Some Old Indian Fountain Pen Brands

[shrujaya]

On one of my wanderings in my city Hyderabad a few months back I saw a small stationery shop, actually very small, more like a hole in the wall, but the shop was stuffed with books, ledgers, ball pens, and other kinds of stationery items. I hoped to find some fountain pens and I was not disappointed. The owner showed me a big box full of fountain pens, but it was more fountain pen parts than fountain pens though, and the few pens that were whole were very old ones. There were names of old Indian brands that I didn’t know existed (not that I know all the brands!!) and the metal on some of these were discoloured, sometimes rusted, but the insides, especially the nibs looked good and the feeders too. And some of the nibs were unique; some were open nibs, some were semi- hooded. I selected the good ones and bought them, at least for posterity’s sake and for documenting & cataloguing them. I had bought similar old brands from various other places too. I don’t want to do a full blown post with all these pens; instead, I would like this post to be a work-in-progress kind of post for all the old brands that I have. I want to keep posting pics of one brand at a time, once a week or so. For some brands I have more than one kind of pen, and for some there is only pen. For starters, here is a brand called PARKO…

 

I don’t think there is any doubt about the inspiration for the brand name…at least the body of one of the three PARKO pens that I got looks like the legendary Parker Vacumatic…there is a broad cap band on each, and if looked closely, one can see the passage of time in the tarnish…the material looks like celluloid, but I think it is not...though I felt I detected a faint smell of camphor, it could also be wishful smelling…I don’t know how old these pens are, but my guess is they are more than 40 years old…the outer design could well be a thin sheet of plastic covered over a plastic body, because one can see the joints where the two ends come together…all the nibs have PARKO imprinted on them; and the barrels too have PARKO along with ‘leakproof’ printed on them…all these three are ED fillers and are NOS pens…I don't know when I'd ink them or whether I'd ink them at all, if I did then I'd know whether they are really 'leakproof'...

 

Here are some pictures…

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/1Parkoscapped.jpg

Parkos capped

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/2Parkoscapped.jpg

Parkos capped

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/3Parkosimprintbarrel.jpg

‘Parkos Leakproof’ imprint on the barrel

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/4Parkosnibs.jpg

Nibs…with Parkos imprinted on them

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/5Parkosnibs.jpg

Feeders…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/7Parkosbody.jpg

A close up of the barrel…one can see the thin plastic sheets being joined here…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/8Parkoscaps.jpg

Caps – clip & cap band…the patina of time…

 

Thanks for looking…there’s more to come in the following weeks…

 

Regards,

 

Shrujaya

[hari317]

Oh, what a wonderful find. Thanks for documenting these examples. The material is certainly celluloid. The seam that you see is characteristic of the rolled celluloid construction.

 

How big are these pens?

 

Best

Hari

Edited September 25, 2011 by hari317

[Delphideo]

Very interesting, thanks for posting.Any idea what the metal is?

[shrujaya]

Dear Hari...thanks so much for your endorsement of my efforts...they are indeed good looking pens...my doubts about them not being made of celluloid stemmed from some of the things I observed...when I saw the pens closely, on one of the pens I saw something that seemed like the seam having split and the supposedly black colour of the barrel being exposed...and on the cap of the other I saw the seam being raised below the band and above the cap lip...I took this photo to show what I saw...

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/DSC03947.jpg

 

Among other things, in thickness the pen is similar to the Deccan Pelkan, maybe slightly thicker in the middle...it is 5 inches capped, 4 1/2 inches uncapped, and close to 6 inches posted...

 

Thanks again, Hari...there is more to come...keep watching this post!!!

 

Dear Delphi...thanks for looking...going by the tarnish, I think the metal is brass...

 

Regards,

 

Shrujaya

[hari317]

seems like a wolf in sheep's clothing! never seen anything like this. It seems it is just a celluloid imitation wrapper on a plastic barrel and cap!

