Sunday, December 5, 2021

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 294

Here's a student fountain pen I acquired a few months ago at a charity thrift store in Surrey for eight dollars. The pen and case were displayed in a locked glass cabinet, and at first glance, I thought the pen was a 1970s Pelikan 'Pelikano'. It turned out, however, to be a much more obscure German student fountain pen -- a  Laurin model 867 :

 ( ~ please click on photos to enlarge ~ )

It was a real challenge finding information on the Laurin pen company. The most valuable information came from one source-- this page on Dominic Rothemel's amazing Pelikan reference guide Pelikan-Collectibles.com. From it, I found out that Laurin was a company located in Waiblingen, Germany that sold lower-cost fountain pens, ballpoints, rollerballs and mechanical pencils. These writing instruments, however, were actually made by the company Mutschler (who also made writing instruments for other companies such as Reform) in Heidelberg, Germany.

In 1972, Pelikan took over the Laurin company, and Laurin became a subsidiary of Pelikan. Some models existed under both brand names (Laurin and Pelikan), but in the mid-80s, Pelikan took over the production plant in Waiblingen and used its injection-molding equipment to produce inexpensive student/youth writing instruments (based on Laurin models) branded with the Pelikan name on their clips or caps. Eventually, the plant in Waiblingen was closed, and the site was sold in the early 2010s.

Enough about the history! Let's talk about the pen now....



My particular fountain pen is the Laurin '867' which was produced in the early 1970s. It looks very similar to another Laurin model, the '854', except for the cap; the '867' had a stainless steel cap, whereas the '854's was plastic with a wide metal cap band.

Laurin '867' fountain pen specs (courtesy of Pelikan-collectibles.com) :

Weight  Total Length  Barrel Length  Cap Length  DiameterInk Capacity
 0.43 oz     0.42 in      4.37 in     2.44 in    0.42 in    2 x 0.8 ml (cartridge)
12.05 g    132.5 mm     111.0 mm     62.0 mm   10.6 mm


You can't see it in this photo, but the cap's plastic top is dimpled, though otherwise unremarkable --there are no adornments on it. The cap is a screw-on, which threw me at first because the 1973 Pelikan 'Pelikano' model which it resembles is a snap-cap (Pro tip: when in doubt, unscrew a pen cap--do not pull on it! ;)

 The steel clip has the 'Laurin' logo --the only thing which actually identifies it as a Laurin pen-- stamped sideways on it, and "Germany" stamped vertically at the very top. Some Laurin writing instruments, apparently, didn't come with any branding at all; I'm glad mine did, otherwise I'd have had no idea as to its origin.


The stainless steel nib has no obvious identification or markings. I say "obvious" because I haven't tried to remove the nib on my pen; Pelikan-Collectibles.com shows a blue model '867' like mine with its nib removed, and the words "Reform" (in cursive) and, below that, "Iridium Point" and "F" (both in all caps) stamped on it.



According to Pelikan-Collectibles.com, the orange and blue models had the newer feed (which had more fins), whereas the yellow and green versions had the earlier, shorter feed with fewer fins. The models are otherwise identical, except for their barrel colours.


The pen takes short international cartridges and, after some rinsing out of some old ink, it wrote pretty smoothly (not scratchy, but not buttery-smooth). All in all, at $8 CAD, it was a great deal for a neat vintage student pen in excellent condition and its matching zippered case (which itself was in excellent condition--I was pleasantly surprised to see no ink stains inside the case).

Oh and regarding that blue zippered case... I believe the fountain pen and its case were originally sold together; I found a photo of a Laurin set (fountain pen very similar to a '867' but with a plastic, bandless cap + ballpoint) that came with a matching zippered case. It's hard to tell from my photos, but my case actually has two loops, so I'll keep an eye out for a Laurin '867' fountain pen in one of the other colours to go with my blue one. They don't come up for sale very often, but you never know :)

(~ photos & review by Maja ~)

No comments: