Grail unlocked: Pelikan M800 Tortoise!!

Hello, beautiful..

I just achieved my first-ever holy grail pen! It required sacrifice and tears, but the loss of my beloved Visconti Skeletor (to a very good home) is worth it to unlock this epic level-up.

The Pelikan M800 Tortoise was rereleased in 2013 as a limited edition, and quickly sold out. They now regularly sell for $1k+ and rarely sit long on the resale market even at those prices. This beauty has been gently used and is in impeccable condition, coming with original box and papers. The nib is also rare, the discontinued Italic Broad.

Upon receipt I immediately inked up with J. Herbin Lie de Thé, an ink that had previously proven so dry that it would not flow through a Pilot EF nib, but which came into its own through the generous italic broad nib and feed of the Tortoise. I have zero italic skills to speak of so simply played around with lettering on the page, trying different angles of hand and handwriting, seeking the sweet spot and some harmony between my writing style and the pen.

I wouldn't mind getting an EF nib for the pen so that I could use it for daily writing, but then again I have several great daily writers and something this rare should probably be kept something like in reserve and protected from the daily grind. Either way this is a pen I shall cherish for years to come.

 

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Squad goals

My Striated Blue & Stresseman with a friend's M800 Tortoise at the May FPAu Sydney Chapter meet.

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New pen day: Pelikan M805 Blue Striated

I took advantage of the recent Peters of Kensington ebay sale to snag a pen that has long sat on my wishlist. The PoK discount brought this pen down to a very reasonable price, which incidentally is how I bought my first Pelikan, the Stresseman, in their Boxing Day sales. 

Other pens in the sale that were sorely tempting included a beautiful burgundy Omas that spent several days in my ebay cart! I decided to pass on this pen through a feeling that I should stay true to what I knew I wanted, the M805, rather than pick up a pen I liked the look of but may not adore in the way I knew I already did the M805 line. Happily the Omas ended up in the hands of a fellow FPAu member, so it is now in the family at least!

Although the pen as sold online was a medium, I immediately messaged Peters through ebay to arrange nib exchange for an extra-fine. The ebay sales person put me in touch with Maria from the pens department, who once again worked her magic for me to have the nib swapped and pen in the mail just two business days later. Thanks Maria! 

I am absolutely loving it - despite being less handy than the click-click of a Veep for notetaking, I find myself using Stresseman and the blue far more often than my beloved Raden Minamo. I write in two colours and switch frequently to use the second colour for important points rather than just headings, which may feel clumsy with screw caps to remove and replace. What I do however is simply poke the pen back into the lid without screwing tight, and this works fine - they don't dry out and I have no hard-start problems.

I initially inked up with Edelstein Topaz, but whilst beautiful through the nib it felt too light and bright for the rich royal blue of this pen, and I switched it out for Montblanc Leo Tolstoy, a much more suitable match (yes I am one of 'those' people). All I need now is a nice rich Burnt Orange loaded with Akkerman Oranje Bovan, and my work trilogy will be complete! 

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Impure thoughts #3: My orange crush

Montblanc Writers Edition Hemingway. Photo credit: Montblanc

Jonathon Deans' recent acquisition of the rarefied Montblanc Hemingway, his longtime grail, has inspired in me a new pen crush. The Hemingway is a vision of strong orange and black, squat and solid in form, with clean lines and a stunning Montblanc nib. It really is a fabulous pen and one of the most sought-after Montblancs of all time. Hemingways generally go for more than $2k, which sadly places it well beyond my current reach, making this one grail pen that I'll likely never own.

There are, however, other options! The vivid red-orange colour of the Hemingway references the legendary Parker 'Big Red' Duofold of yore, an iconic pen that is another must-have item for serious fountain pen collectors. Due to its elevated status many other pen manufacturers have paid homage to this look besides Montblanc, giving poor folk like me a few red-orange alternatives available at only two- or three-digit prices, rather than four!

One such pen is the limited edition Sailor Realo produced for the Classic Fountain Pens 25th anniversary, produced only as 88 examples and now long since sold-out; and of course the Parker Duofold re-issue itself, available in International and Centennial (the larger of the two) sizes.

CPF 25th LE Sailor Realo. Photo credit: Classic Fountain Pens

Parker Duofold. Photo credit: Parker Pens

The most recent manufacturer to pay homage to this look is Pelikan, with their limited edition M800 Burnt Orange fountain pen. When I first laid eyes on this pen I liked it well enough, but did not fall in love. Compared to the shimmer of the striated Souveran models its resin body seemed flat and dull, despite the strong orange tones. At that time however I was an uncultured oaf ignorant of the history of this look and design, and did not recognise the context of the look. Now that I am so much more learned and cultured the Burnt Orange just seems to make sense to me, and my new appreciation of its aesthetics has been swiftly followed up by a new craving to make one my own!

