The Pelikan M620 Grand Place Fountain Pen: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

When the Pelikan M800 Grand Place came out earlier this year, I was sorely tempted to buy one. Like others, I found the swirl pattern appealing and distinct from Pelikan's striped models. But while I was looking at photos of the new Grand Place, I came upon the M620 Grand Place, a model that was produced in 2006. Although I liked the M800, I loved the M620. Why? Because, unlike the M800 which has a black grip and piston knob, the M620 grip and knob are a beautiful, sheeny copper.

Of course, the M620 version is no longer available from vendors. But once I fall for a pen, I am relentless in my pursuit. I looked on eBay where I found the pen offered without a nib for an exorbitant price. But that was essentially the only M620 Grand Place I could find.

So, I placed a "Want To Buy" ad on FPN and within a day or two I found a seller offering the pen with a fine nib for a reasonable price. It came from Singapore, so I had to wait a little while, but it arrived in perfect condition with all the original packaging.

Part of Pelikan's City Series, the Grand Place is named after the Grote Markt in Brussels. The square once housed an indoor market and the town's city hall.

The pen is comprised of brown, copper, and gold colors with swirls of blue interwoven. The chatoyance is mesmerizing.

As I said, what drew me to the M620 over the M800 model was the copper grip and piston knob. Both are made of shimmery copper resin that matches the rest of the pen perfectly. The black grip and knob on the M800 seems to drain the pen of its warmth, whereas the copper on the M620 enhances the golden tones.

The M600 is my favorite Pelikan size at 5.24 inches/133mm capped and 18 grams in weight. It's neither too short nor too long. And it's definitely not heavy. Many Pelikan enthusiasts prefer the more robust M800, but I favor the 600 size.

The nib is a two-tone fine with the ornate Pelikan design. I think Pelikan nibs are some of the most beautiful modern nibs you can buy. Plus, their nibs are smooth and problem free (in my experience). This one seems to be a true Western fine, wider than a Japanese fine but definitely not close to a medium.

The cap has the Pelikan logo in gold on a black finial. The beak-shaped clip is gold and the cap sports the usual "Pelikan Souverän Germany" on the ring.

Of course this model is a piston filler and holds a good amount of ink (1.3ml). I inked it with Diamine Ancient Copper for my written review. Ancient Copper is a perfect match for this pen. Too bad it gets funky if you leave it too long in a pen. By "funky" I mean that it gunks up your nib and sort of crystalizes. I no longer leave Ancient Copper in any pen for more than a few days, which is too bad, because it's a great color.

Pros

• This is a gorgeous pen with an unusual swirl design and unique colors. Unlike the M800 version, the grip and piston knob are copper instead of black.
• The M600 size is a good size for many writers. It isn't heavy but it's long enough to feel substantial.
• The fine nib on my M620 writes smoothly and without any problems.

Cons

• The M620 Grand Place is no longer available through vendors. If you are like me and want the M620, I'd suggest placing a "want to buy" ad like I did. But, you can also find the larger M800 with a black grip and piston knob at places like Goldspot Pens.

The Nakaya Portable Cigar Spiketails (Dragonfly): A Grail Pen

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

My favorite creature on earth, next to kitties, is the dragonfly. Every summer I go on yard safaris, taking photographs of the insects that inhabit our yard. When I find a dragonfly, I feel like I have discovered gold. Nothing makes me happier than capturing dragonflies on camera.

Dragonflies are sky lions–carnivores who zip through the air like gravity doesn't matter. Not only are they incredibly beautiful, but they rid the air of pests.

I adore dragonflies, so when I saw that Classic Fountain Pens (nibs.com) had a Nakaya Portable Cigar Spiketails (Dragonfly) fountain pen in the preowned section, I went nuts. At $1,300 (used–yes, used), this was not a pen I could just buy outright. I knew I would have to part with some amazing pens in order to afford the Nakaya.

I chose to sacrifice two pens to buy my grail: an uninked Montblanc Oscar Wilde and an Omas Paragon Arco (old style). Parting with the Oscar Wilde wasn't too hard since I had never inked the pen and I hadn't bonded with it.

The Paragon was more difficult. It's such a unique and beautiful pen and I loved the nib. But, at the time, Omas hadn't gone out of business and I wasn't too attached to the Arco. Silly me.

