Indian Pen Manufactures, names, brand etc.

[returnofpenguy]

All,

I am a very new member of the forum, and I am enjoying my time here. There is lot of helpful information here.

Here I have come across many Made In India pens. Since I have started viewing pens, I have come across many different pen companies: Ratnam, Ratnamson, Guider, Prasad, Deccan, etc. Just yesterday I was looking at a posting that showed pictures of pens which had Leader and Brahamam on their clips. I thought that Brahmam is a model of Deccan pen, which made of ebonite.

 

To make the story short, I thought why I not start a thread that adds all the different manufactures of India (that we the members know) and their flagship pens’ names.

If there is another thread with this topic, feel free to mention here.

 

Oh yes, there is an agenda here . I would be interested in purchasing these pens. I have ordered Ratnam 302s, and Guider pens, thanks to contact provided by Hari.

 

Thanks and looking forward to your responses.

[majorworks]

One Indian pen maker you didn't mention is Varuna. Varuna pens are available here in the U.S. from AllWriteNow.net.

 

This thread is a great idea. I'd like to see it take off and become the first pinned post in an Indian Regional Focus forum. I'm interested in the Indian pens myself and have scoured this site for information on them.

[shadowsforbars]

Let me add Wilson to the list. I don't if they are a manufacturer or a brand associated with India, but no doubt someone will clarify. As I understand it, many pens are still made the traditional way in small workshops so a complete list is probably impossible, but a useful exercise anyway.

[vans4444]

Wality?

[dogpoet]

Wality are the only one I've tried. Allwritenow do them as well. I think most of them are eyedroppers, but I've got one of the piston fillers, and it's a wonderful pen for the money. Even after paying a fiver to have it sent from the 'States it was still pretty cheap.

[dogpoet]

I mean, it's a long way from being a Lamy 2000, but it has a comfortable section and a fairly smooth nib, nice big window to view the ink level as well. Better size than the cheaper Pelikans if you've got large hands too. (Not that even the 150 or 200 are all that cheap...)

[hari317]

Let me add Wilson to the list. I don't if they are a manufacturer or a brand associated with India, but no doubt someone will clarify.

 

Yes, Wilson was a major Indian fountain pen and gold nib manufacturer, they had a website too, but I cannot seem to find it now.

 

Some other makers, still manufacturing, that deserve a mention are:

 

Camlin,

Flair,

Chelpark,

GM pens(Reynolds India)

 

Regarding the OP's question about Brahmam, it was a company situated in Vijayawada, they are related to the Ratnam family. Brahmam pens were being re-sold by the deccan pen stores. Leader is another brandname used by Brahmam. Deccan makes pens under the brand umbrella Onyx.

[afruba]

There is a brand called Camlin, they make ink too.

I have no experience with these products.

http://www.camlin.com/writing_range/fountain_pens.asp

[philm]

Let me add Wilson to the list. I don't if they are a manufacturer or a brand associated with India, but no doubt someone will clarify. As I understand it, many pens are still made the traditional way in small workshops so a complete list is probably impossible, but a useful exercise anyway.

 

Here is a link to two articles I wrote on Wilson Pens which was an Indian manufacturer that got its start in 1939. It appears that the website that I had linked to back when I wrote the first article in February of 2009 has disappeared. From what I remember, it was a more detailed history than I summarize in the article.

 

http://munsonpens.wordpress.com/category/wilson-pen-company/

 

 

Phil

Edited December 14, 2009 by philm

[shrujaya]

Hi all...allow me to put in my two bits of information here...as usual the hobby started innocently, and before I knew I had this overriding passion to collect all possible Indian brands, at least one of them from both the traditional handmade manufacturers and the factory made ones...Hari is my friend and guide in this mad caper...and I think, between us, we have managed to chronicle all the major ones that we have come across and bought and since we dont have a separate Indian pens section, we made do with different forums...especially the photography forum, and also the review as well as this forum...and all these posts are scattered across these forums...so, from this experience, we can put together the various brands as below:

 

Ratnam and Ratnamson - Rajahmundry (Andhra Pradesh)(appears first because this was the brand that I first bought)

Deccan (brand Onyx) - Hyderabad (Hari and I have documented almost all the models)

Brahmam (brand Leader)- Vijayawada (now appears to be closed, though a couple of lovely pens do pop up once in a while...) (I have posted on the Brahmam celluloids)

Guider - Rajahmundry (my post on Guider celluloids; Hari's post on Guider Jumbo))

Prasad - Tenali (my post in photography forum)

Misak - Hyderabad (now closed) (I have a couple as samples)

Swarna - (somewhere in Andhra Pradesh)

Sultan Pens - Hyderabad (still active..)(a post on my visit to their shop in Hyderabad)

Ashoka Pens - Tenali (now closed)

 

From outside AP, we have:

Gama pens - Chennai (Hari has an excellent post on this)

Chennai ebonites (Hari would be able to throw a lot of light on this particular brand...)

