Pen Review: Pelikan M200

Pelikan M200 1980/1990’s Model


I have 2 M200’s from the late 80’s early 90’s era. Not much has changed on these classics over the years. They have a colorful swirled celloid body with black plastic parts ie, derby, pen cap, end cap. They have gold coated steel nibs and are piston-fillers.

Pelikan is renowned for its piston-fill system. The ink capacity is almost to the point of never fully filling a pen because you get tired of seeing the color on paper. I am huge fan of piston-fillers. I don’t like the idea of spending a lot of money on a pen and have it need a small capacity cartridge or converter.

The nibs: I have a factory Bold and had a factory Double Bold. I had the double bold reground at Pendemonium to a Cursive Italic Bold. Both when factory are smooth writers with just a little bit of feedback. It almost feels like you aren’t writing but you see the ink being left behind on the page. I have not used a modern gold Pelikan nib, only steel or vintage 14kt. I do not believe the steel nib on the 200 to be short coming. It is still a great nib and lets the pen be a real bargain.

After being ground the double broad can feel a little dry depending on the ink but it lays down a beautiful line and requires some care when writing or else I catch a corner of the nib but that it part of using a CI’d nib.

The M200 does not have as much flash as a M400 or any of the higher end models. There are not any gold barrel bands at the top or at the end cap. The gold bands on the cap and the gold plated clip are about all there is for flash. The ink pens both have ink windows. Both of mine are a smoke grey. They also came clear.

I thought the M200 would be too small for me when I first got into fountain pens but now I find the size to be great. It is very comfortable to use posted or not posted. The barrel diameter is not unwieldy and the body it light enough to write with for hours. The grip section is very comfortable, no threads, no big steps between sections, etc.

These two pens were my first Pelikans and when left alone breed like pelicans… My collection is now up to four but I’m constantly on the hunt for more; Always trying to be Sumgai. (You should see my watch list on ebay…)

If anyone has any questions regarding these German birds feel free to ask. There are many people on the forum that have them and like myself a lot of us have more than one and are happy to make the flock bigger!

Great review on the "old style" M200, John. One of my favorite daily carry pens is the M200 -- all mine were purchased for under $100, they are pretty-near indestructible, fit nicely into my pocket, and hold plenty of ink.

I highly recommend these pens as a starter Pelikan, they treat you right.

Here's another M200 thread for reference --> http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/321515-Show-your-Pelikan-M200-series

Mine were both under $100. Both came from Europe. One Germany, the other Poland. I forgot about that M200 super thread! Thanks for posting that.

2 M205's here - great pens. Black with fine nib and Toledo Red with a medium. The Red had been inked once, but never written with. The black was a ebay find - in like new condition. It was my most expensive Pelikan at about $70 shipped. (=/- $2) I got the red one as well as a NOS 120 Merz & Krell in a joint purchase from a pen pal who was selling a number of pens. $120 shipped for both from Australia.

I thought my M200 from the 80's was a far superior pen to my current production M200, my Pilot Custom Heritage 92 knocked my new style M205 right out of use, and I ended up gifting it to Sam for Christmas, but im still a bit sorry I let go of my 80's M200 as it was a great pen with a great personality.

Great review John, thank you for taking the time to put this together

I also really enjoy my M200! Great little pen and a fine writer!

I'll be having one of these soon when the Cafe Creme special edition is released. Despite my nib troubles with my M600 (I had to fix tine-misalignment AND smooth it) and generally thinking that Pelikans are overpriced (at least the Souveran range anyway...the M200 is a nice value), that upcoming edition is too darn good-looking to miss.

I'm thinking of going for a broad nib on it. My M600 is a medium and I like it, but something appeals to me about having a small pen that writes a nice, fat line. I've never had a broad nib before, and with the interchangeable nibs, it'll be easy to get another if I'm unhappy.

If I don't get another bum nib, that is. Reports are that the nibs coming out of Bock these days are a real crapshoot. Baby's bottom is a problem. I don't know if the steel nibs are like that, though, or if it's just the gold nibs.

The look of these pens brings me 25 years back in time, when I regularly glanced at them in the Karstadt shop.

I've since sold my M200 pens, but I do have a soft spot for them, especially for the older models.

I have the same two M200's, one is marked W. Germany and the other Germany, they came to me from a seller on the bay as NOS and still had the stickers on the barrels. One had a Medium nib and the other an extra-fine, the EF was worthless from the start and is very scratchy and really doesn't write so I replaced it with a Double Broad nib. Then I found that the Medium nib was too broad for my tastes at the time and ordered a Fine nib for it and that helped things a lot. Neither one has managed to replace my Lamy 2000 or Parker 45 as a daily user and I've even toyed with selling them and moving on to something else, but they are very pretty and unique pens that write very well.

Thanks for the write up, it's great!