Fountain Pen enthusiasts...Raise your stained fingers :-)

[General_sound]

Out of the pens owned by me, Parker 61, with the self ink filling capillary system, fascinated me the most. In college I owned a Pilot which would compress in size.Then the President, with its huge ink capacity! Wilson and Sulekha ,both proudly made in India.

 

[manek]

OMG so many still use FPs

Have a decent collection of Lamys, Parkers, ASA pens, Pilots etc. And a few inks of different shades. Still use them to write my daily diary at work and the only one to use FP in a 200 plus organization.

And the good thing I rubbed off the FP lust to my daughter, perhaps who is the only FP user in her uni of 1500 students. She has her separate collection.

Same here. Have managed to inspire a few at work. I would always sign docs with a FP and an ink shade quite different to the regular black and blue. Turquoise was the colour that caught peoples attention most. First they tried to get rollers with that colour, couldnt and then had to come to me to ask what I was using .

 

[manek]

Out of the pens owned by me, Parker 61, with the self ink filling capillary system, fascinated me the most. In college I owned a Pilot which would compress in size.Then the President, with its huge ink capacity! Wilson and Sulekha ,both proudly made in India.

I did use wilsons, fp and jotter. I still have my jotters but cant find my fp.

 

[General_sound]

Wilson made some fine fountain pens and jotters. Some were Parker clones and very good ones at that. Are they still around?

 

[manek]

Wilson made some fine fountain pens and jotters. Some were Parker clones and very good ones at that. Are they still around?

Nope. They shut shop long back, probably late 80’s or early 90’s.

 

[Lizard King]

OMG so many still use FPs

Atleast half of my colleagues, cutting across age, use FP regularly. Many of the HOD's pockets are worth more than a diamond ring.
But with Electronic Medical Records becoming mandatory, I see things changing very soon.

 

[General_sound]

Thanks Manek. Sad to know . Wilson was a part of our writing history.

 

[manek]

Thanks Manek. Sad to know . Wilson was a part of our writing history.

But the used market will have the pieces you desire. Sometimes the best deals are in the used market.
E.g my Parker 51 in gold trim, hold nib and the jewel i bought for about 4k. Works like a charm, i use it often. No issues. The parker 51 reissue steel trim and nib costs 9k and the gold one 50% more.

Enuff said.

 

[General_sound]

Thanks a lot. Will certainly explore.

 

[Lizard King]

New acquisition. Waterman Caréne Maroon Laquer. Wonderful design with the inlaid 18K nib. Smooth rounded nib with absolutely no flex. I guess completely covered feed imparts extra stiffness. Writes good but not great. Looks like a million bucks.

 

[hemya]

check this out...

I bought this steel one for my wife on a trip to Singapore and the plastic one for myself. After a few weeks she said she preferred the plastic one. I am not one to complain. This Kaweco steel pen is now one of my favourites.

 

[Lizard King]

Nope. They shut shop long back, probably late 80’s or early 90’s.

"My family made the pen that wrote the Constitution of India" - INDIAN MEMORY PROJECT

My grandfather, Dwarkadas Jivanlal Sanghvi (Standing right in a black coat) with his brother Vallabhdas Jivanlal Sanghvi and business partners, at a Pen

www.indianmemoryproject.com

Piece of immortal history

 

[manek]

Got myself a Kanwrite Desire. Amazing value for the money they charge. Good fit and finish, nice fine nib, no leakage or burping or drying of ink.

Good stuff. Good stuff.

 

[manek]

Only God knows how many of those I ruined during my school days. Google search directed me to these nostalgic pictures.
View attachment 63941

Are these Sheaffer or the Wing Sung inspirations ? The latter I presume.

These are beautiful pens. Always had a thing for Sheaffer inlaid triumph nibs or similar.

 

[powerslave]

I started with usual Chinese Hero pens back in school (camlins before them but settled on Heros for entire stretch from 8-12th std and even engineering). I picked up a Parker early in career and built a small collection of few Sheaffers and Cross, somehow I always felt that pen making as a trade and art had lost it's sheen for I never liked my 5-10K range pens as well as my INR 100 Heros back in the day. I now have a very small collection of two Japanese Sailors (these are equivalents of Luxmans in pen world) they are not as expensive as Mont Blancs but their nibs are really well crafted and hefty that can take some writing pressure. (for reference: https://www.williampenn.net/sailor-...ntain-pen-music-black-with-gold-trims/p/13328) .

