REVIEW: PELIKAN SOUVERAN M800 STONE GARDEN SPECIAL EDITION FOUNTAIN PEN

I'll admit that I'm a rather loyal collector of the Pelikan Souverän M8XX special editions. Yet, I've been able to restrain myself and hold off on quite a few recent editions like the Vibrant Blue and Ocean Swirl. I guess they weren't really my thing anyway, as I wasn't that big on the vibrant colorways of those releases.

And then they announced their latest release, the M800 Stone Garden, a few months ago... The same tried and true Souverän pen (that I reviewed multiple times before), but once again built up from a completely new combination of materials. The color combo is definitely unique, combining a dark blue resin for the cap, section and piston knob, and a beautiful brown-blue marbled material for the barrel. As I'm usually not a fan of blue pens, I wasn't immediately hooked. But the subdued color scheme ultimately pulled me over. My thanks to Appelboom for sending one over to take a look at in this review!

In person, this is an absolutely stunning pen. The material has a marble-like diagonal striation to it, and the blue and brown flecks create a shimmering light and dark contrast. Combined with the gold trim, this is an extremely classy pen. I love how the Souverän pens can appear classic -almost in a vintage way- or modern and sleek, depending on the materials they use (case in point: the Stone Garden vs. the M815 Metal Stripe!).

One thing I don't really like, is how the pattern is interrupted by a single seam along the length of the barrel. Pelikan creates the barrel by hot-forming sheets of resin into tubes (called the 'binde'), so you'll always have a seam somewhere, it's just not visible on most materials they use. It's not too obvious, as it took me a good while to even notice it, so it certainly isn't a deal-breaker for me.

The Souverän M800 is a fairly large pen, measuring 14.1 cm (5.57") capped, and 12.7 cm (5") uncapped. It posts securely, creating a pen that measures 16.6 cm (6.53"). The brass piston mechanism adds just the right amount of heft, giving a total weight of 30 g. I've raved about the M8XX on multiple occasions before, it's pretty much the perfect size for my hand (with the M6XX a close second, especially if you have smaller hands!). I forgot to take a size comparison photo of the Stone Garden, but you can find one in my review of last years Renaissance Brown special edition!

The nib on this Stone Garden is new to me, because it's actually the first time that I got to play with the EF on one of Pelikan's high-end models. I figured, since the latest price increase, that I shouldn't wait any longer to get one... God forbid they might go up in price again in the future (The current  55€ premium you pay for an EF nib is already quite absurd!)

In terms of performance, what can I say? It's an excellent nib. As you may know, I'm usually not drawn towards the finer end of the nib spectrum, but this one is hard to knock. It's a solid performer. Maybe a tad bit boring because of the inherent stiffness of the M800 nibs (when I do buy finer nibs, I like a bit of 'cushioning' in my writing), but the ink flow is consistent (surprisingly not overly wet) and it's ample smooth. When comparing this to a Japanese EF, the line it puts down is still about twice as wide, but nevertheless it should be perfectly usable even when you have small handwriting.

I like the new Stone Garden (Who'd have thunk it!). Even though blue pens don't tend to be my first choice, I think they did a fantastic job on the color combination here. It's a classy-looking pen, which is how I tend to like my Pelikans (The Burnt Orange, Tortoise brown, Renaissance,...). I think a professional and subdued color scheme works better with the Souverän design than a more vibrant material (like the new Vibrant Orange m600), but I guess that's just my personal preference.

In general -but especially with the special editions- Pelikan is slowly pulling up their prices. Where they once offered a competitive price compared to say, Montblanc, that price gap is now slowly fading away. The Pelikan Souverän M800 Stone Garden retails for 519€ (612$) here in Europe. But for the non-EU audience that buy from overseas (like from Appelboom, for example) the price drops down to 437€ (500$) without VAT. The price hike for EF nibs will add about 55€ (65$), which I feel is quite unfair for people that prefer a finer nib.

