On the Élysée brand (German manufactered, from the 1980's - 2000) Would like to hear your opinion

[ParadoXDesign]

Hi, as a fervent fountainpen collector (okay, just around 60 pens), the brand I own the most pens of is the German Élysée.
A brand that sadly went feet up around the year 2000.

Generally spoken it's one of the lesser known brands. I would like to know why.
I personally got a lot of satisfaction out of writing with these pens and really like the design.
That is, the one's from the 80's en early 90's. The later models weren't as good as the earlier ones.

 

Do you own them? If so, what attacts you to them?
If you dislike them, let me know also..!

 

Grtz,

 

Pascal

[jchch1950]

Elysee are good pens. They had limited editions that were colourful.The bodies are a little

thin but with substancial weight. I like to write with them. I think that the real problem  was the price that was high if you compare it with other well known brands. Also the change of owners and the lack of a more active information and distribution didn't help the sales of the pens .

[Biber]

When I first returned to FPs some 20 years ago I preferred thin-ish pens and an Elysee figured quite prominently in my small herd at the time. It was a very classy, blue enameled, metal-bodied pen with a very elegant and gracefully shaped nib. But my tastes soon changed and I passed it on. Great pen though. 

[mizgeorge]

I recently found my Elysee that had been missing (stuck in the mechanism of my bedside drawers) for about 20 years - having been a favourite pen for many years before that.

 

Not only did it write perfectly as soon as I dipped the nib in water, but it's been a real pleasure to use ever since. I would cheerfully have more of these - despite not generally being a fan of slim metal pens - not only because it has great sentimental value to me, but because it's just so very nice to write with!

 

[ParadoXDesign]

The limited editions were very nice indeed. Huge prices indeed. The were aiming for the higher echelon user I guess. I came in contact with the brand when they were distributed by Staedtler here in the Netherlands. A friend of mine worked there. My first fountainpen was the Laque Lapis.. Still got it.. Amongst some twenty other Élysée pens. There slim indeed, i find myself loving the slim ones and the pens with a wider girth equally.. At this time I write a lot with waterman carene.. Also very nice... But Élysée remains my special love

[Bo Bo Olson]

I have a Corona Gold Globetrotter (40 Line)
(1992 through1997) Has 24K lines on the dark gold and a map of the world at the start of the barrel.
24K gold plating on 12K black gold, (that I didn't know just thought it a dulled 'silver' metal....gold plated nib.) Lacquer clear-coat.

'Borrowed" from the book listed.

 

Mine unfortunately is NOS but no box or papers, just the 115 (DM) clip tag. It has a regular flex nib, something I would ink. I don't ink nails.

115 DM in the mid late '90's was a lot of money.

A dollar was worth 1.50 DM. or a $76.00 pen, and in the mid '90's I think that was a fairly expensive pen.

"""The Parker "95" was priced as follows:
"Insignia" $90 (£60), Laque $65 (£50), Matte $55 (£40), Flighter GT $40 (£25) and Flighter CT (£20).

The fella didn't put in the ever so many Sonnet prices...........a lot of them were real good looking pens....but I was a ball point barbarian with a P-75 set locked up in my wife's jewelry box; that I did not miss. (Then when I came back there were so, so many folks with Problems with the Sonnet, that I'd not taken one as a gift, to even see if it was one that worked. I had the best Sonnet the P-75.)

 

The other Élysée I ran into at the flea market were nails....or the guy wouldn't come down the extra 5 euro to 10 E.  Cheap looking ones. There was a time when one could get good pens ever so cheap....then came Ebay....grumble cubed..

 

I had run into affordable Élysée pens at German flea markets two or three times, but they were plain, and not the fancy ones I see in """élysée Pens
Identification, History, Gallery""

Real fancy pens there.

 

If I'd ever seen any of those they were so high priced I didn't even think about buying one..................but I tend to think I never saw one of the grand ones or I'd remembered. I tended to think of Élysée pens as cheap, so couldn't have seen the top of the line ones.

[ParadoXDesign]

Love those globetrotters..

I own a set engraved with “Republic of Jemen” in the luxury desk box… got that one not all too cheap but no leg and arm either.. 

 

Here below part of my collection.. still searching the webz for more orphaned Élysée pens

[Bo Bo Olson]

That's what happens when you put your mind to something!!!

[NDeanMeyer]

Hi, all,

 

I'm an elysee collector and researcher.  Here's the book I wrote on the marque than can help you identify most elysee models:  www.ndma.com/elysse [and click the link to the PDF]

 

Let me know if you have any questions we can explore together.

