This is not a Grail: The Pelikan M700 Toledo

[AzJon]

This is not a Grail Pen. It is not rare, nor is it hard to find (not really), and it is part of the Pelikan line-up. This is a quest pen. A pen involving a journey.

13 years ago, I made the life-changing decision to study abroad in Germany for one year. I went to the international office at my school and with my only pen at the time, a Parker Frontier, I signed the papers and started the process of moving across the world. In short, my life was changed and I would never again be the person I was nor see the world in the same way ever again. I stayed for another year, the maximum time allotted by my university that I could study and still get a degree.

Why is this important? Well, for starters, I had to save a lot of money to pull off the trip in the first place and even with state-sponsored aid (thanks Baden-Württemberg!), I often didn’t have a ton of extra money (the majority of which was spent on travel when I could afford it). My second year was spent working in a kitchen making juuuuust enough to scrape by. This means that, aside from a few knick-knacks, I didn’t really have any proper souvenirs from my time there, just a beer mug I received as a Christmas gift from a friend’s father (every man needs a good mug, you see).

Flash forward to this time last year. 10 years since I was last in Germany (and, indeed, on a vacation that didn’t involve seeing family), I got my chance. A discount on tickets meant I could afford the flights and pay for somewhere to stay. Excellent.

This time I was determined to get something to commemorate my 10 year return and to finally get that trinket of my time there. I had a small pen fund going (don’t we all?), but no direction. After surveys (thanks everyone!) and much deliberation, I landed on this pen, the Pelikan Toledo. Its made in Germany and I was already a long-time fan of the brand. I knew that it was the perfect pen to celebrate trekking back to the place I buried a part of my being and will always consider my home.

So here it is: the Pelikan Toledo, M700. The barrel which is made of solid 925 silver that has been hammered to form, covered in gold using a technique that harkens back centuries to Spain (hence Toledo), and then engraved by hand into the gold. One pen takes over a month to produce. Why the 700, you may ask? Why not the 800 size M900? Three reasons, I can drop vintage nibs into the 700 if I wish, the grip sections lacks the troublesome gold ring near the nib, and the clip and finial also sport a rather unique matte finish that I find lovely. Simple, yeah?

So there it is. A Grail? Perhaps. Something I will deeply cherish? Absolutely.

Without further ado, the Pelikan Toledo: