Pelikan M800 Renaissance Brown Special Edition, M800 18K Medium, inked with Kyo No Oto No.05 Aonibi

This pen has grown on me over the 15 months I have had it - I now really like the whisky brown cracked ice pattern.

This nib arrived in my collection in M800 Royal Gold Raden - it is a slightly uninspiring medium that I feel writes a bit drier than some of my other nibs. I should get it adjusted at some stage.

The second of Kyo No Oto inks the enter rotation. I will probably get the other five colours available at some stage soon.

I don't know if it is the nib or the ink or both but I am underwhelmed by this ink's colour. It is a pretty standard blue-black. These inks are supposed to made with traditional dyes so I am possibly wanting more than a nice watercolour look.

Pelikan M120 Green-Black Special Edition, M101N 14K Broad, inked with Kyo No Oto No.04 Yamabukiiro

This little Green-Black school pen is back in rotation after only 72 days rather the average of 140 due to a quirk in my new pen/nib/ink selection method where I select by nib. It is good to use this pen again so soon.

My broad M101N nib that is rather wet and slightly squeaky. 

I had long resisted buying any Kyo No Oto ink because I knew once I get one I would have to collect them all. Well I have two of these inks now thanks to a fellow Fountain Pens Australia member who was culling his ink collection. I will probably buy the remaining five colours in the coming weeks.

Kyo No Oto inks comes in a nice little squat 40ml bottle that are a good shape to a fill from. I so love the minimalism that are these inks labels.

Yamabukiiro is named after a flowering plant from the Rosaceae family. It is a lovely golden yellow but my scanner produces an image slightly darker than reality. This ink shades well and I really like the sunny colour.

Pelikan M400 Black/Green Striated, M250 14K 0.9mm CI, inked with Robert Oster Signature Sydney 2018 Lavender

I am still partial ignoring my database's recommendations when it comes to the next combination into rotation. I wanted to use the ink I received at the Sydney Pen Show in a broad nib and my database was offering a fine nib so I again went off script.

I don't mind as I always enjoy using my little M400 Black/Green Striated pen. It is pocketable and is such a classic Pelikan.

The broad nib I chose is another of my many Richard Binder custom grinds - this, a 0.9mm cursive italic on a M250 model nib.

The special Sydney 2018 show ink made by Robert Oster is called Lavender. I received a bottle free as I was within the first 100 to buy tickets and I bought a second bottle on the off chance one of my pen group members would like a bottle. However it is not a show exclusive as this colour will become available as part of the general range in the near future.

I will say at the outset that the images below do not give the full picture of the colour range of this ink as my scanner struggles to reproduce accurately some tones in the violet range. The actual writing samples show a range of shading and a different colour in the dark parts of the letters. These writing samples were done on 52gsm Tomoe River and I feel that I need to try this ink on other paper-stock to see how it performs. I am currently undecided as to whether I like this ink or not.

Pelikan M620 Athens, M600 14K Medium, inked with Montblanc Swan Illusion Plume

One of prettiest M620 pens comes back into use. I love the blue and yellow-green bands of colour on the Athens. The cap and barrel colours never line up - The lack of symmetry irks me greatly.

A nice old 14K medium nib that writes well and never gives trouble.

Swan Illusion Plume is a weird name for an ink. But a quick google explained it all. This ink is from the "Patron of the Arts" series and is dedicated the Ludwig II, who was known of the Swan King. His early life is said to inspire the ballet Swan Lake. The colour of ink is inspired by the colour of swam plumage.

The label on the bottom of the bottle of this ink describes the colour as taupe. What colour is taupe? Greyish brown or brownish grey, or something like that?  I didn't expect to like this colour but I actually do, it is so different to almost any other colour of ink that I own. It shades nicely and gives a very nice "watercolour" look. I reckon it is more of a light taupe... 

Pelikan M400 Tortoiseshell Brown Special Edition, M400 14K Medium, inked with Pelikan Edelstein Jade

This is the newer of my two M400 series Brown Tortoises. It is a great little pen which I always look forward to using.

A pretty standard M400 medium nib. It writes well without being anything special.

The last of my recent purchases makes its way into use. This is also the last of my full set of standard series Edelstein inks to be used.

An OK shade of green, I normally prefer my green inks to be on the darker side. This ink shades well but no sheen to be seen.

Pelikan M205 Yellow Demonstrator, M400 14K 0.6mm CI, inked with J.Herbin 1798 Cornaline d'Egypte

The M205 Yellow Demonstrator is one of my oldest and least expensive Pelikan. It scores the lowest rating so gets inked up with all my sparkly inks.

