Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 392

Today's featured new acquisition is a German-made school pen made by Pelikan. I'd recently reviewed several different economy-model Pelikans that wrote very well, so when this one popped up on my radar, I ordered it from a German seller on eBay.

Meet my new Pelikan 'Happy' (model P24) fountain pen:

(please click on images to enlarge)

The pen arrived in its original hanging card packaging, along with a 6-pack of Pelikan Royal Blue ink cartridges. Total price I paid was 15.90 Euros (8.90 for the pen + 7.00 shipping from Germany), which is about $21 CAD.

There were actually two older Pelikan models with the same name--the original Pelikan 'Happy' model that came out in 1973 and was made from 1973-1977, then a Happy' model that was produced from 2006 to 2013, and finally this model which came out in 2016 (and as far as I know, is still in production). All three versions are cartridge/converter models, and this latest one can hold two standard short international ink cartridges (or one long cartridge) in its barrel.

The current Pelikan 'Happy' comes in four designs ---red with rings, blue with rings (which both came out in 2014), red with stripes and blue with stripes (which came out in 2015). I love the colour red and the design of the striped one reminded me a bit of the falling digital code (aka "Matrix digital rain") in the Matrix films, so that's why I chose it.

Its unusual cap design reminds me of the Pelikan 'Colani' models, whose caps were designed to look like a pelican's head viewed in profile. The hole in the cap (presumably meant for a carrying cord) reminded me a bit of the one on the Faber-Castell 'Scribolino' (the older version with the peapod-shaped cap). The Pelikan one is slanted, though, and gives the cap a subtle elegance, despite it being a pen designed for the younger set. The clip does a nice job of attaching onto paper and clothing, and although it's made of plastic, it's securely anchored to the cap.

The pen's barrel is made of a much thicker plastic than the clip, and feels very durable. The bottom of the pen's barrel is flat and has two small holes (presumably for child safety reasons), so the pen is not suitable for conversion to an eyedropper-filler.

Now, for some measurements I did! The pen's capped length is 5.2 inches (13.2 cm)...

...while its uncapped length (nib tip to barrel end) is 4.7 inches (11.9 cm)...

...and its posted length is 6.3 inches (16 cm). Being an all-plastic fountain pen, it's very light, weighing about 11.7 grams with no cartridge/converter inside. The diameter of its molded triangular grip section goes from 1.15 cm at its widest to 0.95 cm at the nib end of the pen. The grip section (like the pen's cap) has a lightly-textured surface and is very comfortable to hold. The pen posts very securely and, because it's so light and well-balanced, I prefer to use it this way.

The nib is made of stainless steel and is unmarked. Until I opened the packaging, I didn't realize that the nib had no tipping material:

This wasn't an oversight on Pelikan's part--the nib is a so-called "butterfly nib", created by folding the nib's tines inwards. I've seen these nibs on cheaper vintage fountain pens, but also on some modern fountain pens (e.g. the Schneider 'Voice' & 'Easy models'). I was a bit worried about its smoothness, but my pen's untipped steel nib writes very smoothly and lays down a line somewhere between a Fine and a Medium.

The feed looks like the one on many economy model Pelikans, so if this nib gets worn down (because it lacks the iridium tipping), I'll swap it out for a different Pelikan nib. Right now, I'm very happy with the way it writes.

All in all, the Pelikan 'Happy' is a sturdy, fun little pen that might just put a smile on your face :)

(photos & review by Maja)