Review: Pelikan Souverän M805 Stresemann Fountain Pen @AppelboomLaren

Thank you to Appelboom Pennen for loaning me this pen to review! It was painful to send it back, and that's a good sign, right?

ABOUT

Body Material: Resin/Cellulose Acetate
Trim: Palladium-plated
Length (capped): 141.3 mm/5.56
Length (uncapped nib-end): 127.2 mm/5.01"
Length (posted): 165.3 mm/6.51''
Barrel Diameter: 11.1 - 13.0 mm/0.43"- 0.51''
Section Diameter: 10.8 - 11.2 mm/0.42'' - 0.44''
Nib material: 18KT Rhodium-plated gold
Weight (all): 30 g
Weight (cap): 8 g
Weight (body): 22 g
Fill type: Piston-filler
Price: € 470.00 (Excl. VAT: € 388.43)
Where to buy: Appelboom Pennen (Get a 10% discount: click the banner for details!)

PACKAGING

This Pelikan arrived in a hard box. The main box was inside a white Pelikan sleeve. the box had a faux wood base and a silver-grey lid. Inside, the faux cream leather pouch with red plastic seal holds the pen. The pouch sits on a plastic bed. Underneath the bed, there was the Pelikan warranty and Pelikan Moments of Joy booklets.

It's a pretty solid, heavy box. I like the pouch best though, as it's most useful.

APPEARANCE

At first I figured, ah, it's just a grey Pelikan, I can live without it, right? LE SIGH. Maybe not. It turns out the anthracite and palladium-plated finish is rather attractive. The rhodium-plated nib is shiny and complements the rest of the colors so perfectly.

The M805 Stresemann is a pretty large pen with a thick, round cap and barrel, and slightly rounded ends. The end has a black resin piston-turning knob marked by two bands. The finial has the Pelikan logo in a brushed on shiny finish. The clip is attached externally and has the classic pelican bill shape (which I love, it's a great touch). The center band on the cap is engraved with Pelikan Souverän Germany. The cap and section are black resin. The section is short and has an indent for ones fingers before it flares out towards the nib again.

The barrel is one of the highlights, of course. The barrel is composed of pearlescent anthracite stripes and clear stripes, allowing you to see inside the barrel. I love the black, anthracite, and silver look of this pen. It's dark but not boring and flat at all: it is elegant and suave.

Damn you, Pelikan.

NIB & PERFORMANCE

The 18KT rhodium-plated gold nib is a beautiful medium. Like the other nibs from the Souverän series, this nib has a single slit and breather hole. It is engraved with the Pelikan logo, the nib size, the gold hallmark, and some flourishes. This is one of my favorite nib designs!

The nib was well-tuned upon arrival. It was a fairly wet writer for a medium, even though it's a large nib. It wrote fairly consistently, but I did experience a few hard starts on smooth paper, however, they were infrequent enough that I didn't feel the nib would need any work. I did not notice any skipping while actually writing. I liked that it the wetness was fun, enjoyable, and made inks shade well, but not so wet that drying times were too long.

With pressure, there was a little bit of line variation possible. The nib was a little soft, offering a very pleasant, yielding writing experience - this is one of the things I particularly love about Pelikan nibs.

As to the hard starts, as I said, I do not think they were frequent enough to require work, but the nib could have been tuned to eliminate this. Since it was a loaner pen, I did not touch it! Regardless, I think this pen would do well as an everyday writer. Pelikan says they check all the pens as they go out. Based on a dip test, the nib ran fine, but actually writing with it gives this occasional hard starting experience.

IN HAND

The clip was snug but springy enough to operate easily. The end of the clip flares up, making it easy to slide on to pages, into pockets, and into pouches.

The section is small but the shape makes it quite comfortable. The threads at the back are a little sharp so if you grip beyond the section, it may be uncomfortable. I did not find the section itself slippery - the flare kept my grip in place.

Unposted, I found the 805 a well-balanced, relatively light, comfortable pen. The design and shape of the section allows even smaller hands to use this pen pretty easily.

The cap did post by friction, and it felt snug and secure. It doesn't sit very deeply, but it's far enough down that the pen didn't feel top heavy or unbalanced. I love that I could use this unposted or posted. For longer writing sessions, I ended up using it unposted most often.

PROS & CONS

OVERALL

I'm definitely a Pelikan fan, so I'm biased in that regard. I think this is a beautiful model with a stunning finish. It's quite comfortable, serviceable at home, and it has the benefit of interchangeable nibs. Love it. The price tag on these are a dinger, but I think it's worth having at least one.

I was loaned this item for the purposes of this review. I was not compensated monetarily for my review. Everything you've read here is my own opinion. There are no affiliate links in this review.