I have friend who is in his 90s, who I meet for coffee from time to time. He told me that "if you don't have a Pelikan, you don't have a pen". Pelikans are so rare around here that I had previously only handled two of them. I went to visit a friend a few days ago and I related this to him, and he produced a 6 pen wrap with 7 Pelikans in. He was very insistent that I take his M400 NN, though I do not feel good about taking people's nice things, I did, after refusing it many times, eventually take it. So I have cleaned it up and filled it with Edelstein Jade ink. This pen dates to the early 1950 period. I can tell this from the stripes, the feed and the nib. Before I go any further I want to say that if I were allowed only one pen, it would be this. A number of things surprised me about it. The barrel has transparency, like a Parker Vacumatic, so you can see how much ink is in it. The nib is a springy (rather than flexy) stub. It has quite a bit of feedback, to the point that it actually squeaks from time to time. The feedback means that this pen never feels out of control and difficult to hold back, like some buttery smooth pens I have used. Unposted this is a very nice size in my hand. It seems to hold quite a lot of ink. I will see how long one filling lasts. I like the interchangeability of the nib. Just like Esterbrook, nib changing is just a matter of screwing a new one in. In my opinion, this is a highly practical pen. Engineering design and function appear to be the first consideration, with its appearance and aesthetics being large a result of "form following function". The black cap with gold trim, and green barrel make for a very classic looking pen. The piston apparatus is smooth and easy to operate. It makes the pen very easy to flush and fill. It is much easier to flush than the 1940 Parker Vac that it is currently sharing a pouch with. So far it has had no difficulty starting and tracks my very fast signature with ease.
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