The Deccan Aurelius Aka The Author.

[hari317]

The Abids branch of the Deccan pen stores in Hyderabad, India is a must visit for me, whenever I get the chance to visit the city. The Aurelius pen was introduced a few months back and my good friend Jai, known on FPN as Shrujaya, had obtained one of the first examples. He did an excellent job of documenting the pen already in his review. I wanted to see the pen for myself before I bought one and the chance presented itself this past saturday, when I was in Hyderabad for a few days for an important family function. I had kept the Saturday afternoon aside for meeting Jai and for the customary visit to Deccan. I met up with Jai at his home, he showed me his latest pen finds and the Aurelius and then we proceeded to Deccan Abids. On the way, I had the idea to divert the car through RP Road so that we could meet our friend Zubair at the RP Road Branch of Deccan as well, just to say hello to him. Zubair was somewhat surpised to see us, but he had seen Jai coming and as if by magic kept the one pen ready that Jai had custom ordered for his colleague. We chatted for a while and then proceeded towards the Abids store.

 

We were greeted by Mr. Wasim on arrival. I was visiting them after a long gap of nearly half a year and we got chatting, they asked to see the Nakaya that I was carrying in my shirt pocket, it was very much appreciated by them, esp. its nib. then they asked if I had seen the Aurelius yet? I said yes, but I wanted to see it again. They had only a few available I selected a few pieces to purchase for myself and for some FPN friends. I also bought several other pens which I will document seperately, later.

 

Now onto the Aurelius which is also referrred to as the Author.

 

The pen has simple looks, is highly polished and the sole trim on the pen is the nice Gold Plated Clip. The pen is hand turned from translucent Acrylic.

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/Deccan%20Aurelius/IMG_7186.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/Deccan%20Aurelius/IMG_7188.jpg

 

Squeeze filler:

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/Deccan%20Aurelius/IMG_7189.jpg

 

Deccan has got these custom nibs made from the foremost Indian nib manufacturer with their Stylised D logo:

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/Deccan%20Aurelius/IMG_7191.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/Deccan%20Aurelius/IMG_7192.jpg

 

HR Feed:

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/Deccan%20Aurelius/IMG_7193.jpg

 

The hand engraved Deccan Logo on the cap top:

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/Deccan%20Aurelius/IMG_7195.jpg

 

Translucence of the material:

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/Deccan%20Aurelius/IMG_7197.jpg

 

Comparison with a similar sized Nakaya Celluloid:

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/Deccan%20Aurelius/IMG_7196.jpg

 

A writing sample of the pen filled with Camel Royal Blue Ink:

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/Deccan%20Aurelius/IMG_7199.jpg

 

The Black lines are made by the Nakaya B, the Blue by the Aurelius:

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/Deccan%20Aurelius/IMG_7200.jpg

 

IMO, the Aurelius is one of the best pens to have come out of the house of Deccan in a long time. They have been facing material problems for a long time and were unable to offer the highly polished Ebonite pens that they were known for and instead chose to give a brushed finish so that surface material imperfections could be camouflaged. They have now changed track and started experimenting with Acrylic, which is easily available and inexpensive in India. I think they have achieved something essentially Deccan with the Aurelius. It is not the typical oversized pen, it can be easily carried in the pocket, a writer's pen.

 

Cheers!

Hari

[pelman]

Beautiful pen Hari. It is simply a very elegant pen. Use it in good health.

[shrujaya]

Good review, Hari...nice to have more than one viewpoint...and your narrative at the beginning makes the experience of buying the pen memorable and personal...and nice pics too...and you are right, the Aurelius/Author is one of the best, actually the best to come out of the Deccan pen-factory in a long time...(after the brushed ebonite masterpiece with the gold trims!!)...

 

Regards,

 

Shrujaya

[abhi4121]

Nice one boss!! Do they make any nib with a flex on it?

[hari317]

Beautiful pen Hari. It is simply a very elegant pen. Use it in good health.

Thanks Jayant.

 

Good review, Hari...nice to have more than one viewpoint...and your narrative at the beginning makes the experience of buying the pen memorable and personal...and nice pics too...and you are right, the Aurelius/Author is one of the best, actually the best to come out of the Deccan pen-factory in a long time...(after the brushed ebonite masterpiece with the gold trims!!)...

 

I agree it was a memorable visit, my favorite Deccan is still the first Advocate that I bought from them, the present advocates are not quite upto the mark, material problems. Also do you remember their original masterpieces with the white dot?

 

Nice one boss!! Do they make any nib with a flex on it?