I picked up this two tone M400 14K 0.6mm Cursive Italic nib almost six months ago off eBay. I am always on the lookout for Richard Binder custom ground nibs. The seller of this nib said it was too crisp for them and while it is crisper than my other CIs it is not overly so. A great little nib!

Its the first use for this latest edition of J.Herbin 1798 range. Cornaline d'Egypte or Egyptian Carnelian is a brown-red mineral that was used in ancient times to make signet rings and scarabs.

Cornaline d'Egypte is certainly an interesting shade of orange-brown. The silver sparkles provide a nice addition of bling. This fine cursive italic probably doesn't show this ink to its best. I quite like this ink.

Pelikan M600 Tortoiseshell White Special Edition, M620 18K Fine, inked with Pelikan Edelstein Onyx

This pen is the oldest of my four white capped M600. The White Tortie features a lovely honey gold body and white cap, grip and blind cap. I really love this combination of colours.

This old M620 18K fine nib is a great performing nib. It writes more like a modern extra fine nib.

This is the first of the last two Edelstein inks I needed to complete my set of the standard range of inks. I am actually only missing one of the inks of year versions - the 2013 Amber to have full set.

Onyx is a pretty standard black ink. It shades slightly from this fine nib and should be a good ink for the office.

Pelikan M800 Black/Green Striated, M800 18K 0.9mm Stub, inked with Pelikan Edelstein Ruby

I do enjoy the return to rotation of the classic green striated Pelikan pen. This pen, the M800 size, is as big as I enjoy for everyday use.

This 18K gold nib left the factory as an oblique broad (OB), but I could never get it to write well for me, so I got my local pen shop to grind it down to a stub. It produces a line width of 0.9mm, but doesn't have the extreme variation of some of the nibs I have from more notable nibmeisters.

Pelikan Edelstein bottles are really solid pieces of glass. They hold 50ml of ink and are shaped to allow easy filling of even the largest of nibs.

Edelstein Ruby shades pretty well, and has a very slight gold sheen on Tomoe River, but at the end of the day it is not the most exciting red that I own.

Pelikan M101N Lizard Special Edition, M101N 14K Rhodium Fine, inked with Pelikan Edelstein Tanzanite

Due to a change in the way I select my next pen, nib, and ink combination (I will detail the changes in a future post), my black and grey M101N Lizard returns to use in just 50 days after it was last in my rotation.

The M101N 14K Fine in full rhodium plating only gets used with the Lizard and was last in use nearly six months ago. So when my database said I had to select by nib today the Lizard had to come along for the ride. This is a good fine nib. I hope Pelikan make more M101N with 'silver' trim so I can add more of this model of nib to my collection.

The second of my recent Edelstein purchases to make its way into rotation. Pelikan's version of Tanzanite is a bit of a different colour to Private Reserve's. I classify this ink as a Blue-Black (yeah I know blue-black is a pretty broad church). It's going to be a good colour for the office and has the added interest of sheening red on Tomoe River paper..

Pelikan M800 Tortoiseshell Brown Special Edition, M800 18K Fine, inked with Pelikan Edelstein Sapphire

One of my favourites the big brown Tortie makes its way into rotation for the 14th time in the 5⅓ years I have owned it.

A fairly recently acquired M800 18K fine that writes pretty close to its sizing - though this nib is a tad dry for my liking.

I was in a pen buying lull on the weekend with nothing on the horizon till at least September, so while at a local pen shop I decided to continue my quest to acquire all of the Pelikan Edelstein inks. I was able to add this ink - the Sapphire, plus two others to my collection. I can't say that the line and colour of the Sapphire Blue is really doing much for me from this fine nib. It is a decent mid-blue but I have lots of decent mid-blues in my collection.

Pelikan M101N Bright Red Special Edition, M101N 14K Fine, inked with Pilot iroshizuku kosumosu

The newest of my four M101N pens, the Bright Red, makes its sixth appearance in my rotation. I hear rumours of a new M101N edition to be released in early 2019 - hopefully it will not feature red anywhere on it...

On a whim I bought this nib as a spare to complete my set of single tone gold M101N nibs. It writes with a fine line and is not as wet as some of my other Pelikan fine nibs.

