Quality And Prices Of Inks Available In India

[akrishna59]

Anyone have prices on those one liter bottles of ink?

 

i think that the camlin and bril websites give the prices for ink in INR. i have become almost crazy and have more inks than i actually need, i have to hide my inks so that friends dont think of me as nutty.

 

rgds.

 

krishna.

[welch]

We can buy normal bottles of Camlin and Chelpark ink from Kevin T at Fountain Pen Revolution. I like the Camel Royal Blue...I'm using it today, as well as Chelpark Sapphire Blue and Blue Black. Dependable inks, and inexpensive even with the shipping. They smell like ink as I remember it from 50 years ago...must be the Solv-X equivalent.

 

A Japanese stationery company recently bought 51% of Camlin. Does anyone know if Camlin will continue to make inks and fountain pens?

[Ink Stained Wretch]

We can buy normal bottles of Camlin and Chelpark ink from Kevin T at Fountain Pen Revolution.

Oh, I wish I were still able to buy ink. That 500 mL bottle is so tempting .

[sitaram82]

Agree with you. Chelpark is more corrosive than the other indian brands.The ink nearly removed the black coating on my Lamy safari.I have heard the same from some of my friends too.

I feel camlin is the safest and most reliable among the indian brands....it is like waterman florida blue among the Indian brands.

 

Rgds,

Sitaram

 

sorry that i missed this thread.

 

i agree that camlin is considered as a safe ink for fps.

 

some people say that bril has more colour, especially the royal blue.

 

some people say that chelpark is a little watery.

 

each one has his own favourite brands, i suppose.

 

i am shocked to hear about that nib corrosion. i had heard that chelpark is a little (allegedly) corrosive when compared to others.

 

anyway, i love indian inks when compared to imported inks. they are every bit as good on paper. only we need more colours.

 

rgds.

 

krishna.

[sitaram82]

Camlin is the largest selling brand of ink in India....yeah they will continue to make inks and fps well into the future..

 

 

We can buy normal bottles of Camlin and Chelpark ink from Kevin T at Fountain Pen Revolution. I like the Camel Royal Blue...I'm using it today, as well as Chelpark Sapphire Blue and Blue Black. Dependable inks, and inexpensive even with the shipping. They smell like ink as I remember it from 50 years ago...must be the Solv-X equivalent.

 

A Japanese stationery company recently bought 51% of Camlin. Does anyone know if Camlin will continue to make inks and fountain pens?

[akrishna59]

i have used chelpark ink daily for years and years and have not found them to be corrosive. however i have heard from a couple of pen collectors here that this ink is slightly (allegedly) corrosive. which chelpark ink caused you the problem? camlin is safe but some of their inks like permanent black are not free flowing, nor permanent.

 

rgds.

 

krishna.

 

 

 

Agree with you. Chelpark is more corrosive than the other indian brands.The ink nearly removed the black coating on my Lamy safari.I have heard the same from some of my friends too.

I feel camlin is the safest and most reliable among the indian brands....it is like waterman florida blue among the Indian brands.

 

Rgds,

Sitaram

 

sorry that i missed this thread.

 

i agree that camlin is considered as a safe ink for fps.

 

some people say that bril has more colour, especially the royal blue.

 

some people say that chelpark is a little watery.

 

each one has his own favourite brands, i suppose.

 

i am shocked to hear about that nib corrosion. i had heard that chelpark is a little (allegedly) corrosive when compared to others.

 

anyway, i love indian inks when compared to imported inks. they are every bit as good on paper. only we need more colours.

 

rgds.

 

krishna.

[sitaram82]

I too, have been using chelpark ink for many years and did not have any complaints, The problem occurred when i started using the ink in my lamy safari, The ink removed the black coating on my nib and there were also some flow problems. I removed the nib, cleaned the pen and have been using it camlin and skrip. No problems.

The ink is chelpark washable blue, May 2009 batch.

 

Regards,

Sitaram

 

 

i have used chelpark ink daily for years and years and have not found them to be corrosive. however i have heard from a couple of pen collectors here that this ink is slightly (allegedly) corrosive. which chelpark ink caused you the problem? camlin is safe but some of their inks like permanent black are not free flowing, nor permanent.

