Pelikan Puzzle: M200 Body with M400 Nib?

[dezro]

I'm a bit puzzled by this pen I got recently, it seems to be a late-1980s M200 (the cap band is marked 'W-Germany'), but it’s fitted with a 14c nib. Could the nib be a later addition? I don’t think it can be an M400, as I’m not aware of this colour being part of that series. What do you think?  

 

[Karmachanic]

https://www.pelikan-collectibles.com/en/Pelikan/Models/Classic-Series/M200-Basis/index.html

 

Looks like either a 200 with a 400 nib, or a 250.

 

[Christopher Godfrey]

<Could the nib be a later addition?>  You've got it -- exactly as Karmachanic says...

[dezro]

1 hour ago, Karmachanic said:

https://www.pelikan-collectibles.com/en/Pelikan/Models/Classic-Series/M200-Basis/index.html

 

Looks like either a 200 with a 400 nib, or a 250.

 

Appreciate the reply, thank you. Don't think it can be a 250 though, I believe these did not come with a crown top

[dezro]

1 minute ago, Christopher Godfrey said:

<Could the nib be a later addition?>  You've got it -- exactly as Karmachanic says...

👍

[InkyProf]

I'm still puzzled. I think that both the M200 and M250 came with the "old style" non-crown cap until 1997, which means that any crown cap in this size with a "W.-Germany" engraving should originally have been from an early M400, where the pre-1997 pens did have crown caps. I don't actually own a W.-Germany M400, but I've just tried swapping the caps from a couple of post-'97 M400s onto the bodies of my W.-Germany M250 and M200, and they're sized and/or threaded differently. Does your cap thread on smoothly, or do you feel a hitch when doing it? If the former, then either you have a previously unrecognized colorway in the early M400 (in which case the nib is probably original) or the threading of M400 caps and M200/250 bodies is compatible but only within the "old style" period (and you have an M400 cap on an M200/250 body, possibly with a swapped nib, possibly not, if the body was originally an old style M250).

 

[All this Old Style talk is making this ex-Chicagoan thirsty.]

[Lam1]

This seems to be an old style M250 with the cap of an M400 of the same era (they fit, I just checked).

[InkyProf]

4 minutes ago, Lam1 said:

This seems to be an old style M250 with the cap of an M400 of the same era (they fit, I just checked).

Thank you for checking that! (I guess I need to fill this gap in my collection.)

[Lam1]

3 hours ago, InkyProf said:

Thank you for checking that! (I guess I need to fill this gap in my collection.)

 

You are welcome. 

But I am intrigued by the fact that your pre and post 97 caps do not swap. I just went downstair to check, and mine seem to all fit without problems, regardless of era or if they are M200/M215/M250 or M400/M450. Now I am puzzled!   

[InkyProf]

Mea culpa: I've just done a more careful and systematic test using all 3 of my old style M200/250 pens and all 3 of my post-97 M400s, and I think my original result was a partly a fluke and partly a mistake. The fluke: for some reason, the cap from the M400 I picked up to test the first time doesn't fit well on one old-style M200. I thought it didn't fit well on an old-style M250 either, but this time it seems to be okay, and my other two newer M400 caps work fine on all three old-style pens, and the M200/250 caps work fine from one pen to another and also with the M400s. So: one bad fit out of 36 possible combinations. (The mistake: the other pen I used in my first test was not an M400, it was a 400 from the 1950s that was out of order in the tray. That cap definitely doesn't fit, but I wouldn't have expected it to.) Sorry for the premature report!

[Lam1]

4 hours ago, InkyProf said:

Mea culpa: I've just done a more careful and systematic test using all 3 of my old style M200/250 pens and all 3 of my post-97 M400s, and I think my original result was a partly a fluke and partly a mistake. The fluke: for some reason, the cap from the M400 I picked up to test the first time doesn't fit well on one old-style M200. I thought it didn't fit well on an old-style M250 either, but this time it seems to be okay, and my other two newer M400 caps work fine on all three old-style pens, and the M200/250 caps work fine from one pen to another and also with the M400s. So: one bad fit out of 36 possible combinations. (The mistake: the other pen I used in my first test was not an M400, it was a 400 from the 1950s that was out of order in the tray. That cap definitely doesn't fit, but I wouldn't have expected it to.) Sorry for the premature report!

 

No worries. I'm glad it got sorted out!

Those 1990's gold nibs are fantastic, aren't they?

They are some of my favorite ones.

[InkyProf]

40 minutes ago, Lam1 said:

Those 1990's gold nibs are fantastic, aren't they?

They are some of my favorite ones.

Mine too. One of my 250s and one of my 200s actually have early 18c m600 nibs in them, which are lovely too.

[dezro]

Many thanks to everyone for the additional replies and for taking the time to test caps and share your knowledge!

I can also confirm the cap threads on perfectly, with no issue, so the consensus around an old-style M250 body with an M400-era cap (and gold nib) makes a lot of sense. And the nib is a wonderful, smooth writer.