Surprisingly enough I love pink coloured ink. Pink like much like orange generally shades extremely well and this ink from Pilot is no exception, giving the full gambit from pale rose to a dark candy pink. It is so pretty. :)

Pelikan M815 Metal Striped Special Edition, M805 18K Medium, inked with Montegrappa Black

Pelikan number 65 made its way into my collection yesterday. Formally called the M815 Metal Striped Special Edition, this pen is an interesting beast. I say beast because it is heavy. I weighed it on my digital kitchen scales and it comes in at 37 grams capped, as a reference my M805 Stresemann weighs just 30 grams. All the extra weight is in the body as the cap is identical to a normal M800 one. Why? Well those stripes are inlayed, with palladium plated brass. Notably all the other 'furniture' on this pen is also palladium plated. In the hand the extra weigh is not a drawback but rather an advantage as it makes the pen feel more solid and correct. I really like the way Pelikan has gone with the design of this pen.

This pen comes standard with a full rhodium plated 18K gold nib. I chose to get a medium width not because I particularly like the size but it was the only size left for me to get to complete my set of all available sizes in M805 rhodium plated. Whilst I am not a fan of medium this is a very good nib, smooth, wet, but with not an overly wide line. This an enjoyable nib straight out of the box.

I felt I only had the choice of a black or grey for the ink colour to suit this pen. In the end I chose Montegrappa Black. There is not much I can say about this ink other than it is a nice workmanlike black. 

The M805 Stresemann and the M815 Metal Striped SE.

Pelikan M320 Jade Green Special Edition, M300 14K Extra Fine, inked with Rohrer & Klingner Smaragdrün

Getting this M320 Jade Green Special Edition pen has been a saga. It was released in 2007 so this pen was only to be found on the secondary market. I had four seperate attempts over three years to get one. The first was a purchase from a Japanese store using the White Rabbit buying service. Someone beat me to placing their order for the same pen 30 seconds before me. The second attempt was 18 months later from a Japanese vendor on eBay. I paid my money and two days later they cancelled the sale, no reason given, but I got a refund. The third attempt was three months ago, again eBay, this time out of the UK, this one got to Australia but was lost by a local courier - so close, but yet so far. I got a refund after a month on that one. Then just last week my permanent search on eBay surfaced one again from a vendor in Japan (I wonder if the majority of this model were sold in Japan). I bought it and waited for something to go wrong but it made it successfully here - so four times a charm.

This pen is lovely shade of green and the material is almost identical to that of the M600 Vibrant Green Special Edition.

I am so happy to finally get this pen and to complete my set of M320 models.

I really wish that Pelikan would grind their Extra Fine nibs like this these days. Look at that tipping - it produces fine vertical lines with slightly broader horizontals. The nib itself has a bit of tarnish on the Pelikan symbol but that does not detract from its use.

I tried to find a green ink to ink up for this pen's first use but the nearest I could find near the top of the list was R&K Smaradgrun - which is more of a bluish-green. This ink shades beautifully even from this fine nib.

Pelikan M300 Black/Green Striated, M300 14K Fine, inked with Pelikan Edelstein Mandarin

The smallest model Pelikan, the M300 is purely a pocket pen and I can only use it for any length of time if I post the cap.

A great little writer this fine nib is marred by a discolouration of the nib. It doesn't affect the performance so I don't try to fix it.

I picked up this ink secondhand from a member of my local pen group who was disappointed in the lack shading. It does shade but not all that much other than that is a good citrus orange. On a side note I think this is an outlier in the Edelstein range as I believe unlike all the others it is not named for a precious stone but for the citrus fruit.

Pelikan M800 Royal Gold Raden Limited Edition, M800 18K Medium, inked with Montblanc Petit Prince Red Fox

The fourth use for my most expensive pen and pride of my collection. I love my Royal Gold Raden Limited Edition.

A very good older M800 medium nib (two chicks and the PF for swiss made) that writes very well with a finer line than my modern medium nibs.

I like the little squat Montblanc bottles but am not that happy that they have grown in size (and cost) to 50ml.

I have yet to make up my mind about the Petit Prince Fox Red ink. It shades but 99% of orange inks shade. No sheen but I don't think any of my orange inks sheen. Does this muted orange shade do it for me?

Pelikan M120 Green-Black Special Edition, M250 14K BB, inked with Visconti Turquoise

My third new pen in 14 days! Almost a record. Well once I bought the M120 Iconic Blue I knew that I had to hunt down the original release in the series. Its official name is the Pelikan M120 Green-Black Special Edition. It is the classic school pen look with very simple lines and little decoration beyond the clip and single cap band. I am really taken with minimal look of these pens.

