Gs4 Security: Pelikan Pens

Friday 4 January 2013

Pelikan Pens

The postwar economic history of Pelikan is one of expansion followed by contraction. The firm prospered through the 1950s and into the 1960s. However, the early postwar era brought the ballpoint pen which began to catch up with Pelikan as it did with virtually every other pen manufacturer. Nevertheless, between 1950 and 1963 Pelikan had a remarkable run, producing the 400 in nearly as wide a range of colors and styles as it had the 100s and, one suspects, in larger numbers. Like its early counterparts, the 400, can be surprisingly hard to catalogue. Most commonly the pens were offered in the traditional green and black, this time with stripes to provide a more visible ink supply. A somewhat new model, in striped tortoise shell with brown cap and filling mechanism became a most favored variant. In addition there were gray and mother-of-pearl models, the latter looking like the pre-war tortoise 101 model in the shape of the 400s, but with the new brown rather than the red trim. The seagreen, not commonly found today, was green striped, but with a dark green (rather than black) section, cap and filler. According to Dittmer and Lehmann,