Pelikan 400 NN
(1957 - 1965)
Third version from the Pelikan 400 series, the Pelikan 400 NN features a bit slimmer and longer shape, with a bit more rounded and elongated ends, giving it a bit slimmer cigar looking form compared to its predecessors.
Weight and Dimensions
(1957 - 1965)
Third version from the Pelikan 400 series, the Pelikan 400 NN features a bit slimmer and longer shape, with a bit more rounded and elongated ends, giving it a bit slimmer cigar looking form compared to its predecessors.
There are several variations on the 400 NN model:
Barrel____________Cap
Barrel____________Cap
| green striped | black | |
| grey striped | black | |
| green striped twist button dark green | dark green cap top dark green | |
| tortoise-shell brown striped | dark brown | |
| black | black | |
| light tortoise-shell | light tortoise-shell | |
| green transparent demonstration model | green transparent |
Plus some other variations like the 500NN, 520NN, 600NN and 700NN, that feature rolled gold caps and/or barrels.
Appearance and Design
The one I have here is the Pelikan 400NN tortoise-shell brown striped version. As pictured it has brown stripped barrel, dark brown cap and end twist button. It has a stylized pelican beak for a clip. The clip has nice spring to it and the "beak" is slightly curved upward at the end, this leads to and easy,fast and secure placement. Cap has gold ring at the end that has "Pelikan 400 - Germany" engraved onto it. The Cap is screw type and takes about 3/4 of a turn to lock/unlock.
Weight and Dimensions
Length: 130mm closed
123mm with no cap
148mm capped
Width: the barrel is 12mm in width, narrowing to about 9mm in the grip section.
Filling System and Maintenance
This pen is a piston filler and holds about 2ml of ink (Google Fu info). The nib section is removable and it screws into the barrel, so that makes for a quick and easy cleaning or swapping nibs between pens.
This is also one of the "minuses" of the 400 NN model.Pelikan introduced a new type of plastic for the collar with this model that sadly didn't shown up to be that durable and with age this clear plastic collars got prone to crumbling and cracking. Luckily that is also an easy fix, from getting a new collar machined in hard rubber or metal (there are few guys that do that service) to getting a replacement nib section from an M150-M200 or similar model and stripping it for parts ie getting the collar. I was lucky enough to be able to get an hard rubber (ebonite or derlin) collar to match the feed.
Also compared to the new models the feed on this one has vertical fins instead of horizontal ones.
Nib Performance
Conclusion
Great vintage pen that is solid built, I was using this one with the broken collar for a long time with no issues (other then not being able to take it apart for through cleaning). Large ink capacity and a nice smooth piston. Sadly I can't really manage to capture the beauty of the barrel on pictures
It has great variety in the stripes colors (green to dark rich brown) with great deal of pearlescence effect when light catches it under different angles, also it is slightly translucent so you can tell when you are running out of ink. Nice grip section that is concave, and smooth cap threads, giving it a great comfort when writing with it.