 

rgds.

 

krishna.

[Aman Syed]

WOW, thanks for the review of the Inks!

[SUNIL GARG]

In the last 30 plus years minus the last 5, I used to have 5/6 colors of Chelpark always in stock.

Of which Blue Black & Black were put to use daily but then the thin metal threaded lids of the rest

of the sparsely used colors(turquoise,emerald green etc.) won't easily unscrew & if that happened I could

see powdery color crystals on the table & on the note-book. Blame it on Indian summer.

Then some 5/6 years ago I found Lamy, Waterman & Sheaffer to begin with. No problems thereafter, so

do not blame the Indian summer, O.K. Prior to all this there used to be a big bottle or two of

Parker Quink Blue-Black (600 ml?) in my dad's reserves always & asking for any other color was a

minor (say minor's) crime. Do not even think of that, you little scoundrel!

Now, I think, Chelpark had saturated colors & the ink was very very cheap but in the end your pen paid

the ultimate price-but the pens were cheap too(mostly chinese) . So, why care?

My present favourite(sort of) is Private Reserve. While, buying cda or Edelstein is like indulging

in a bottle of Versace Jeans range of perfumes.

But, it's such a pleasure to splurge on a shoe-shaped Mont Blanc bottle,cda glass cube,flacon &

maybe Omas bottle too.

[shivp]

Hello,

Would you be able to recommend one or several web sites that would ship these inks abroad from India?

Thanks

 

 

Sorry for the extremely delayed reply. I had no idea my post would receive such interest. I don't think that any of these companies ship inks abroad. Your best chances are having them picked up if someone is visiting here. The larger quantities come in plastic bottles so they should be relatively safe.

[shivp]

Hi Koshy, Camel ink is abundantly available in western India, chelpark was in short supply here, but supplies seem to have resumed again under the new manufacturer: PG stationery.

 

Indian Quink is also available freely. we have a healthy wholesale market here in Mumbai and things are available below mrp. Mb is approx 600 for the older 50 ml bottles, around 830 for the new 60 ml bottles. I stocked up on watermans blue black and black when the inks were available for around 140 per bottle.a few years back.

 

Pelikan is now officially imported in India by a company called Staimex international in Chennai, the inks hence are very reasonably priced at the prices i indicated in the previous posts. Private reserve is availble with William penn at around 400 per bottle.

 

i am more than satisfied with camel royal blue and bril royal blue, much better imho than quink blue or pelikan blue. my other staple ink now is MB blue black and diamine registar's.

 

best,

hari

 

Hi Hari,

Having used it for a while now. Bril Royal Blue is hands down the winner in India. The ink has great character and does not fade on account of its saturated composition. I've tried the Camlin black which is quite terrible - almost gray, if you know what I mean.

[shivp]

Hi Koshy, Camel ink is abundantly available in western India, chelpark was in short supply here, but supplies seem to have resumed again under the new manufacturer: PG stationery.

 

Indian Quink is also available freely. we have a healthy wholesale market here in Mumbai and things are available below mrp. Mb is approx 600 for the older 50 ml bottles, around 830 for the new 60 ml bottles. I stocked up on watermans blue black and black when the inks were available for around 140 per bottle.a few years back.

 

Pelikan is now officially imported in India by a company called Staimex international in Chennai, the inks hence are very reasonably priced at the prices i indicated in the previous posts. Private reserve is availble with William penn at around 400 per bottle.

 

i am more than satisfied with camel royal blue and bril royal blue, much better imho than quink blue or pelikan blue. my other staple ink now is MB blue black and diamine registar's.

 

best,

hari

 

Hi Hari,

Having used it for a while now. Bril Royal Blue is hands down the winner in India. The ink has great character and does not fade on account of its saturated composition. I've tried the Camlin black which is quite terrible - almost gray, if you know what I mean.

[shivp]

I just had to convert these prices to U.S. dollars. At this time the current exchange rate is "1 Indian rupee = 0.0225 US dollars" according to Google.

