--- title: "Pelikan History: Hanover Inks to Hamelin" canonical: "https://stationerytimes.com/stories/pelikan-history/" description: "Who owns Pelikan and how old it is: the 1838 Hanover price list, Wagner's pelican trademark, the 1929 piston filler, the Souverän and Hamelin's 2023 takeover." category: "Stories" published: 2026-10-21 updated: 2026-10-28 author: "Ellis Penhale" publisher: "Stationery Times" sources: 11 organizations: - name: "Pelikan Group GmbH" country: "Germany" founded: "1838" parent: "Hamelin" parent_since: "2023-12-13" brands: ["Pelikan"] source: "https://www.pelikan.com/int/brand/our-history.html" - name: "Hamelin" country: "France" founded: "1864" source: "https://fr.hamelinbrands.com/groupe-hamelin/" --- # Pelikan History: Hanover Inks to Hamelin > Pelikan has been owned by Hamelin, a French family stationery group, since December 13, 2023, when Hamelin completed its purchase of Pelikan Group GmbH. Pelikan dates itself to April 28, 1838, the date of the oldest surviving price list of Carl Hornemann's ink factory in Hanover, which Günther Wagner later took over and gave the pelican trademark. - URL: https://stationerytimes.com/stories/pelikan-history/ - Category: Stories - Author: Ellis Penhale - Published: 2026-10-21 - Updated: 2026-10-28 ![A green-striped Pelikan piston fountain pen above a company timeline from 1838 to 2023](https://stationerytimes.com/images/raster/pelikan-history-16x9.png) *Seven dates in Pelikan's history, from the 1838 price list to Hamelin's 2023 takeover.* Original drawing (SVG): . Drawings © 2026 Stationery Times, reusable with credit under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ## Key takeaways - Chemist Carl Hornemann started a paint and ink factory in Hanover in 1832; Pelikan counts its age from his first surviving price list, dated April 28, 1838. - Günther Wagner joined as chemist in 1863, took over in 1871 and registered the pelican from his family crest as one of Germany's first trademarks on November 27, 1878. - Pelikan's first fountain pen of 1929 had a green marbled band, an ink window and a piston filler with a differential gear, the system its Souverän pens still use. - Malaysia's Pelikan International Corporation Berhad and its Swiss unit Pelikan Holding AG agreed in June 2023 to sell Pelikan Group GmbH for 136 million euros (about US$152 million). - Hamelin, founded in Caen in 1864, completed the purchase on December 13, 2023, gaining the Pelikan and Herlitz brands and more than 12,000 products. Pelikan is one of the oldest names in stationery, and one of the most often sold. It began as a Hanover ink works, became a family company under Günther Wagner's pelican, and since 2023 has belonged to a French group. Every date below comes from Pelikan's German history page, Hamelin's French pages and the 2023 sale terms. ## Who owns Pelikan and how old is it? **Pelikan is owned by Hamelin, a French family stationery company, which completed its purchase of Pelikan Group GmbH on December 13, 2023; Pelikan dates itself to April 28, 1838, which makes it 188 years old in 2026.** Pelikan's German history page says plainly: "Am 13. Dezember 2023 wurde der Verkauf der Pelikan Group GmbH an Hamelin erfolgreich abgeschlossen." Hamelin's own group page says it acquired "le groupe Pelikan", founded 185 years earlier in Hanover, with more than 12,000 products under the Pelikan and Herlitz brands. Our [who owns which stationery brands](https://stationerytimes.com/stories/who-owns-which-stationery-brands/) story places Pelikan with the other big ownership changes of the 2020s. The age needs a footnote. Pelikan says the chemist Carl Hornemann founded a paint and ink factory in Hanover in 1832, but that the official founding date is that of his first surviving price list, April 28, 1838, and that all anniversaries count from it. ## Pelikan timeline: 1832 to 2023 **Pelikan grew from one ink works into a school, office and pen brand over nearly two centuries.** Dates come from Pelikan's German and international history pages unless noted. Today Pelikan calls the [Pelikan Twist](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/pelikan-twist/) its number one school fountain pen. | Date | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | 1832 | Carl Hornemann founds a paint and ink factory in Hanover | Pelikan (DE) | | April 28, 1838 | Oldest surviving price list; Pelikan's official founding date | Pelikan (DE) | | 1863 | Günther Wagner hired as chemist and works manager | Pelikan (DE) | | 1871 | Wagner takes over the company | Pelikan (DE) | | November 27, 1878 | Pelican trademark registered, one of the first in Germany | Pelikan (international) | | 1895 | Fritz Beindorff, Wagner's son-in-law, takes over | Pelikan (DE) | | 1906 | New factory on Podbielskistraße, Hanover | Pelikan (DE) | | 1929 | First Pelikan fountain pen, with piston filler | Pelikan (DE) | | 1950 | The 400 fountain pen launched | Pelikan pen timeline (archived) | | 1960 | Pelikano school fountain pen | Pelikan (DE) | | 1973 | Pen production moves to Peine-Vöhrum | Pelikan (DE) | | 1982 | Souverän M400 launched, a revival of the 400 | Pelikan pen timeline (archived) | | March 1, 2014 | Pelikan Holding AG takes over Herlitz's German and Austrian business | Pelikan (DE) | | June 30, 2023 | Sale of Pelikan Group GmbH to Hamelin's Holdham SAS agreed | The Edge, citing the Bursa filing | | December 13, 2023 | Sale to Hamelin completed | Pelikan; Hamelin | ## Who was Günther Wagner? **The chemist who turned Hornemann's ink works into Pelikan.