 

--Dean

 

[Biber]

The link isn't working for me. 

[ParadoXDesign]

Hi Dean! Nice to find you here too.. We've mailed a while ago.. I'm the guy who knows the guy who worked for Staedtler in the Netherlands, importing Elysee..

My collection is steadily growing here.. Hope you are well..

 

Grtz,

Pascal

 

 

[TheDutchGuy]

On 1/2/2022 at 8:19 PM, NDeanMeyer said:

Here's the book I wrote on the marque than can help you identify most elysee models:  www.ndma.com/elysse [and click the link to the PDF]

--Dean

 

There’s a typo in the link. The working link is ndma.com/elysee . Very interesting to read this, thank you for taking the time and effort to create it! 

 

Back in the early 90s my wife bought an En Vogue Laque Lapis for her mother. Unfortunately the pen did not suit her and ended up in a drawer for 35 years or so. A few years ago it was found and I brought it back to life. It’s a nice, good-quality pen and very pretty to look at.

 

[ParadoXDesign]

Nice..! The Laque Lapis! My first Élysée pen ever in the nineties!

[Bo Bo Olson]

Oxford Optic 90g is very good affordable paper....it will show shading if using a shading ink and a regular flex nib.

(Semi-flex is often too wet to shade, unless perfectly matched with a dry ink.)

 

The passed Piembi**, sent me a German school booklet Oxford Optic with some twenty different inks jumping over foxes , for my information.

I had then only three inks, one was Lamy Turquoise.

It was OK, but sort of Blaaaa.

I had looked up in Ink Reviews the then only two Lamy turquoise showed shading.... and on 90g paper. It was the first shading I'd seen..........been chasing it ever since. And when I can get it Oxford Optic 90g spiral binders is one of the three I use.

 

Some 13 years ago, there was not the info we now have, so with some 15-20 German pens she was our Pelikan and MB expert. Gave good advice on German and English inks also.

 

I had wondered about chasing a more 25% more expensive '82-90 W.Germany 400 tad springier than the Germany \91-97 nibs, and she advised me not to, in I'd been spoiled by my then two semi-flex pens; a 140 and a 400nn.

She was right.

I have 4 (5 but the NOS don't count) W.Germany nibs, and she was right.

I knew she was right with the first W.Germany nib, but flagellation is a passing hobby of mine, so I got 4 more.

(Ok one was a small 600 and the other a 800.)

 

[TheDutchGuy]

Oxford 90 g/m^2 is my favourite paper. Handles any pen, any ink. Very affordable. Good stuff. Though others have tried and didn’t like it at all.

[Dutchpen]

Hi all,

 

I have a NOS Elysee fp 90 edition (vernissage) which I want to sell. I’ve been looking for some more info about these pens but I can’t find the difference between the 90 and the no1 edition. 
 

beside the text on the backside of the caps, the pens are identical. 
 

does anyone know the differences?

 

 

thanks!

[kestrel]

My first quality fountain pen was a basic black Elysee that came as part of a personal planning system called DayTimers.  This was in 1985 when I was a U.S. Navy helicopter flight instructor and that pen was a gem.  It was a bit thin for my hand but the nib was butter smooth and the whole pen was tough.  It was a great writer.  I carried it through two aircraft carrier deployments, many smaller exercises, and four years on an admiral's staff.  It never failed me.  It made several accidental trips through the ship's laundry in a flight suit pocket and never leaked.  I wrote more than 300 letters to my wife back in Florida, filled out hundreds of reports, and it always wrote when I removed the cap.  I finally retired it when the slip ring would no longer hold the cap on but it gave me eleven years of smooth writing in spite of all the abuse it endured.  It was replaced by another Elysee with a gray lizard skin enamel pattern that still finds its way into the rotation occasionally.  Great pens.

[NDeanMeyer]

Hi, élysée fans.

 

I just released the Second Edition of my book on élysée.  It's a complete gallery, as far as I know.  It's at the same web address:  ndma.com/elysee [then click the link to the PDF]  Or you can just search for "elysee pens n dean meyer".

 

All élysée collectors, please reach out to me on direct email if you'd like to be in our little élysée "inner circle".  It's just an email distribution list.  We offer spare pens to one another, point out deals on rare models on the internet, swap notes, etc. 

 

   Dean@ndma.com

 

Enjoy!

 

--Dean

[kestrel]

I just glanced at the book.  Wow.  I will come back to it over the weekend when I can give it the attention it deserves.  It is a terrible pity that the company no longer exists.

[jchch1950]

The Elysee pens are good with some very innovative design features. They were a little overpriced but are well-built and good writers.