Note: Appelboom is a sponsor of this blog. I received a discount on the purchase of this product. I was in no way influenced in the making of this review, the opinions shared in this review are completely my own! This post contains affiliate links. When shopping through these links, you support my blog, additionally you can use the above discount code to enjoy 10% off your order.

QUICK LOOK: LAMY SAFARI ALL BLACK & AL-STAR VIBRANT PINK SPECIAL EDITIONS!

Some may disagree with me, but I think Lamy has been on a great run in the past couple years with their annual Safari and Al-star releases. The last three special editions have been rather consistent in terms of what we could expect: a bright and colorful new Al-star color, and a contrasting dark and subtle Safari.

Yet this year I think they outdid themselves on the combination of the two! The All Black met some criticism that it's not different enough from the standard 'Umbra' Safari (judge for yourself from the picture below), but I love how it came out. Over the years I've come to enjoy more colorful materials and finishes (If you've been following this blog since the beginning, you'll know that I used to be quite exclusively into monotone pens!), but I will still grab for the subtle and subdued colorways when I can. 

The All Black is indeed very similar to the Umbra, but especially side by side there's a difference to be noticed. The Umbra isn't really grey either, it's more like a really dark brown. I tried my best to show the very nuanced difference in the picture below. In any case, both are simple and office-appropriate, colors. Whether you choose the Umbra or All Black, both are sleek pens suited for everyday use, without drawing too much attention to your pen.

Umbra (used, so the finish has become glossier over time) on the left, All Black on the right.

As much as I like the subtlety of the All Black, the Vibrant Pink also grew on me in the past weeks! Pink and black match exceptionally well, so I think they did a great job putting these two colors together. Yes, the pink may be a slightly girly pen, and it may turn heads in the meeting room. But heck, why not! Want a pink pen, just go for it! For what it's worth, I think they went with a classy shade of pink, more like magenta, not Barbie-like hot pink.

As I said, Lamy has been pretty consistent over the past three years, there's quite a noticeable trend when you put the most recent Safaris and Al-stars next to each other! Continuing the trend, the All Black received the same matte finish as its direct predecessors, and the Vibrant pink is again a very vibrant (well, duh!) and fresh color, ideal for spring!

Put them side by side, and you'll realise just how much Lamy loves red and pink!

Of course along with the new special edition pens, come new special edition inks. Well almost... Remember last year's debacle with the Pacific blue 'special edition' ink that was just Lamy Turquoise in a slightly different packaging? Well they haven't learned from their mistakes over in Heidelberg, because this year they tried the same trick with the All Black ink! It's just the regular black ink, again in an ever-so-slightly different cardboard box. Not cool Lamy! 

Fortunately the Vibrant Pink ink IS a new color, and it's a strong release too if you ask me! Just like the Dark Lilac ink -that I obsessively hoarded as much as I could- Vibrant pink is a nice shade that is plenty saturated and quite legible. The saturation gives this ink a fantastic green-gold sheen, just like Dark Lilac... I'm smitten! 

Dat sheen tho!

Overall, I'm quite pleased with what Lamy came up with this year. The Safari and Al-star special editions continue to grab my attention each year, and both the pens are affordable enough to continue buying them. The price point they are at makes them excellent collectibles, and on top of that they are also just really good pens for everyday use.

Yes, the All Black ink was a bit of a dissapointment. I secretly expected a grey ink to accompany it, which oviously didn't happen. But perhaps this means we can hope for a re-release of the awesome Griso Grey as next year's special edition (still my all-time favourite color!) with a Griso Grey ink? At this point all we can do is guess, but it would be pretty awesome!

The Safari All Black retails for around 20 EUR (30 USD), and the Al-star goes for 27 EUR (37 USD). The ink is 2 EUR for five proprietary Lamy cartridges, or 11 EUR (12 USD) for a 50ml bottle. Both the pens and inks are decently priced, but especially the Vibrant Pink ink is hard not to recommend at this price point. The All Black ink can be ignored, save your 12$ for next year's release...