** Pelikan's German history says Wagner was hired as chemist and works manager in 1863 and took over the firm in 1871. In 1873 he drew the pelican himself, from his family coat of arms, for a line of "Kleine Honigfarben", small watercolors bound with honey. In 1878 he registered it as one of the first trademarks in Germany; Pelikan's international page gives the date as November 27, 1878. Wagner's son-in-law Fritz Beindorff, who had married his eldest daughter in 1888, took over in 1895 and added office supplies and Pelikan's Indian ink. By 1913 the company had 1,057 workers and staff, and at its 100th anniversary in 1938 about 3,700. ## When did Pelikan make its first fountain pen? **In 1929, with a piston filler that Pelikan says is still the state of the art.** Pelikan's German history calls 1929 "the birth year of the Pelikan fountain pen", with a green marbled band as its visual trademark. Pelikan lists three technical features: a leak-proof feed, a transparent ink window and a piston-filling mechanism with a differential gear. Turning the end of the barrel drives the piston, which draws ink straight into the body of the pen; our [how to fill a fountain pen](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/how-to-fill-a-fountain-pen/) guide explains piston fillers alongside cartridges and converters. Ink stayed part of the business. Today's [Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/pelikan-4001-royal-blue/) comes from the same company, and Pelikan launched its Edelstein ink line in 2011. ## When did the Souverän start? **Pelikan's archived pen timeline dates the Souverän M400 to 1982, as a revival of the 400 of 1950.** According to that timeline, as indexed by search engines, the 400 ended in 1965 and its successors couldn't hold its market position; the 1982 Souverän M400 looked the same, with only small changes to the feed and mechanism. Pelikan's product pages, as indexed, say the striped barrel is nicknamed "Stresemann", after the pinstriped suits of the Weimar foreign minister. The original 400 is in our [vintage fountain pens](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/vintage-fountain-pens/) guide, and the steel-nibbed [Pelikan M200](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/pelikan-m200/) is the same size as the M400. We couldn't load either archived Pelikan page in full, so the 1950 and 1982 dates rest on Pelikan's pages as indexed plus collector databases. Pelikan's current history pages don't mention the Souverän. Our [Pelikan Souverän M400](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/pelikan-souveran-m400/) guide covers that pen's size, nib and piston today. Update, October 28, 2026: Pelikan Passion's current fountain-pen timeline lists the Souverän 400 Black-Green under 1982, and its Souverän page says model 400 was born in 1950 and took the Souverän name in the 1980s, so those dates now rest on a Pelikan page we could read. The same timeline, which runs from 1982 to 2026, is the base for our guides to [Pelikan limited and special editions](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/pelikan-limited-special-editions/) and [Pelikan Classic 200 and 205 special editions](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/pelikan-classic-200-special-colors/). ## How did Pelikan end up with a Malaysian owner? **By the 2010s the Pelikan group belonged to Pelikan International Corporation Berhad (PICB), a company listed in Malaysia, through its Swiss subsidiary Pelikan Holding AG.** Pelikan's history names Pelikan Holding AG as the company that took over Herlitz's German and Austrian business on March 1, 2014, adding the Herlitz, Susy Card and Geha brands. We found no Pelikan or PICB page we could read that dates how the Swiss and Malaysian companies came to own Pelikan in the 1980s and 1990s. PICB's own annual reports and Bursa Malaysia filings were blocked to our reader, so we leave those steps out of the timeline. ## How did Hamelin buy Pelikan? **PICB agreed on June 30, 2023 to sell Pelikan Group GmbH to Holdham SAS, the holding company of the Hamelin group, for 136 million euros (about US$152 million) in cash.** That is how The Edge Malaysia reported PICB's filing to Bursa Malaysia; the sellers were PICB and subsidiaries including Pelikan Holding AG. The same report says Holdham would also take on 15.4 million euros (about US$17 million) of debt owed by PICB to the Pelikan group, and that PICB planned to return most of the proceeds to its shareholders. The sale needed approval from holders of 75% of PICB's shares. Pelikan's history page records completion on December 13, 2023. Hamelin, founded in 1864 in Caen by Ernest Hamelin as a maker of ledgers and account books, describes itself as a French family business that makes school and office supplies. ## Where are Pelikan pens made now? **In Germany: Pelikan says its writing, painting and office products are still produced in Peine-Vöhrum, about 30 km east of Hanover.