[Penquin]

I guess when you are trying to make stuff inexpensive (read cheap), you tend to improvise ! That said, definitely a great find, Shrujaya. Where in Hyderabad did you find these - i.e. if you do not mind revealing the source. I do not intend to go to Hyderabad but my brother lives there and maybe I could interest him a little bit with these.

Edited September 26, 2011 by Penquin

[shrujaya]

Hi all...

 

This is the second in the series on Old Indian Fountain Pen Brands. The featured brand here is SEVIKA; and we have three models of this brand and these three models are distinctly different… two of them have open nibs and one has a semi-hooded nib (can we call it that?)…the name ‘SEVIKA REGD’ (Regd. Meaning ‘registered’, implying that the brand name has been registered at the government office concerned with brand names, and therefore the pen is ‘authentic’) is imprinted on the barrels…the nibs too have the brand name imprinted on them (further strengthening the authenticity??)…and one of the feeders also has the brand name engraved on it…one cap has a metal covering and this cap also has ‘sevika regd.’ imprinted on it…the other two caps have bands, one broad and the other narrow…the clips are again different, as are the cap jewels and barrel ends…

 

I have no clue regarding the date or place of manufacture or name of the manufacturer…the pens are NOS and are in fairly good condition…there is tarnish on one of the clips and on the cap jewels and barrel ends…the nibs look good and when inked they would write well, I suppose...here are the pictures...

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/1Sevikas-capped.jpg

SEVIKAs capped…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/2Sevikas-nameonbarrel.jpg

Brand imprint on barrel…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/3Sevikas-nibs.jpg

Nibs have the brand name engraved on them along with ‘super qlty’…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/4Sevikas-feeders.jpg

Feeders…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/5Sevikas-caps.jpg

The Sevika caps

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/6Sevikas-clips.jpg

Clips…the curve, angle, gap…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/7Sevikas-capbands.jpg

The cap bands…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/8Sevikas-capjewel.jpg

Cap jewels…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/9Sevikas-barrelends.jpg

Ends of barrels…

 

Thanks for looking…some more to come…

 

Regards,

 

shrujaya

[Skyline74]

Beautiful find, Shrujaya, though I must confess i haven't heard of Parko or Sevika. Love to see the rest of your purchase.

[shrujaya]

Thanks Skyline...here is the third pen from that lot...

 

The third in this series of Old Indian Fountain Pen Brands is a fountain pen brand called PRESIDENT…I am presenting two FPs here…one has a black plastic body and a gold coloured metal cap…and the other looks like it has a celluloid body, but from my experience with the Parko FPs, I am not too sure…but the silver and black pattern looks very good…

 

The pen with the black barrel has a kind of nib which is partially open…the front is open and the sides are covered… a semi-hooded nib or a semi open nib? The other pen has an open nib…both nibs have the brand name imprinted on them…the imprint can also be seen on the barrels of both pens…clearly visible on the black pen and the colour on the imprint seemed to have disappeared on the celluloid-like FP…and it says ‘unbreakable’ below the brand name on the celluloid-like FP…

 

I have come across the name PRESIDENT w. r. t. fountain pens earlier…but I not sure whether these pens and those are made by the same company…I will have to do a little bit of re/search in the pens shops to find out if PRESIDENT FPs are still being made and sold…

 

Here are some pictures of the PRESIDENTs…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/1-presidentcapped.jpg

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/2-presidentuncapped.jpg

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/3-presidentnibswithname.jpg

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/4-capclips7barrel.jpg

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/5-president-capjewels7backends.jpg

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/6-presidentbarrelwithnamelongshot.jpg

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/7-president-barrelname.jpg

 

 

Thanks for looking…but keep looking...there's more...

 

 

shrujaya

[brahmam]

Awesome!

[Sagar_C]

Where do you find them all?

[shrujaya]

Hi...I'm back again with another FP in this series on Old Indian Fountain Pen brands...it has taken me longer to get back to this thread...so, here is the next FP in this series...