 

There are some brands in North India. Ashish Wakhlu had reviewed a couple of them. Can't recall the names now...

 

Then we have the manufacturers:

Camlin (Hari and I have some posts on some of their models)

Wality (Hari is the resident expert on Wality pens, with posts and offers...)

Chelpark - Hari and I have documented some of their models

Wilson - I found some Wilsons accidentally while visiting Gaya, a town in North India; have posted with pics

 

And of course, we have some surprising Indian Watermans and Indian Pilots with gold nibs that are very rare now...and now we have Parkers (only some models...) being made in India too...

 

I typed this out just out of memory...In case I recall some brands that I have missed, will have a supplementary to this...

 

And I am sure there are many many more brands out there waiting to be discovered...

 

Till then...

 

Sincerely yours,

 

Jayasrinivasa Rao (Shrujaya)

[rdh]

I believe Dollar pens are from Pakistan. Not India, but it use to be.....

 

Does anyone know about the Schrieber pens available on the Swisher site? They look like the ebonite Indian pens available from a variety of sources. However, they do not have a name that sounds Indian.

 

Dave

[dogpoet]

Perhaps it's an Indian brand that uses a Germanic sounding name in the hope that people will think it's a posher pen?

[hari317]

Does anyone know about the Schrieber pens available on the Swisher site? They look like the ebonite Indian pens available from a variety of sources. However, they do not have a name that sounds Indian.

 

Schreiber is a pen company started by Mr. Venu K Rao who lives in the USA(I hope he will chip in with more information). They are the company who are distributing the improved Wality Piston fillers.

 

Best,

Hari

[hari317]

I believe Dollar pens are from Pakistan. Not India, but it use to be.....

 

Dollar pens are estd. post 1947 so no Indian connection.

[returnofpenguy]

Thank you all for your responses.

[rdh]

Does anyone know about the Schrieber pens available on the Swisher site? They look like the ebonite Indian pens available from a variety of sources. However, they do not have a name that sounds Indian.

 

Schreiber is a pen company started by Mr. Venu K Rao who lives in the USA(I hope he will chip in with more information). They are the company who are distributing the improved Wality Piston fillers.

 

Best,

Hari

 

Thanks Hari. They looked like Indian pens, but nothing is said about their origin on the Swisher site.

 

Dave

[Bo Bo Olson]

What is the top of the line Indian pens. Something as good as a good Chinese pen or better? Was or is?

 

I took a look at Indian pens a few weeks ago, and saw nothing to say buy me...of course I was looking in all the wrong places more than likely.

 

So if you could have but three Indian pens, which would they be?

[hari317]

I took a look at Indian pens a few weeks ago, and saw nothing to say buy me...of course I was looking in all the wrong places more than likely.

 

So if you could have but three Indian pens, which would they be?

 

There are two categories of pens made in India, one is mass produced and the others are limited production, hand work intensive. Wality is of the former type with more automation but still involving a lot of manual steps. Companies like Camlin and Chelpark have injection molded pens with less of hand work required.

 

The top of the line Indian pen is made by a pen store chain in Hyderabad called the Deccan pen stores, they have pens at various price points, my favorite is the model called the Masterpiece which I consider tops among Deccan's steel nibbed pens. I wrote a small feature in the photography section(search for Deccan masterpiece there)

 

My List amongst pens currently produced will be:

 

Deccan Masterpiece BHR ED

Deccan Advocate BHR ED

Camlin Sharad Dandekar, C/C

Chelpark Moti piston filler.

 

You will find reviews/photos of all the above pens on FPN.

 

Best,

Hari

[Bo Bo Olson]

I can not seem to find out if they have an on line catalog or not.

I could call, but from Germany is a tad expensive shooting in the dark.

[hari317]

I can not seem to find out if they have an on line catalog or not.

I could call, but from Germany is a tad expensive shooting in the dark.

 

Deccan does "across the counter" sales only, Ratnam and Ratnamson take orders on phone and money by money order/Cheques/DD in INR. They are a very small firm so online catalogs and websites are still some time away.

 

You can watch the marketplace, some Indian members sell some of these brands from time to time.

 

Best,

Hari