Pelikan has had many unique fountain pen releases over its long and storied history.  Amongst the Classic line, the marbled variants have proven very popular and have had an enduring presence since their introduction in the late 1980s.  Perhaps no finish has enjoyed the longevity of the grün marmoriert or green marbled variant, one of Pelikan’s best sellers.  This pattern has seen no less than five permutations across a couple of different models in the M2xx family.  The marbled look can be traced all the way back to Pelikan’s earliest pens dating to the 1930s.  I thought that it would be fun to explore each one of these modern iterations in the M2xx line-up, especially in light of the newest version released in November 2015.  Green marble is back and while it may seem like much of the same on the surface, there are some subtle differences that are worth pointing out.

Left to Right: M200 pre-’97, M250 pre-’97, M200 post-’97, M200 Expo 2000, M200 2015 Re-Issue

M200 Green Marbled – “Old-Style” (1988)

This is the original M200 green marbled fountain pen released in March of 1988 alongside the similarly styled grey and blue marbled models.   These are found in Pelikan’s older, pre-’97 trim style which can be distinguished by the derby cap top and double cap bands.  It features Pelikan’s traditional beak clip along with a light anthracite colored ink window.  The cap band will have either “W. Germany” or “Germany” engraved depending on whether production preceded or followed the years 1990/91.  The nib is gold-plated stainless steel and was available in both standard and oblique options.  The barrel itself is made of varying shades of green to give it that marbled appearance.  Each pen has a somewhat unique pattern when laid side by side.

M200 Green Marbled – “New-Style” (1997)

Pelikan re-styled many of the pens across their Souverän and Classic lines in 1997 which gave us the M200 green marbled in the new style trim.  Not all of Pelikan’s pens made the style transition but this marbled variant proved popular enough to make the cut.  The barrel is fairly identical to the older style but the furniture and cap top have changed.  We now have a crown cap top, single cap band, and a trim ring at the piston knob.  The gold-plated stainless steel nib is again present and the ink view window remains a light anthracite color.  Oblique nib options were dropped later into this model’s run.  This pen has had an intermittent availability on the market due to a reported difficulty sourcing the raw materials that comprise the barrel.  These were very hard to come by circa 2010 before again being re-introduced in 2011 for a short period of time.

M200 Green Marbled – “New-Style, Expo 2000” (2000)

A special edition green marbled M200 limited to a run of just 1000 pieces was made in the year 2000 by special order of Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH for Expo 2000, a World’s Fair held in Hannover, Germany.  The fair ran from 6/1 through 10/31/2000 with the theme, “Man, Nature, Technology.”  The pen made to commemorate the occasion is identical to the standard new style green marbled M200 discussed above with the exception of the cap which depicts the Expo 2000 logo.

M200 Green Marbled – “New-Style, Re-issue” (2015)

The M200 green marbled was re-issued as part of the standard collection in November of 2015 after having not been available for some time.  The absence from the market was again likely due to difficulty sourcing the materials necessary to make the barrel.  The new version has the same design as the original except a new, high quality acrylic material is employed in the construction of the barrel. This serves to give the pen a bit more depth and brilliance than the original versions.  While that added brilliance is definitely noticeable, it would be difficult to distinguish between the variants without a direct side by side comparison.  One tell-tale feature that may more readily help with a quick identification is that the ink window on this model is a much darker anthracite than what is found on any of the other releases.

M250 Green Marbled – “Old-Style”

This model is identical to the old style M2oo outlined above with the exception of a 14C-585 monotone gold nib which was the hallmark of the M250 series.  This was likely an export model that was made for the Japanese market sometime between 1988-1990/91.  Most of the marbled M250 variants that I have seen are stamped “W. Germany” on the cap band.

M2xx green marbled cap tops (Left two caps 1988-1996. Middle cap 2003-present. Right two caps 1997-2002.)

M2xx green marbled fountain pen nibs (2015 re-issue with the darker anthracite ink window is depicted in the center for comparison)

For further reading, please check out my article “Pelikan M200 Review and Comparison” featured on The Penman Post blog.