 

It is called OLYMPIC...a simple straightforward ED filler with a plastic body and a metal slip cap...I found the two pieces in two colours...blue (teal?) and dark grey...the brand name can be seen on the barrels as well as on the nibs...the nib is kind of semi-hooded with 'olympic tipped fine' pressed on them...the nib was one thing I liked about this pen...[in fact, when I complete this thread (soon, I hope), I want to have a group photo of the all the nibs and feeders...]

 

Here are some pictures...

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/01-Olympics.jpg

Olympics capped

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/02-Olympics-barrelname.jpg

The name on the barrels

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/03-Olympic-nibs.jpg

The nibs

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/04-Olympics-capsbarrelends.jpg

Cap jewels and barrel ends

 

I want to complete this series soon...will be back sooner...

 

Regards,

 

Shrujaya

[shrujaya]

The next in this series is a pen called DUTY…I found two similar looking pens, but only one was sort of named…I have clubbed them together here…as the photos would reveal, both are ebonite ED fillers…one looks ‘mono’ brown and the other is mottled brown in colour…I liked the arrow clips…very nicely done I thought…the nibs too are similar with ‘alloy steel fine’ pressed on them…the section on one is black in colour and the other is natural ebonite mottled brown… the feeders are dissimilar though, can’t say which is the one which belongs to the model… could be taken from some spare parts’ tub…I liked the feeder on the black section (I don’t know the technical name for this kind of feeder)… both pens look solid…again, can’t say anything about the origin of these pens…could have come from anywhere in India…well, here are some photos…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/Duty1.jpg

Both pens capped

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/Duty2.jpg

Arrow clips

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/Duty3.jpg

Nibs and section

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/Duty4.jpg

Feeders

 

Regards,

 

Shrujaya

[hari317]

Love the DUTY pen.

[Sagar_C]

Wonderful!!! Some details on dimensions of the pens would be highly appreciated.

[lovemy51]

great collection of old indian pens! that celluloid veneer is crazy!! :blink:

[shrujaya]

Dear Hari, Sagar, and LM51...

 

Thank you for your comments and for visiting and supporting this crazy endeavour...

 

Yeah, Hari, Duty looks solid...love it too...

 

Sagar...I usually give the dimensions too, but for this post I somehow missed...anywhere here they are... Duty - 5 1/2 inches capped; 4 1/2 inches uncapped; & 6 inches posted; and circumference - 5.3 cms @ the cap & 4 1/2 cms @ the barrel (I just put a thread around the circumference of the cap & barrel and measured it...is that how it is done?)

 

LM51...yeah, that celluloid veneer is indeed crazy...Hari aptly called it 'wolf in sheep's clothing'...

 

Regards (the next one will be up soon!!)

 

Shrujaya

[shrujaya]

This is an ED filler called PAGODA…it has got a plastic body with a metal slip cap…and lots of other interesting things about this plastic FP…the nib for one…it has a hooded nib with an unusual shaped nib door…and a square nib hole with ‘Pagoda Tipped Fine’ engraved on the nib…the name is also seen on the cap lip along with an image of the Pagoda…the name is also seen on the barrel…the end of the barrel has a hole and it doesn’t look like there used to be a stopper there…the cap and the clip have a different shape…

 

Here are some pictures…

 

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/pagoda-1-cap.jpg

 

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/pagoda-2-uncap.jpg

 

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/pagoda-3.jpg

 

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/pagoda-4.jpg

 

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/pagoda-5.jpg

 

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/pagoda-6-nib.jpg

 

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/pagoda-7.jpg

 

 

Regards

 

Shrujaya

[hari317]

Seems to be inspired by Pilots. Is it made in India or is China possible?

[shrujaya]

Hari...thanks...Pagoda could be Parker-inspired, but don't know which model...I checked the pen once again, found no clear evidence of Chinese markings...too simple to be a Chinese pen I thought...

 

Shrujaya