Hello, stranger!
By Rick Propas [Note: A list of sources and additional reading is to be found at the end of this piece. Rather this is meant to be a readable introduction to Pelikans for beginning collectors and newcomers] The history of Pelikan begins with Germany’s industrial revolution in the early nineteenth century and continues into the global economy of today. During that period, the firm has consistently been a technological leader, even as its fortunes rose and fell. Eight years later Wagner took over the business giving it his name and expanding it into office supplies. In , Wagner added the name of Pelikan, from one of the elements in his family crest. Although Wagner was late to enter the field, they revolutionized the manufacture of German fountain pens with the first piston filler. Today, collectors from around the world put huge amounts of money, time, and energy into collecting what began as a homely little expression of German modernist pen design.
