The latest in Pelikans "620 Series" celebrates a wonderful site in Brussels, the Grand'Place. This central square is home to wonderful architecture, being surrounded by ornate buildings; the city's Town Hall, Guild Houses, and the Maison du Roi. The Grand'Place is considered to be the foremost tourist destination in Brussels, not only for the stunning buildings surrounding it, but for the many cultural events scheduled year round in the central square itself.
Like
the other pens in the Pelikan 620 series, the Grand'Place is constructed
on the M600 size pen. This means a pen that is large enough to seem
"full size" without being too large. As I prefer large
pens, (think Pelikan M1000 or MB 149!) I find these on the small side,
but not so undersized that I couldn't use one if I wanted. On the other
hand, even if you like slim pens, you will very likely find this size
to be very comfortable in use.
The
underlying mechanics are the same as that used in all Pelikans over
the past years: A reliable piston fill mechanism backing up a very smooth
slightly soft 18K nib that's available in almost any nib width you could
imagine. Given that, it's the looks that make or break a limited edition
Pelikan of any kind, and never more so than with the 620 Series. With
this series, Pelikan has varied from the almost conservative marbled
colors of the first pens, through some fairly "aggressive"
color schemes. This makes each announcement of a new 620 Series pen
always something of an event as pen lovers world-wide organize themselves
into two camps, those who love 'em and those who hate 'em.
Although tastes will always differ, I think the Grand'Place will be much less controversial than some of the past editions. Beginning with a base of rich brown that gleams with shimmering highlights, the accent comes form dark blue veins running through both the cap and barrel. It is not a color combination that you might expect on a basically brown pen, but it actually works quite well together. The section and piston knob are plain copper colored material, and the trim is gold plated.
When
it comes down to getting ink on paper, of course, you cannot go wrong
with a Pelikan, especially what is basically the M600. The piston fill
mechanism is one of my preferred filling types, even in a "smaller"
pen like this one, I find that they hold enough ink for any reasonable
use I might have at hand. I like Pelikan nibs in general, and while
I still put the M1000 at the top of my list for all around "great
feel" on paper, I found that the nib on our sample Grand'Place
was really quite nice. Very smooth, and soft enough to allow for a bit
of line width change when writing. Not "true" flex, but a
nice writer. This is the kind of pen that you can use "in a hurry",
unlike a true vintage flex nib. Given the size of the Grand'Place I
ended up with the pen posted, and in this regard it performed like other
Pelikans: Perfectly. The cap sits far enough down on the barrel end
to make for a secure fit, and the balance with the cap posted was very
good to my hand.
As Pelikans go, I really think the Grand'Place is a winner. It's not so bright as others in the 620 series, but it still sets itself apart from other pens with the distinctive look of the material used. Combine that with the great performance of a Pelikan and it's well worth a look!
copyright 2006William Riepl
Images copyright 2006 William Riepl