 

Bril Royal Blue (Rs.12, 60ml) $0.27

 

Camlin Permanent Black (Rs.12, 60ml) $0.27

 

Parker Quink Permanent Black (Rs.50, 30 ml) $1.13

 

Parker Quink Royal Blue (Rs.50, 30ml) $1.13

 

Chelpark Turquoise Blue (Rs.15, 60ml) $0.34

 

Chelpark Crimson Violet (Rs.15, 60ml) $0.34

 

Yeah, I wouldn't mind prices like that . Of course I'm thousands of miles away and the price of shipping the stuff would be a lot more than the ink itself.

 

 

If you were to pick up one ink, and just one from India, I can vouch for the Bril Royal Blue. Certainly an ink with a lot of character and amazing heritage in terms of the number of years in production and acceptance among probably the largest FP using population in the world. I do believe that by volume alone, it might just be the most used ink in the history of the world.

[shivp]

Camlin is the largest selling brand of ink in India....yeah they will continue to make inks and fps well into the future..

 

 

We can buy normal bottles of Camlin and Chelpark ink from Kevin T at Fountain Pen Revolution. I like the Camel Royal Blue...I'm using it today, as well as Chelpark Sapphire Blue and Blue Black. Dependable inks, and inexpensive even with the shipping. They smell like ink as I remember it from 50 years ago...must be the Solv-X equivalent.

 

A Japanese stationery company recently bought 51% of Camlin. Does anyone know if Camlin will continue to make inks and fountain pens?

 

 

Camlin is also probably the least impressive of the Indian inks - very weak. Their Permanent Black is anything but.

[shivp]

Nice comparison especially of the Indian Ink brands. Last I remember I used Parker and Camel. Would be soon starting using FPs so evaluating everything as of now. Heard a lot about Noodler but, sad to see that it's not freely available in India or Mumbai.

 

 

Start with Bril Royal Blue if you are returning

[Shah91]

I was able to find Camlin quiet abundantly in all stationery stores, even Quink for that matter but Chelpark, Bril and even Sulekha are not easily available freely at least in Mumbai. Also Camlin has an "Exam FP ink Blue and Exam FP ink Black " which is one Rupee more costlier than the normal. Any one use them ? Also many do not stock Camel green and red.

 

I did ask Bril on their twitter account today. Waiting for their reply. They are at @briltweets.

Edited September 2, 2012 by Shah91

[hari317]

I was able to find Camlin quiet abundantly in all stationery stores, even Quink for that matter but Chelpark, Bril and even Sulekha are not easily available freely at least in Mumbai. Also Camlin has an "Exam FP ink Blue and Exam FP ink Black " which is one Rupee more costlier than the normal. Any one use them ? Also many do not stock Camel green and red.

 

I did ask Bril on their twitter account today. Waiting for their reply. They are at @briltweets.

 

Hi which city are you based in? I would like to try the exam inks so if by chance you are in Mumbai or any other city that I frequent, could you share the shops you found them at?

 

Thanks!

Hari

[Shah91]

I was able to find Camlin quiet abundantly in all stationery stores, even Quink for that matter but Chelpark, Bril and even Sulekha are not easily available freely at least in Mumbai. Also Camlin has an "Exam FP ink Blue and Exam FP ink Black " which is one Rupee more costlier than the normal. Any one use them ? Also many do not stock Camel green and red.

 

I did ask Bril on their twitter account today. Waiting for their reply. They are at @briltweets.

 

Hi which city are you based in? I would like to try the exam inks so if by chance you are in Mumbai or any other city that I frequent, could you share the shops you found them at?

 

Thanks!

Hari

 

 

I am based in Mumbai. I saw the product listed online ,no luck finding them or even other domestic brands in the neighbourhood stores . I guess one could always ask the nearby stationer to get them for us. Where do you get Chelpark and Bril from? because I keep asking but to no avail.

 

Good Luck

Shah

[hari317]

Chelpark and Bril, I buy from Hyderabad.

[Shah91]

Oh ok will let you know about the Camlin Exam FP as soon as i get my hands on them