La Couronne Du Comte and Penworld are sponsors of this blog. I received a discount on the purchase of these products, so I could write this review. I was in no way influenced in the making of this review, nor was I otherwise compensated monetarily. The opinions shared in this review are completely my own. This post does not contain affilate links.

Bonus picture, just look at that magnificent green-gold sheen!

QUICK LOOK: BARON FIG LOCK & KEY SPECIAL EDITION SET

Being shamefully behind on reviews, I wanted to share a quick post about the Baron Fig Lock & Key set. The special edition Squire rollerball is unfortunately sold out already, but you can still grab the matching Confidant notebook.

After my failure to get a hold of a Baron Fig Squire Experiment (what more could a chemistry student ask for??), I decided to act fast. And boy did I act fast this time! I don't think I ever impulse-bought anything as fast as this. Which -in itself- should give you a good idea of how excited I am with this release.

How excited? VERY excited! For the simple reason that this is the first time Baron Fig went with a different metal for the Squire rollerball. It's as simple as that. Give me something brass, and I jump through the roof.

... Ok maybe not literally, but I do nevertheless really like this take on the minimalist Baron Fig Squire rollerball. As usual it's a relatively small, yet comfortable-in-hand clipless pen. The machined brass almost doubles the weight of this Squire, compared to the aluminium ones. That's a lot, but given the relatively compact size, it still only weighs in at around 50 grams. Which -to me- is a sweet spot in terms of heft (YMMV of course).

The Squire received a faint brushed finish, and the 'Key' theme is visualised by the antique key logo on the top of the pen right underneath the twist knob. On the opposite side of the barrel you can find the clean Baron Fig logo laser-etched, and that's all the branding you'll find on this pen. Even though the logo is large (in relation to the size of the pen), it still feels subtle because the laser etching isn't very obtrusive, and the font is simple and modern. 

Of course the most exciting part about using brass in a pen is the fact that it will create a beautiful patina. I haven't had the pen long enough to see that happen, although it has already become a bit darker with the first use! I definitely hope this will be the first in a series of new Squire designs to use different metals such as brass, copper and titanium. I may have said this before, but I love the differences in look and feel between different metals, and I think they give each pen a distinct character.

If you want to read more about the Baron Fig Squire rollerball, you can read my full review of the original (aluminium) version HERE.

Then for the matching Confidant: the 'Lock'. The packaging of this notebook is absolutely beautiful -albeit perhaps a bit excessive. The dark green paired with a gold foil embossed maze pattern on the outside box invokes a very obvious vintage look and feel, while still keeping the modern and minimal aesthetic that we know from Baron Fig. 

Inside the box is a large fold-out maze in gold foil on white paper. The maze contains hidden messages in a secret sign alphabet, which can be solved with the code on the packaging of the Squire. At least that's what I think it is, I honestly haven't taken the proper time to find out what it says! 

The notebook itself  is an A5-sized hardcover Confidant, cloth-covered in the same dark green color as the packaging, and with the 'Lock' and maze design embossed over the entire cover (but not filled with gold foil). It counts 192 pages of dot grid paper.

I won't be doing a full detailed review of the notebook and the paper quality in this post. But I have o of course tried it with a bunch of (fountain) pens, and my first impression is actually much better than expected. The paper seems to handle most kinds of ink -even in wider nibs- flawlessly. I couldn't find any bleedthrough or feathering in my test, very impressive! Anway, I'll leave it at that, and keep a full review for a different time! 

Even though the Squire is already sold out, you can still go for the Confidant notebook (and I fear those won't last much longer either). I think Baron Fig has really outdone themselves on this special release.

The Baron Fig Confidant Lock notebook retails for 20 USD, which I think is fair for the quality and the fantastic design you get. If you want one, act fast because the stock won't last much longer I'm afraid. It's a shame that the Squire sold out already, but I'm hoping we'll see Baron Fig experiment with more exotic metals like brass, copper, titanium,... in the future!

Note: I received a discount on the purchase of this product from Baron Fig. I was in no way influenced in the making of this review, the opinions shared in this review are completely my own! This post does not contain affilate links.