Downside of keeping a fountain pen is I have to keep a cheap ball pen with me all the time for I literally hate to give my fountain pens to anyone to even fill a small form. I don't even let my wife or kids write with them.

 

[manek]

I started with usual Chinese Hero pens back in school (camlins before them but settled on Heros for entire stretch from 8-12th std and even engineering). I picked up a Parker early in career and built a small collection of few Sheaffers and Cross, somehow I always felt that pen making as a trade and art had lost it's sheen for I never liked my 5-10K range pens as well as my INR 100 Heros back in the day. I now have a very small collection of two Japanese Sailors (these are equivalents of Luxmans in pen world) they are not as expensive as Mont Blancs but their nibs are really well crafted and hefty that can take some writing pressure. (for reference: https://www.williampenn.net/sailor-...ntain-pen-music-black-with-gold-trims/p/13328) .

Downside of keeping a fountain pen is I have to keep a cheap ball pen with me all the time for I literally hate to give my fountain pens to anyone to even fill a small form. I don't even let my wife or kids write with them.

I just say “ink nahi hai”.

 

[reubensm]

Well I dont have any high end fountain pens but I've got 2 and these have been with me for a very very long time, and are still in use.
The first one is a Hero 329, made in China, silver cap pen which was gifted to me by my grandmother, brand new on my birthday in 1980. That was the year I was in Standard-4 and we were allowed to start using fountain pens at school (from UKG to Standard 3, we wrote with pencils). I recollect being the only boy in my class who had a Hero pen and that was a special feeling. Most of the others had the large nib local types from Camlin, Omega and Bismi. I have written absolutely all the examinations of my academic life (starting with the 2nd Term Christmas exams of 1980) with this Hero pen. I continued to use this pen from the start of my corporate career and it is still in use today. However after receiving a manager promotion, I transitioned to using my father's 1978 Sheaffer 440 Quasi-Imperial pen as my primary writing pen at office. My father was gifted this pen by a close friend of his who returned from the US back in the day. I was a little boy at the time and recollect that incident vividly. The other gift in the package with this pen was an original Shure N75-6 replacement stylus in a nice little plastic case. My father was obviously more delighted to receive the replacement stylus but he was very careful with this pen. I still use both pens, the Hero loaded with Green ink and the Sheaffer loaded with Royal Blue. Both pens have travelled with me around the world. Here are couple of old pictures that I have, I think I took these after servicing these pens, some time ago.

 

[manek]

Well I dont have any high end fountain pens but I've got 2 and these have been with me for a very very long time, and are still in use.
The first one is a Hero 329, made in China, silver cap pen which was gifted to me by my grandmother, brand new on my birthday in 1980. That was the year I was in Standard-4 and we were allowed to start using fountain pens at school (from UKG to Standard 3, we wrote with pencils). I recollect being the only boy in my class who had a Hero pen and that was a special feeling. Most of the others had the large nib local types from Camlin, Omega and Bismi. I have written absolutely all the examinations of my academic life (starting with the 2nd Term Christmas exams of 1980) with this Hero pen. I continued to use this pen from the start of my corporate career and it is still in use today. However after receiving a manager promotion, I transitioned to using my father's 1978 Sheaffer 440 Quasi-Imperial pen as my primary writing pen at office. My father was gifted this pen by a close friend of his who returned from the US back in the day. I was a little boy at the time and recollect that incident vividly. The other gift in the package with this pen was an original Shure N75-6 replacement stylus in a nice little plastic case. My father was obviously more delighted to receive the replacement stylus but he was very careful with this pen. I still use both pens, the Hero loaded with Green ink and the Sheaffer loaded with Royal Blue. Both pens have travelled with me around the world. Here are couple of old pictures that I have, I think I took these after servicing these pens, some time ago.
View attachment 72129View attachment 72130

Love the Sheaffer

Btw i think Grandfathers would have been the source of many a fountain pens and the reason for their interest. Same in my case too. My first pen given to me was a Gold Parker ball point when I had just started to scribble on paper and on the walls. Lucky me ! Don't ask me why ! Sometimes Grandfathers seem to have logic thats quite unique. And then the fountain pen was gifted by him which was the same as your Sheaffer except that it was a full metal body. Still have it, still writes beautifully. Love the Sheaffer inlaid nibs.