So, I posted both pens on the classifieds at Fountain Pen Network and Fountain Pen Geeks and crossed my fingers. It took about a month to sell both pens (and I had to do several price reductions), but eventually I had enough money to buy the Dragonfly with a nib grind to boot.

What makes the Nakaya Spiketails so unique is that it is a hand-painted acrylic fountain pen. Unlike most Nakaya pens which are completely opaque, the Dragonfly is partially transparent with raised painted designs covered in semi-transparent red (Shu) Urushi lacquer.

The dragonfly wings and some of the swamp grasses are coated in gold dust and semi-transparent Urushi. In sunlight, the effect is absolutely magical.

The dragonfly design is genius, with the dragonfly's body curving gracefully along the pen and its wings encircling the cap.

The dragonfly is amazingly detailed.

The bottom of the pen portrays the swamp grasses that are the habitat of the dragonfly.

My pen came with a BB single-tone 14K nib. I had nibs.com grind the nib down to a medium italic. It writes beautifully, though I will say this isn't the smoothest nib I've received from them. I could send it back for more work, but I'm afraid this is one pen I just can't let out of my sight.

I realize some people don't understand grail pens, especially ones this expensive. "Why would you ever spend that much money on a pen?" I can't offer a reasonable explanation, because grail pens aren't reasonable. A grail pen is a pen you desire because it means something special to you. You can't justify this with logic. Ultimately, the reason one buys any grail pen is intensely personal. For me, a pen representing one of my favorite creatures on earth is meaningful to me. Also, this isn't just a pen I write with, it is a piece of exquisite art.

Bung Box Pilot Penmanship EF Fountain Pen Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

Pretty much everyone you meet has something negative to say about their own handwriting, no matter how pretty it might be. It's an extension of our personality, and some people take pride in their penmanship. Others may view it as a tool or trade, but it's one of those things that can always be improved. We never "arrive" when it comes to penmanship.

There are several ways to improve your own penmanship, and the most elemental method is simple practice. Write things over and over while slowing down and focusing on the small details of every letter. Turns out, some pens are better for this exercise than others.

That's where the Pilot Penmanship comes into play. This cheap fountain pen features an EF nib from Pilot, which is something you don't see in a lot of fountain pens from the factory. The idea behind a tiny nib is that you have no choice but to slow down and stay relaxed. If you try to press down too hard or go too fast with this pen, it will scratch the page and be uncomfortable.

While using this pen, I enter a different mindset that focuses on each letter. For one, I tend to press down more than I need to when using pens. It's an old habit from my grade school days where we learned to write with giant, ridiculous pencils. With the EF nib, you can't bear down on the nib without it sticking and scratching. What's more, since the line is so small, you have to work harder to keep the nib controlled when writing. Any mistakes are magnified when using this small nib, unlike larger nibs that cover up a lot of small mistakes.

The nib is excellent and a great value considering the sub-$10 price point. Even though the line width from this nib is a touch smaller than my 0.38mm gel pens, it's exceptionally smooth when used correctly. That, my friends, is impressive.

You can also swap this nib into both the Pilot Metropolitan and Prera. I like this grip section quite a bit. The grip is contoured to provide the "correct" finger positions. It's very similar to the Lamy grip section, but a little smaller. Like I've mentioned with Safaris and Al-Stars, if you don't use the "correct" grip, this pen might not be good for you. Besides the frustration of a pen manufacturer trying to impose a particular finger position for a pen, it's a great design that looks and feels good for me. The version I have has a nice "BunguBox" logo on the side, but that's not standard. The barrel is normally completely devoid of all branding.

The cap is comically small, but posts securely to the back of the pen. It has a couple of small red bits that stick out of the sides of the cap to prevent it from rolling around. It looks good when the cap is secured on the closed pen, but the cap looks silly on its own. Fortunately, I don't think this pen was made to win any aesthetic awards.

That being said, this is a great pen if you're looking for something that delivers an exceptionally thin line. You'd be hard pressed to find something this good that comes straight from the factory. Most of the time, you need a nib specialist to do a custom grind on a larger nib to achieve these results.

The Penmanship accepts Pilot cartridges and the CON-20 and CON-50 converters. It also comes in black and clear, so you have that choice as well. Both are a mere $8.25 on JetPens, which is hard to argue with.