The Deccan Retro Series - I I (Two)

[shrujaya]

It has taken me some time (an understatement!!) to get this review going…almost a year-and-a-half since I bought this pen…and it was on one of those unplanned visits to Deccan Pen Stores (Hyderabad, India) that I saw and bought this pen along with the Deccan Diplomat II. And for me this is one of the most beautiful pens to have come out of the Deccan pen factory…when I saw this pen and asked what they called it, they said this pen is part of their Retro Series…I had earlier reviewed their earlier Retro Series FP here and so, this pen becomes Deccan Retro Series II…

 

Ok…this is an ebonite FP…the body is nicely smoothened and polished and has retained its lustre even after one and a half years…it has a nice straight clip and the plating has faded over this time…mainly because this pen was my workhorse pen for a long long time…and this is because this pen writes so nicely and has a very good ink flow…

 

It is the craftsmanship that I found fascinating…the first thing I noticed was the in-built cap band (if one may call it so)…the band near the cap lip is shaped out of the material itself…and once I opened the cap, the section held my interest… beautifully shaped I thought…the pen is fitted with a straightforward regular feeder and a gold coloured Montex nib…I was not so happy when I saw the nib first…what is a Montex nib doing in a Deccan pen? But once the pen was filled with ink and I tested the nib…all my apprehensions were blown away by the smoothness of the nib…I just loved it…and it became my everyday writer till I received the MB 220 from Hari…I revisited the pen again, cleaned it up and filled it with Sheaffer Skrip black ink…and now am using it alongside the MB 220 (now filled with Waterman Florida Blue)…

 

There is one problem that I have with this pen…it doesn’t post well…as you can see in the photo below…I would have liked it to post well, but I am able to write comfortably with the pen being unposted too…

 

I haven’t seen this model after that…when I asked Umair (at DPS Abids) why this FP is also called ‘Retro’ and he told me that the earlier ‘Retro’ pen had not come up to their expectations and this model was an attempt to improve upon that…and I wonder why this model disappeared from their list and has never re-appeared…

 

This is one Deccan pen that I will always cherish…and write with…and here are some pictures…

 

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

Capped…

 

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

Uncapped…

 

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

Posted…

 

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

The section…

 

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

Cap and clip…

 

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

The Montex nib…

 

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

Close-up of the barrel…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/DeccanRetroII-8-caplip.jpg

The nicely carved cap band…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/DeccanRetroII-9-capband.jpg

Same thing…much closer…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/DeccanRetroII-10-feeder.jpg

The feeder…

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/DeccanRetroII-11-sideview.jpg

Side-view of the nib and feeder…

 

Thanks for looking…

 

Regards,

 

Shrujaya

[sajiskumar]

Thank you for this wonderful review.

[hari317]

Nice pen Jai, one of the many Deccan LEs, never to be made again. Howcome you never showed me this pen before?

 

Best

hari

Edited June 28, 2012 by hari317

[Uncle Red]

Nice looking pen, I do like the section.

[pelman]

nice pen Jai, the carved cap band is especially nice - another handmade gem.

[rwilsonedn]

Wow! A beautiful pen. I especially like the accentuated sculpting of the section.

I was happy not knowing that Deccan did LE pens. Now I wish I had more money, and a spy in their headquarters!

ron

[shrujaya]

Dear Sajis, Hari, Uncle Red, Jayant, and ron...

 

Thank you all for visiting and responding...I don't think Deccan starts out to make LEs, their pen makers experiment a lot with design, material, filling mechanisms, etc., and some of the pens that get made like this (like the white masterpiece and blue masterpiece and this pen) disappear fast and become LEs... and sometimes I become lucky...and Hari too...

 

Regards,

 

Shrujaya

[PenandDesign]

Looks like an authentic and traditional ebonite pen! India is really gaining traction as an FP market which displays innovation and high-quality designs in their work! Deccan Pens is just one example of is trend!