Pelikan M800 Burnt Orange. Photo credit: Pelikan

In the future - when I grow up, perhaps - I would love to acquire a Montblanc Writers Edition Hemingway fountain pen. Until then the Burnt Orange will sate my orange crush quite admirably.

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Best laid plans: the predicted pens of 2016

On New Years Eve 2015 I made the following prediction of my pens for 2016. It was based upon an already well-established and extensively-researched wishlist, with the idea that it should keep me on the spending straight & narrow and enable planned purchases & saving strategies. The Pilot VP Minamo was already lined up with a good price at a certain retailer of reputed notoriety, and the Franklin-Christoph waitlisted since September last year, so I really felt quite certain of what I did and did not (rash purchases doomed for resale) want in my collection.

So, listed in anticipated order (and decreasing likelihood!) of acquisition, these pens were:

1. Pilot Vanishing Point Raden Minamo.
2. Franklin-Christoph Marietta 20 in Antique Glass.
3. Pilot Custom 823s in Smoke & Clear, with FA & F nibs.
4. Visconti Homo Sapiens Maxi in Bronze.
5. Visconti Homo Sapiens Florentine Hills. 

By mere days later, this list was already hopelessly off-point. 

I have been buying & selling online in fashion goods for over a decade now, and every time holiday season rolls around I always mean to make good use of the buyer's market that always arises when sellers are desperate for cash, but everyone is spending theirs on alms for the visiting in-laws and enough alcohol to endure said visits. Buyers are watching their accounts, not auctions, and whilst the world carefully limps through from Christmas Day to payday thousands of auctions close at ridiculous lows.

Historically I too have been claimed by this exact fate, wistfully watching the epic deals pass me by whilst eating leftover twiglets and vowing that Next Year Will Be Different. This year, however.. it actually was! This year I was ready, crouched and poised to strike snipe, such that when I espied a rare and beautiful NOS Visconti Titanium Skeleton lingering forlornly on a post-Christmas classified I snagged it for a song, and thusly entered 2016 with my very first Visconti. Well okay, there was a wee fire sale of my beloved 823 FA to assist my pre-prepared fiscal preparedness, but dangit I'm still claiming that as a seasonal shopping win!

Artist's impression; mine hath not yet arrived.

So that was a lovely surprise, thought I, but the rest of my predictions will hold firm.. but then.. then a beautiful birdie swooped in and carried me away.

I've been curious about Pelikans for a long time and they obviously have a great reputation, but the plain black or striated red / green / blue colourways did little for me (even the x05 silver versions), and so I'd really not at all been tempted. My collection purchases & lustings to date have been based upon the key themes of stealthy black, demonstrator, and raw metals of aluminium, brass, titanium, annealed steel; bling is not my thing, and despite my adoration for the Pilot 823 my unease with the gold trim was what sent me seeking an alternative that lead to the Great Conid Rush of 2015.

Just a few days post V-Day (Visconti Victory Day) however I discovered the newly-released Pelikan M805 Stresemann - silvertone hardware and stealth styling, with anthracite iridescence streaking down the sides and morphing from sombre greyscale to shimmering silver with changing light. Between these ribbons one might peek a glimpse of the ink colour and volume - a stealthy, sleek, titanium-toned demonstrator-ish birdie, just perfect for me!

Now normally the next step in pen lusting is to realise the cost and shy away in terror, but a rather rare occurrence, well, occurred: the pen was far, far cheaper to purchase within Australia than to import from the US or Europe! This to me is staggering, as I have never experienced this in buying luxury imported goods, not even when our dollar was on parity with the Greenback. Not just cheaper by conversion, but even in that the whole number of Australian dollars required was far lower than that asked of US buyers. Unbelievable. Obviously, I bought it (cue another fire sale of a beautiful leather briefcase I've had laying around), and with a lot of help from a wonderful friend within trudging distance of the store in question I even managed to secure one with an EF nib! 

Whoops.

So there we go. Hello 2016, and goodbye any naive aspirations of ever predicting my fountain pen future again. I shall thusly convert my Predicted Purchase List to a General Wishlist, continue watching the market and sale threads like usual, and simply snag what may come my way. Just like usual. 

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