Not sure which Pelikan I have...

[inkstainedadventure]

I am  new to Pelikan pens. I have been Pilot, Platinum, and Sailor pens. I am edging into German pens now and have a few Lamy and a couple of Pelikans. This one was a present to me and they were unsure what they bought. It writes fantastic but I have no idea what model it is. Any help would be appreciated.  Thank ya in advance.

[Sailor Kenshin]

What's the filling system?  Is it piston or cartridge/converter?

[inkstainedadventure]

28 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

What's the filling system?  Is it piston or cartridge/converter?

It is a piston filler

[Mysterious Mose]

18 minutes ago, inkstainedadventure said:

It is a piston filler

(This feels like 20 questions)

 

What are it's dimensions and weight?

[Sailor Kenshin]

I haven't seen a piston-filler with a nib like that.  Cool.

 

This may help.  

 

http://www.ruettinger-web.de/e-index.html

 

https://www.pelikan-collectibles.com/en/Pelikan/index.html

[tacitus]

Hello, @inkstainedadventure.

I'm so happy you like Japanese pen. But, I like Pelikan more😜. 

 

Your pen seems to be Pelikan MK20.

https://www.pelikan-collectibles.com/en/Pelikan/Models/Revised-Piston-Fillers/P1-Other/index.html

[austollie]

The MK20 appears to be the 'adult' version of the Pelikano Model 3 Antimacchia.  Both pens were made in Germany for export only.

[inkstainedadventure]

5 hours ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I haven't seen a piston-filler with a nib like that.  Cool.

 

This may help.  

 

http://www.ruettinger-web.de/e-index.html

 

https://www.pelikan-collectibles.com/en/Pelikan/index.html

I think I found it!!!  An MK20 from 1969. The photos match. Thanks for the sites!!

[Sailor Kenshin]

And now I want one, woe is me....😜

[inkstainedadventure]

18 hours ago, tacitus said:

Hello, @inkstainedadventure.

I'm so happy you like Japanese pen. But, I like Pelikan more😜. 

 

Your pen seems to be Pelikan MK20.

https://www.pelikan-collectibles.com/en/Pelikan/Models/Revised-Piston-Fillers/P1-Other/index.html

Thank you!!  It's nice to know it has a name now lol

 

18 hours ago, austollie said:

The MK20 appears to be the 'adult' version of the Pelikano Model 3 Antimacchia.  Both pens were made in Germany for export only.

I would love to find more information. Love learning the history behind the pens I use. 

[austollie]

12 hours ago, inkstainedadventure said:

I would love to find more information. Love learning the history behind the pens I use. 

 

The Pelikan collectibles website to which Tacitus provided the link in the post above is the primary source of information for me.  My collection focusses on student pens so that I am a lot more familiar with the Pelikan's Pelikano range than I am with the others.  What Pelikan did there is to have a standard version for marketing in Germany with a metal cap.  Overseas markets (particularly Italy) demanded more colour so that Pelikan developed a version with a matching cap for export only.  That's the Antimacchia variant that Pelikan produced as an alternative to its standard version for many years.  Pelikan did something similar for its office pens, including your MK20.  Many of those office pens are functionally and aesthetically very similar to the student Pelikanos pens of their day.

 

Similarly, piston fillers were not that popular in Germany by the 1970s, yet many brands (including Montblanc with its Carrera range) made piston fillers for export only.

[OMASsimo]

Looks more like the 1969 MK20 black series production rather than an export model. Metal caps were rather unusual in Germany at the time as were (semi) covered nibs. This was Pelikan’s attempt to keep afloat by a radical design change in a rapidly shrinking market.

 

Piston fillers always were popular and considered the “gold standard” in Germany. But the producers pushed cartridge fillers beginning in the 1960s - particularly for school pens and convenience - but most of all for their own profit because they were cheaper to produce. Thus, the M/MK models also came in cartridge versions as P/PK models. The Pelikan school pens were an offspring of the P1 as were all the following M/MK and P/PK models. Cartridge fillers were an attempt to fight against the success of ballpoints but all German premium makers kept piston fillers as their top models for the rich folks. For Pelikan these were the M30/M60/M100 models. And in my experience, it is easier to find those models than the corresponding P versions. This might indicate that piston fillers remained in favour in the high-end section.

[tacitus]

2 hours ago, OMASsimo said:

...But the producers pushed cartridge fillers beginning in the 1960s - particularly for school pens and convenience - but most of all for their own profit because they were cheaper to produce. Thus, the M/MK models also came in cartridge versions as P/PK models...Cartridge fillers were an attempt to fight against the success of ballpoints but all German premium makers kept piston fillers as their top models for the rich folks. For Pelikan these were the M30/M60/M100 models...

Thank you @OMASsimo. I learned a lot from you.

Pelikan produced P30, P60, but not a cartridge filler corresponding to M100 (all the metal is 14C gold!).

[OMASsimo]

12 hours ago, tacitus said:

Thank you @OMASsimo. I learned a lot from you.

Pelikan produced P30, P60, but not a cartridge filler corresponding to M100 (all the metal is 14C gold!).

 

Thank you and vice versa. That’s right, there is no cartridge filler corresponding to the M100.  That was a very expensive pen and I don’t think they sold too many. M30 and P30 seem to have been relatively popular considering the quite troubled fountain pen market around 1970.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I have a cartridge Silvexa from that era and the nib is a semi-nail, not the semi-flex of the generation before nor the nice springy regular flex of the generation after.

I am of course basing that semi-nail on the single pan I have of that era.