 

[Lizard King]

Well I dont have any high end fountain pens but I've got 2 and these have been with me for a very very long time, and are still in use.
The first one is a Hero 329, made in China, silver cap pen which was gifted to me by my grandmother, brand new on my birthday in 1980. That was the year I was in Standard-4 and we were allowed to start using fountain pens at school (from UKG to Standard 3, we wrote with pencils). I recollect being the only boy in my class who had a Hero pen and that was a special feeling. Most of the others had the large nib local types from Camlin, Omega and Bismi. I have written absolutely all the examinations of my academic life (starting with the 2nd Term Christmas exams of 1980) with this Hero pen. I continued to use this pen from the start of my corporate career and it is still in use today. However after receiving a manager promotion, I transitioned to using my father's 1978 Sheaffer 440 Quasi-Imperial pen as my primary writing pen at office. My father was gifted this pen by a close friend of his who returned from the US back in the day. I was a little boy at the time and recollect that incident vividly. The other gift in the package with this pen was an original Shure N75-6 replacement stylus in a nice little plastic case. My father was obviously more delighted to receive the replacement stylus but he was very careful with this pen. I still use both pens, the Hero loaded with Green ink and the Sheaffer loaded with Royal Blue. Both pens have travelled with me around the world. Here are couple of old pictures that I have, I think I took these after servicing these pens, some time ago.
View attachment 72129View attachment 72130

Great story.
Our parents' pens, along with their vinyls, are indeed prized possessions.

I have my dad's Mont Blanc. It's an unusual pen as it's a full steel body, and as it was sold in the Middle East, not to offend the locals, it's Star of David like insignia was replaced by a white triangle. I used to think that it was a fake, later did my research to find out about the unusual insignia.
I used to write with it often, but after a drop from my hand, I have kept it away safely.
Another of his pen that I occasionally use is called Youth. It's a Chinese knock off of a Parker 51. Meh.

My mom's Pilot E95 sees occasional usage. It's got a very feminine pearl lacquer finish. Has to be handled carefully.

My most precious possession is my Grandfather's Pilot. He was blind for last 5 years of his life. He had no use of it. But nobody got rid of it. And now, more than 50 yeats after he passed away, when I hold it in my hand, instead of ink, what flows is 3 generations of blood that firmly believes that teaching is the true essence of education.

One day, my son who is studying to be a lawyer and wants to teach in law college after PhD, will inherit them. But I don't know if people will still write with their hands, by then.

 

[manek]

Great story.
Our parents' pens, along with their vinyls, are indeed prized possessions.

I have my dad's Mont Blanc. It's an unusual pen as it's a full steel body, and as it was sold in the Middle East, not to offend the locals, it's Star of David like insignia was replaced by a white triangle. I used to think that it was a fake, later did my research to find out about the unusual insignia.
I used to write with it often, but after a drop from my hand, I have kept it away safely.
Another of his pen that I occasionally use is called Youth. It's a Chinese knock off of a Parker 51. Meh.

My mom's Pilot E95 sees occasional usage. It's got a very feminine pearl lacquer finish. Has to be handled carefully.

My most precious possession is my Grandfather's Pilot. He was blind for last 5 years of his life. He had no use of it. But nobody got rid of it. And now, more than 50 yeats after he passed away, when I hold it in my hand, instead of ink, what flows is 3 generations of blood that firmly believes that teaching is the true essence of education.

One day, my son who is studying to be a lawyer and wants to teach in law college after PhD, will inherit them. But I don't know if people will still write with their hands, by then.

I doubt the young generation in metro cities will write anything in a decade from now. I doubt they would be even able to sign on a cheque properly to be issued. I doubt if cheques will exist in a decade also. Digital learning is flowing down to the youngest of kids very rapidly. My fear is they wont see the need to write at all. The semi-rural and rural areas may still resort to writing to learn.

The pens that we all own an especially fountain pens will all be museum pieces soon, just like the hammer and chisel.

What say you all ?