The Green-Black came with a steel extra fine nib which I shall not be using. I paired it instead for its first use with one of my oldest Pelikan nibs, the M250 14K double broad, it is a lovely smooth wet nib.. This nib is probably one of the few that left the retailer (Richard Binder) still in its factory form. I daresay most were converted to a broad cursive italic or stub italic.

Whilst I own zero Visconti pens I do own all of their standard inks. The Turquoise is a really pretty colour that shades very well from this broad nib. It even shows a bit of red sheen in places.

Pelikan M120 Iconic Blue Special Edition, M101N 14K Extra Fine, inked with Montblanc Emerald

I resisted the temptation to add another Pelikan model to my collecting scope for almost two years. I did so well but immediately failed when I saw images of this pen, the M120 Iconic Blue Special Edition. It is the second release in the M120 range, the first being a Black cap with green body version released in early 2016. (I have one of those on the way to me at the moment as well). The original M120 peens were sold between 1955-1965 and were classed as a 'school pen'. What really grabbed me was the minimal look of this pen with no blind cap bands and the lack of bling about the pelikan symbol in the cap top. This pen is slightly longer than a M200 when capped and is exactly the same length uncapped. It is a very light pen being all plastic. 

The M120 came with a very nice looking gold plated steel fine nib. I have made arbitrary decision not to use steel nibs in my pens so this nib will be sold off at some stage. I intend to pair this pen with my range of M101N, M250 and M400 single tone gold nibs. First up for this pen then is my M101N 14K Extra Fine nib that came with my Bright Red SE. It unlike most of my modern nibs writes with a line width that does reflect its stated size.

On the same day as buying the pen I picked up two new release Montblanc inks. The first of these is the simply named Emerald. It is their ink colour of the year and comes in there recently enlarged 50ml square bottles. 

Swabbed on 52gsm Tomoe River paper. Not that impressed.

A serviceable but ultimately underwhelming ink colour, probably not helped by an extra fine nib. I can't say I am a fan. 

Pelikan M205 Demonstrator Special Edition, M405 14K Fine, inked with Noodler's Air-Corp Blue-Black

The Pelikan M205 Classic Demonstrator Special Edition made its way into my collection yesterday. This is pen number 61 for me and the fourth M2XX pen. I bought this pen to allow me to use inks in a clear demonstrator that I dare not use in my M805 version. This pens runs at about ¼ of the cost of a M805 so if it gets stained I will not care as much.

This pen comes standard with a steel nib but I don't use steel nibs so I bought a M405 14K gold rhodium plated fine nib to complete the package. It did bump the cost up somewhat but it is a good nib out of the box. I have only to get medium version to complete the set of M405 nib sizes.

I bought this pen partly to use with 103 out of my 104 Noodler's inks (Baystate Blue is not a clear demo ink) I don't dare put in my M805 Clear Demo. True to my word the first ink is a Noodler's. Air-Corp Blue-Black is one of my favourite Noodler's inks. It is not blue-black but a lovely black-green which does shade well but not today from this fine nib.

Pelikan M400 Black/Green Striated, M250 14K 0.7mm CI, inked with Pelikan Edelstein Olivine (Ink of Year 2018)

The classic Pelikan - Black/Green Striated pattern in the M400 size. Large enough to be used without posting, small enough to fit in the shirt pocket.

One of my all time favourite nibs - A Richard Binder custom grind M250 14K 0.7mm cursive italic. Great line variation but smooth enough to use for everyday writing.

The latest addition to the Ink of the year release by Pelikan - Edelstein Olivine. 

The mineral after which this ink is named varies from yellow-green to mid-green. This ink is a dark green with olive touches. It shades pretty well from the cursive italic, but the sample shows no sheen whatsoever. This is an OK ink in my opinion but not one I will rave about.

Pelikan M805 Ocean Swirl Special Edition

Pelikan number 59 entered my collection today, the stunning looking M805 Ocean Swirl. It comes in pattern that includes in part a beautiful shade of teal. I had seen images of this pen for quite a while and the look of those images varied in colour markedly. I now understand why. The material of this pen is not a consistent shade around the pen it is in bands of light and dark.

This model comes with a full rhodium plated 18K gold nib. I chose a broad nib for my pen, I already own an extra fine and fine sizes in this model of nib and expect to complete my set with a medium within the next couple of years.

The Ocean Swirl with the Vibrant Blue and Vibrant Green. The pattern of the material in the Ocean Swirl is very similar to that of the Vibrant Green.