 

Oh yes, they do: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/69757-deccan-shorthand-pen/

 

 

Best

Hari

[georges zaslavsky]

looks interesting thanks for sharing

Edited June 23, 2012 by georges zaslavsky

[VillersCotterets]

What is the street price in India for this pen?

[hari317]

What is the street price in India for this pen?

 

Actually there is no street price/Msrp distinction etc., in the case of Deccan. It is a relatively small shop that also has a pen turning workshop. They design and manufacture pens and sell them across the counter, you pay whatever price they ask. They don't manufacture enough pens and there is no distribution chain. Their pens are not sold anyplace other than their shops. except some FPNers like me, Ashish and Kevin who buy pens from them and then make them available at a markup to the foreign audience.

Edited July 7, 2012 by hari317

[lovemy51]

beautiful pen, Hari!

 

PS. Kevin has these: http://www.fountainpenrevolution.com/Handmade_Pens.html (no affiliation)

Edited July 7, 2012 by lovemy51

[rwilsonedn]

I've been using one of these pens for a few days now, and I love it. For some reason, the pen feels just exactly right when I pick it up. The only other pen I've experienced this with is an early Parker 51, which is among other things a much heavier pen. It must be some combination of appearance, balance, and fit to my hand. Anyway, I find excuses to write with it. The nib is slightly springy but with no line variation and very smooth, somewhere between F and M depending on the paper, the flow moderate and very uniform, and the squeeze-filler fairly effective. But the outstanding impression I have is just wanting to uncap this pen, hold it, look at it, and write something.

ron

[shrujaya]

right on, ron...you have expressed your feelings and described the Deccan Aurelius just right...this is indeed the best looking pen so far from Deccan...in terms of overall looks and performance...for those of you who are inspired, Hari has also listed this pen in the FPN classifieds...here ... the usual disclaimers apply ...

 

 

Regards,

 

Shrujaya

[amanp]

What size is the nib?

I have a No 8 nib, it is 27.75 mm long and 7.75 mm wide (at shoulders). Will that fit into it without any modification?

Edited July 25, 2013 by amanp

[hari317]

What size is the nib?

I have a No 8 nib, it is 27.75 mm long and 7.75 mm wide (at shoulders). Will that fit into it without any modification?

I don't know.

[amanp]

I don't know.

I thought you owned this pen

[hari317]

I thought you owned this pen

not one but several examples, but respected sir, while I usually oblige with disassemblies etc, in this instance, I am not going to disassemble my pens just to satisfy your random curiosity. Get your own pen, disassemble and find out. I hope this answers your question.

Edited July 25, 2013 by hari317

[de_pen_dent]

Every time I come across this thread, I am reminded that I need to call Deccan and get me a couple more of the Aurelius, especially if they make it in an aerometric/vac fill, as you said they do, Hari.

 

It really is a damn nice pen - my only complaint with it is the ED aspect.

[hari317]

Every time I come across this thread, I am reminded that I need to call Deccan and get me a couple more of the Aurelius, especially if they make it in an aerometric/vac fill, as you said they do, Hari.

 

It really is a damn nice pen - my only complaint with it is the ED aspect.

You can see that the pen in review is with squeeze filler. As I said in my other post, the initial pens were with squeeze fillers, in fact Shrujaya has one of the earliest examples if not the first pen. Then on one of my visits I requested them to give me some ED versions, they said it will be ready by my next visit and it was.

 

Observe the coarse pitch threads on the section of the pen in this review, the ED variant has very fine section threads to make it leak proof. They are master pen makers.

Edited July 25, 2013 by hari317

[de_pen_dent]

Agreed with you re the quality of their ED pens - but I hesitate to travel with, or carry in my pocket, an ED pen. I'd love to be able to travel with theirs.. I love the Ambassador and the Aurelius, and this is about the only negative I can think of.

 

I am going to call them and see if I can convince them to make me an Aurelius with squeeze filler

[hari317]

Agreed with you re the quality of their ED pens - but I hesitate to travel with, or carry in my pocket, an ED pen. I'd love to be able to travel with theirs.. I love the Ambassador and the Aurelius, and this is about the only negative I can think of.

 

I am going to call them and see if I can convince them to make me an Aurelius with squeeze filler

The following approach might solve the problem maintaining the ink capacity and simplicity:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/239164-a-somewhat-special-deccan-aurelisauthor-ed/

 

[Mesu]

Great review Hari.

 

As you suggested, I called them about the chelpark inks and talked to Mr. Haleem. I also placed an order for advocate and bullet pens. They will be shipped next week. Cant wait :-D

 

Thank you for your help.