Fountain Pen Hospital out of New York City, NY quietly announced a new, very limited edition fountain pen from Pelikan via their Twitter feed today. It will be known as the Pelikan Bayou M201 and is exclusive to Fountain Pen Hospital. Only 100 pens total are reported to be available adding to the exclusivity of this release. Manufactured by Pelikan, the Bayou finish will be a departure from almost everything else in the M2xx line-up. The barrel will feature a swirl of browns, dark blues, and black acrylic resins. The cap, section, and piston knob will be solid black and the furniture will have the standard M200 gold plating. The clip remains Pelikan’s traditional beak clip design and the nib will be gold-plated stainless steel available in sizes EF, F, M, B, and Italic. A transparent ink indicator window is also reported to be present.

Interestingly, this pen comes with a crown cap top that has an all-black colored trim. The last three special edition M200 pens out of Germany have had gold plating around the cap top so this cap design is more reminiscent of their pre-2009 releases. Also of note is the return of an italic nib option which was conspicuously absent on the recent Café Crème release. It is not unusual for Pelikan to make limited runs for exclusive sale through certain outlets but a run of such few pens does stand out as somewhat unique. The M201 nomenclature is also not new as Pelikan used this designation to identify the 3000 clear transparent demonstrators released to the Japanese market in the year 2000.

The list price for the M201 Bayou is $200 and Fountain Pen Hospital is offering it at $179, only a small mark-up from their standard M200 retail pricing. Availability is slated for sometime in August of this year. I have to admit that the barrel design is unique for Pelikan and, from the single image that I’ve seen, very eye-catching. I can’t wait to see more photos or, better yet, this pen in person. At only 100 pieces available, I expect that it won’t sit on the shelf for very long. If you’ve been looking for something different from Pelikan’s Classic line or are trying to complete a collection of M2xx pens, the Bayou looks to be hard to pass up. Get your orders in while you still can because there is no telling how quickly these will be snatched up. Click the link below to be taken directly to Fountain Pen Hospital’s website.

UPDATE (7/12/15): After examining this pen in person, I can vouch that the barrel does indeed exhibit translucency which allows for viewing the remaining level of ink in the pen. This is a departure from the Grand Place and a nice distinguishing feature. Pelikan is also calling this color scheme “water soil” on their documentation which is appropriate given the blues and browns.