** Pen production moved there from Hanover's Podbielskistraße in 1973, when the old plant couldn't grow any further. Pelikan's administration moved into a new building on Hanover's Mittelland Canal on March 17, 2003, and in 2017 the company opened the TintenTurm shop and museum in the old headquarters. Pelikan's history pages, last updated for the Hamelin sale, don't announce any change to the Peine-Vöhrum plant. The collector blog The Pelikan's Perch has since run posts headlined on the closure of Pelikan's German sales company (June 2024) and an uncertain future for manufacturing (March 2025); we found no Pelikan or Hamelin statement confirming either, so check the box for the country of origin. ## Frequently asked questions ### Who owns Pelikan now? Hamelin, a French family-owned maker of school and office supplies based in Caen. Pelikan's history page says the sale of Pelikan Group GmbH to Hamelin was completed on December 13, 2023. The deal also brought Hamelin the Herlitz brand. ### How old is Pelikan? Pelikan counts from April 28, 1838, the date on the oldest surviving price list of Carl Hornemann's ink factory in Hanover, so it turned 185 in 2023. Hornemann actually started the factory in 1832, Pelikan's German history says. ### Is Pelikan still German? The brand and its factory are German, but the owner is French. Pelikan says its writing, painting and office products are still made in Peine-Vöhrum, east of Hanover, where pen production moved in 1973. ### Where does the Pelikan logo come from? Günther Wagner drew the pelican in 1873, based on his family coat of arms, for a line of small honey-bound watercolors. He registered it as a trademark on November 27, 1878, one of the first in Germany. ### How does a Pelikan piston filler work? You turn the end of the barrel, which drives a piston that draws ink straight into the body of the pen. Pelikan's first fountain pen of 1929 drove its piston with a differential gear. ### When was the Pelikan Souverän introduced? Pelikan's archived pen timeline says the Souverän M400 came out in 1982 as a revival of the 400 of 1950, the green-striped pen nicknamed Stresemann. We couldn't load that page in full, so treat 1982 as Pelikan's date as indexed. ### Who owned Pelikan before Hamelin? Pelikan International Corporation Berhad, a company listed in Malaysia, through subsidiaries that included the Swiss Pelikan Holding AG. They agreed in June 2023 to sell Pelikan Group GmbH to Hamelin's holding company, Holdham SAS, for 136 million euros (about US$152 million). ### Does Pelikan still make Herlitz? Herlitz belongs to the same group. Pelikan Holding AG took over Herlitz's German and Austrian business on March 1, 2014, and Hamelin lists Pelikan and Herlitz as the main brands it gained in 2023. ## Sources - [Pelikan (German): Unternehmensgeschichte (company history, 1832 to 2023)](https://www.pelikan.com/de/unternehmen/geschichte.html) - [Pelikan: Our History (trademark registered November 27, 1878; sale to Hamelin completed December 13, 2023)](https://www.pelikan.com/int/brand/our-history.html) - [Hamelin (French): Groupe Hamelin (founded in Caen in 1864; acquisition of the Pelikan group)](https://fr.hamelinbrands.com/groupe-hamelin/) - [Hamelin (French): Pelikan brand page (history from 1838 to the Hamelin takeover)](https://fr.hamelinbrands.com/brands/pelikan/) - [Hamelin (French): Espace presse (Hamelin acquires the Pelikan group)](https://fr.hamelinbrands.com/espace-presse/) - [Pelikan Passion (International): Timeline of the Pelikan fountain pens, 1982 to 2026 (Souverän 400 Black-Green listed under 1982; read October 28, 2026)](https://www.pelikan-passion.com/int/experiencing-the-brand/timeline.html) - [Pelikan Passion: Souverän (1950 was the year of birth of model 400; the Souverän name in the 1980s; read October 28, 2026)](https://www.pelikan-passion.com/int/writing/premium/souveraen.html) - [Pelikan (German, archived): Zeitstrahl der Pelikan Füllhalter (fountain pen timeline: 400 in 1950, Souverän M400 in 1982)](https://www.pelikan.com/pulse/Pulsar/de_AT.FWI.timelineInitView.259713.) - [Pelikan (German, archived): 1951–1982, der „gestreifte“ Pelikan Füllhalter](https://archive.pelikan.com/pulse/Pulsar/de_CH.CMS.displayCMS.260246./der-gestreifte-pelikan-fuellhalter) - [The Pelikan's Perch: Pelikan Vertriebsgesellschaft ceases operations, June 6, 2024 (collector blog; not used for dates)](https://thepelikansperch.com/2024/06/06/pelikan-vertriebsgesellschaft-ceases-operations/) - [The Edge Malaysia: Pelikan announces sale of stationery biz for RM695 mil, June 30, 2023 (report of PICB's Bursa Malaysia filing)](https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/673078)