In the meantime, here's a more recent addition to my collection. In fact, it's the one I'll be writing with tonight -- a Pelikan Niagara Falls. I've only had it for 3-4 years, so it's less familiar than my Pelikan 400, which I've had almost as long as that silver Levenger.
The pelican clip and the striped body mark this pen immediately as a Pelikan, but its body is metal rather than resin. That "heft" gives it a nice hand feel. Unfortunately, the ink doesn't flow as smoothly as it does in my 400. Whether that's because I'm still breaking it in1 or because there's something different about the nib or the feed, I don't know. But the difference is clear enough that if I had to make a choice and carry only one of my Pelikans with me, the choice would be easy. It would be the 400.
Here's some of what Fahrney's has to say about it:
For its new Wonders of Nature special edition series, Pelikan has created a writing instrument as beautiful as one of the planet's most awesome spectacles - Niagara Falls. Created at the end of the last ice age, this natural wonder borders the U.S. and Canada and is the most powerful waterfall in North America. The falling water is artfully portrayed on the pen using palladium-plated metal that is elaborately inlaid with cobalt blue resin. The result is stunning, set off by the silver clip and rings which sparkle like sunlit drops of water. The Niagara Falls plunger-fill fountain pen has Pelikan's 18K gold and rhodium nib, formed and polished by a master's hand.
1As I recall, it took a couple of years of daily writing before my Pelikan 400 became as smooth as it now is.
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