Pelikan M200 'Orange Delight' fountain pen unboxing! (Newest Acquisitions - Virtual "Show & Tell" ~ part 516)

I first heard about the Pelikan M200 'Orange Delight' Special Edition fountain pen (one of two M200 SEs for 2024, along with the M200 'Copper Rose Gold') in January, but wasn't sure if I was going to purchase it or not; I love the colour orange, but I'd overspent over the holidays so I hummed and hawed about it. Meanwhile, my good friend Glenn (a big Pelikan fan who lives in Australia) was avidly researching the best online prices for the pen (lol), and kindly shared his findings with me. I started to get worried about this special edition selling out, so I decided to order one for myself from Pure Pens (formerly Niche Pens), a U.K. family-owned business located in Wales.

I ordered the pen on February 19th and, in less than six hours, it was in the hands of the Royal Mail. In less than 72 hours from then, it was in my hot little hands! That's the fastest non-courier overseas shipping I've ever experienced ---bravo, Royal Mail and Pure Pens!

(all photos by Maja ~ please click on images to enlarge)

As you can see from the yellow Canada Post sticker on my parcel (above), I owed some money to the Canadian government (Canada Border Services Agency) -- two sales taxes (GST + PST) and a $9.95 handling fee. Even taking those extra charges and the shipping cost into account, what I paid in total for my pen was less than what I would have paid anywhere else, at the time.

It's too bad there aren't any local stores here in Vancouver that carry Pelikan Souverän models (Pelikans' higher-priced pen lines) any more. Aside from Stylo.ca in Quebec, I couldn't find anyone else in Canada selling the M200 Orange Delight online (when I ordered my pen, it actually wasn't in stock at Stylo.ca yet; my FOMO, it turned out, ultimately saved me over $50 CAD!)

Back to the unboxing....

When I opened the parcel from Pure Pens, I found this little gift -- a stick of Refreshers chewy candy in a nice strawberry flavour :)

The presentation box (the G30 model, which Pelikan started using in 2022) is simple, but elegant; I like the hinged magnetic lid, and the matching orange color for two of the box's sides and its interior. This hard cardboard box was well-protected by a outer box made of thinner cardboard (also shown above) with the Pelikan name on it.

Inside the presentation box was a thin, white faux leather pen pouch with the Pelikan name and logo debossed on it, as well as a warranty/instruction booklet (not every retailer fills out the warranty cards, but Pure Pens did :) The pouch has a large opening, but there's a small pouch-within-a-pouch that can hold a larger Pelikan in place (the M200 slips out rather easily, though). Since they only make the pouch in one size, it has to be able to accommodate the larger Pelikan models, but there's definitely room for improvement in the pouch design, in my opinion.

Anyway, you've waited long enough, so here it is!

(isn't it a looker?)

I was glad that Pelikan decided to go with an all-orange colorway for this model (they're usually pretty conservative with their Souverän model colour choices); the cap, section, piston turning knob and cap top finial are all solid orange plastic, while the barrel is clear orange in colour. I also applaud their decision to go with gold-plated trim --it complements the warm orange tones so nicely.

There are many other Pelikan M200 fountain pens, so I won't be reviewing this one in depth. What sets it apart, however, is that it's the only orange M2xx model that Pelikan has released. Actually, there weren't many orange Pelikan Souveräns released at all; as Joshua at The Pelikan's Perch blog (an excellent resource) pointed out, the only others were the M320 Orange Marbled (2004), the M600 Vibrant Orange (2018), the M640 Indian Summer (2009), and the M800 Burnt Orange (2015).

I selected the Fine width for my pen's gold-plated stainless steel nib. I tend to choose Medium nibs, but I love the way this Fine writes; it has a hint of "toothiness" (which I like) and some character (not exactly line variation--because it's not an italic nib--but I can tell it apart from other Fine-nibbed pens I own). The pen feels extremely well-balanced when posted, and it's a really nice length for my hand when I use it that way. The piston-filling mechanism worked smoothly from the get-go, and draws up a generous amount of ink (1.2 mL, according to several sources).

Many thanks to Pure Pens for this "Delight"-ful (see what I did there? ;) fountain pen and for their excellent customer service; this was my first purchase from them, but it won't be my last. If you're thinking of acquiring one of these beauties for yourself, you might want to act quickly as I suspect they'll be a hot seller!

( ~ Review by Maja ~)