If you ask Pelikan whether it is a pen factory or an ink factory, you will definitely answer the ink factory if you know more about Pelikan's history. Pelikan began producing inks in 1838 and fountain pen inks in 1889, and the first fountain pen did not appear until 1929, when he bought a patent for piston inking. For pen brands like Montblanc, ink is just an accessory to the pen, while at Pelikan, ink can also play a leading role.
 
In the 80s of the nineteenth century, Bailik was determined to reform, expand the ink production workshop, expand the business to Belgium, Italy, Russia and other countries, and the product line has also been continuously rolled out, and the writing ink with superior performance includes carbon ink, iron gall ink, Aleppo writing ink, salon ink, aromatic ladies ink, black student ink, etc., covering almost all consumer groups. In 1898, the most important writing and copying inks were named 2001, 3001, 4001, and finally 4001 stood the test of time and became one of the best, and has been sold ever since.
 
As the originator of piston inking, Pelikan's piston inking structure has been evaluated for its silky and durable, which is not unrelated to the quality of Pelikan fountain pen ink. The 4001 series contains dye ink and iron gall ink, all of which have the evaluation of not blocking the pen, especially the dye ink, which has good water solubility, even if it is condensed, it can still be used after the water is dissolved, which also makes the fountain pen with 4001 dye ink very easy to clean.
 
Another outstanding feature of 4001 dye ink is that the surface tension is greater than that of other dye inks on the market, which makes it ideal for treating large water guns of Pelikan fountain pens, but fountain pens used for draining may cause whitening. In terms of color performance, the 4001 series of dye ink has selected 8 colors, and has also reached high saturation, except that it is not waterproof, the other performance is good, and the price of 62.5ml is also very cost-effective.
 
Iron gall ink is an ink containing iron tannin, which is slowly oxidized after writing, and the handwriting will change from colorless to black, and in order to be colored at the beginning, blue dye is often added to it, and the final handwriting is blue-black. The discoloration of iron gall ink can be used for anti-counterfeiting, plus the advantages of waterproof, lightfast, and anti-erasure, it is the preferred ink for writing archives, but because of its strong acidity, it was rejected by pen users at first. The 4001 series of iron gall ink reduces the acidity of the iron tannin component, and adds a lightproof solvent to offset the defect of easy oxidation and precipitation of iron gall ink when stored, which is milder and more stable than ordinary iron gall ink, and the rich color is not reduced at all.
 
For black inks that can't be avoided, the 4001 series of dye black is not enough, for this reason, Pelikan has launched Fount India high-end black carbon ink, which has a higher blackness than Logic Black. Its carbon does not indicate the particle size, but because of the uniform dispersion, there is little feedback on the plugging pen, you can wash the pen with cold water frequently, the capacity is 30ml, but the same price as the 62.5ml 4001 series.
 
As an old ink factory that has shifted its focus to fountain pens, Pelikan is not extravagant, but in recent years, the color ink trend has risen, and Pelikan has also taken advantage of the trend to join in, launching the Edelstein series in 2010. The same dye ink, the color selection is close to the crystal texture of ruby, aquamarine, peridot, etc., water solubility is Pelikan has always been excellent, more resistant to smudging than 4001, the price of 50ml 170 yuan raised the purchase threshold, but still do not worry about sales. This is largely due to Pelikan's hunger marketing, which since 2012 has only launched one color of the year each year, and is often reluctant to buy it as soon as it goes on sale. By 2018, the Colour series had produced 15 shades.