It's Called A Bird & It's A Honey Of A Pen!

Can you find the 'Pelikan bill & eyes" on the clip?

I have been a "pen-a-holic" since I was a teen. While many girls were buying clothes & make-up I was out looking at pens. I drifted away from fountain pens when I was in my "career-ladder-step-climbing" phase which, I suppose is rather odd since in many ways it would seem far more reasonable to think of that time in life as the point at which you would want to flaunt an expensive, beautiful pen. Mind you - I was always very pen picky even when it was a matter of ballpoints, gel pens and roller balls.

As many of you who read my blog every so often have probably realized I have, once again taken up the "only-pen-worth-using-is-a-fountain-pen" stance. Fountain pens have become expensive - or perhaps they always were and I just did not notice it! These photos show a Pelikan M400 "honey" fountain pen. Pelikan pens are nick named "birds" by those who admire them. I had fallen in love with it's looks some time ago, but really could not justify the expense to buy one. For that matter the Bexley pens that I love the best are also quite costly & I have managed to hoarde a few of them - so why it seemed so frivilous to buy this one I'll never understand. Probably because I do love the Bexleys so much - I did not want to waste money on a pen that I might not even like. I had tried a Pelikan fairly recently (another,less expensive model) and I had not been that impressed.

Meanwhile I found an ad on the Fountain Pen Network selling a used M400 for a very low price - one that I could manage. Unfortunately, by the time I responded it was already sold. I left a comment on the page and mourned my loss. A lovely woman wrote to me after seeing my note and said that she had one that she would be willing to sell to me - name my price. Huh?! I felt I had to offer the price of the other pen - and, lo and behold, this very lovely Australian named Soki sent me this honey of a pen. Oh! I was in raptures! It is really a beautiful piece of functional art & has swiftly become my "go to" pen for journaling & 'at home' use. It lays down a perfect, beautiful, wet line with any ink I use in it.

These other photos are of the first 'expensive' pen I ever bought as a young teen. I am amazed that it is still with me. I bought another pen at the same time - a Mont Blanc that I adored and now cannot afford to replace. This Pelikan is called a "120" and it has a factory Italic nib. It is missing it's clip (I need to get that restored) but it still writes beautifully & is still a favorite pen. I bought it around 1967!!! Lord! How can that possibly be?! I am so happy that I am, one again,enjoying the absolute pleasure that laying down a beautful line of beautiful ink on beautiful paper can be. I am also grateful to the warm, friendly people on the Fountain Pen Network and to SOki who made it possible for me own my "bird-of-choice"!