Pelikan Souverän M805 Fountain Pen — Stresemann

The Pelikan Souverän M805 Stresemann is the M800 for the lawyer who wears a steel watch: the same "L" body, the same piston and the same 1.35 ml reservoir, finished in anthracite-striped, diamond-cut cellulose acetate with palladium-plated trim and an 18-karat/750 gold nib plated entirely in rhodium. The name is Gustav Stresemann's, the German Foreign Minister of the 1920s, whose pinstriped suits the finish is named for. It is a finish decision, not a step up or down.

Everything that makes the M800 a working pen is here unchanged — 14.2 cm capped, 28.2 grams, a piston that draws enough from the bottle for a long day of notes — and the acetate is cut and polished to a final luster by hand, as it is on the M800; the gold nib is polished and tested by hand as well. What changes is the metal. Rhodium over the gold of the nib, palladium on the clip and the rings, and not a warm tone anywhere on the pen; across a closing table it reads as grey and silver, and it goes with the watch.

Specifications

• Maker: Pelikan, Hannover, Germany
• Model: Souverän M805 Stresemann fountain pen, "L" size
• Size: 14.2 cm capped; 13.1 mm diameter; 28.2 g
• Filling: Piston, ≈ 1.35 ml capacity
• Nib: 18K/750 gold, fully rhodium-plated; Fine or Medium
• Body: Anthracite-striped, diamond-cut cellulose acetate
• Trim: Palladium-plated
• Origin: Made in Germany
• Warranty: Three years from Pelikan, plus our Thirty-Day Assurance

We stock the M805 in both nib widths, as we do the M800 in Black: it is bought as the daily pen, and the width is the decision.

Questions we are asked

M805 or M800? Metal. Body, piston, reservoir and nib alloy are the same. The M805's nib is rhodium-plated all over and its trim is palladium over anthracite stripes; the M800's nib is two-tone gold and its trim is gold. Choose by what you already wear.

Fine or Medium? Fine for the redline and the margin; Medium for the signature and the letter. Both are stocked, and the Field Guide below is the five-minute answer.

Which ink, and how is it cleaned? Bottled ink, any maker's; there is no cartridge in a piston filler. To clean it, work water through the piston at a sink until it runs clear.

Is there a ballpoint to match? The Souverän K805 Stresemann, in the same stripes and the same palladium.

Is the Pelikan warranty valid in the United States? Yes. Pelikan's three-year warranty against material and manufacturing defects has no geographical restrictions, and it covers the Souverän and Classic series. A defect is repaired, or the pen replaced, at Pelikan's choice. Claims go through us as the retailer, or to Pelikan directly with proof of purchase, and the details are in our Warranty Policy.

Deciding on nib width? Read Fine Nib, or Medium?

Built for the lawyer who wears a steel watch. If your trim is gold, the same pen is the Souverän M800; for the "XL" desk pen, see the Souverän M1000.

See the rest of our fountain pens for lawyers, or the full Writing Instruments collection.

Barrister & Bespoke Curated Collection — hand-selected from Pelikan, the Hannover house that has built piston-fill fountain pens since 1929, for its craftsmanship and fit within our world. Curated pieces carry their maker's own identity rather than ours; our house collection, designed and branded exclusively for Barrister & Bespoke, is marked separately throughout the shop.

Warranty. This Product carries Pelikan's three-year warranty against manufacturing defects, and Barrister & Bespoke's own Thirty-Day Assurance for the first thirty days after delivery. Full terms, including how to make a claim, are stated in our Warranty Policy.

Returns. A fountain pen may be returned within thirty days if it is unused and in its original packaging. Once a pen has been inked it is Final Sale and cannot be returned or exchanged, except where it arrives damaged, defective, or materially different from its description. Fill it after you have decided to keep it. Full terms are in our Returns & Exchanges Policy.