Pens 'n Stuff: The Pelikan M415 Brown Tortoise fountain pen

Yes, it's an entry about fountain pens so you just need to deal with that on your own.
In keeping with a theme of sorts (okay, not at all), today's entry is about a pen I've used for over two years: the Pelikan M415 brown tortoise. The pen is a slightly updated reissue (or homage or whatever) of Pelikan's M4xx tortoiseshell fountain pens of yesteryear (circa the 1930s to the 1950s). The key diferrences between a vintage Pelikan and the M415 include:

• vintage Pelikans typically have cork pistons while the M415 and modern Pelikans use plastic or brass
• nib design. The M415's nib is monotone and gold like vintage Pelikan nibs. However, the designs on the nib are consistent with contemporary Pelikan nib designs.
• vintage Pelikans were made out of celluloid. The M415's striped tortoise-shell barrel is made from cellulose acetate (look, they're all plastic, okay? You can fancy it up all you want but in the end, they're just all different varieties of plastic).  

This pen always makes it into my daily rotation for months at a time. It's like having a vintage pen without having to actually buy a vintage pen: the research, the restoration, the worries about keeping it safe, etc. Sure, the Pelikan M415 may be "vintage" in the same way that Kate Middleton is a princess* but at the end of the day, it's a well-made, delightful pen that just always works.
Unfortunately, I don't have photos to show you because my camera has decided that pressing the "on/off" button now means, "turn on but then immediately turn off five times in a row." So go check out these pretty pictures instead.
More Pelikan photos 

*She's a duchess. Big difference.