getting the wife a pelikan m300, but is there anything similar in size without the gold trimmings?

 

having a look at some without gold such as the omas bologna

Edited November 16, 2009 by tomee

[Yuki Onitsura]

looks like ill be getting the wife a pelikan m300, but is there anything similar in size without the gold trimmings?

 

I think a Lamy Logo would be about the same girth as the M300, though it's probably a bit longer. Slightly more versatile than the M300 as well since the spare nibs are a fair bit cheaper (partly because they're steel rather than gold, and partly because they're Lamy rather than Pelikan).

 

Yuki

[Penong]

Hi tomee,

 

You have a lucky wife.

 

Just in case you had not seen the Pelikans together the M300 is a lot smaller than either the M200 or M400.

 

This site http://www.richardspens.com has a comparison shot of the sizes at the bottom of their Pelikan page.

 

Can't work out how to link directly to the page, sorry.

 

Cheers

Edited November 16, 2009 by Penong

[WendyNC]

Hi tomee,

 

This site http://www.richardspens.com has a comparison shot of the sizes at the bottom of their Pelikan page.

 

Cheers

 

And here's a direct link to the page.

 

Welcome to FPN!

[lapis]

The best FPs for a small hand that I can think of would be a Pelikan M320 (Souverän series) or an Aurora Optima Mini.

The Optima Mini is about 3-4 mm longer and 3 mm wider than the M320.

Look at both of their websites.

For a basis of the Pelikan Ms' measurements, see also Richard's site here.

 

Best wishes.

 

Mike

[Flourish]

$400 to spend you say.

 

A complete set of Pilot Parallel pens and two Pelikan M200's with custom ground nibs by Mr. Binder or Mottishaw. Or a complete set of Lamy Safari's and a Pelikan M200 with Italic nib. Or...

 

The possibilities are almost endless.

[holgalee]

May I suggest a Pelikan M400 white tortoise with a nib that's been tuned? The M200/M400 size pens are really comfortable for small hands and the white tortoise is classy looking. I thought I saw a Pelikan music nib being advertised somewhere; but I may be dreaming. :-) Perhaps get a nice pen case as well.