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The Deccan Advocate - Transitions - From 2007 To 2014 (A Companion Piece To Hari's A Decade With The Deccan Advocate)


shrujaya

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Hari’s post on the evolution of the Deccan Advocate in the last decade inspired me to put together this post … a sort of companion post … I bought my first Advocate in December 2007 and that was a fortuitous event for me as far as fountain pens are concerned … I have been living in Hyderabad since 1992 and I remember visiting Deccan Pens at Abids around 1995 or so in search of a fountain pen … I had no idea about handmade Indian FPs, let alone pens made of ebonite and celluloid … I vaguely remember seeing long black thick bodied pens under the glass cases there … I didn’t even bother to ask the price of this pen, but distinctly remember buying a plastic fountain pen, which could also be used with a cartridge … after that it was in 2007 that I went again to Deccan Pens … I called up before going and was pleasantly surprised to know that they had a branch in Secunderabad too … and since it was on my way back home from college, it was convenient too and so, I got down at Secunderabad and wended my way to the shop … to cut things short, I saw the legendary black Advocate (I didn’t know about the legendary status then…) and bought it without thinking … oh my god, how good I felt … a pen should be like this, I thought … and since then, I have bought many Advocates, and gifted many more … so, here is my Advocate story … with pictures … a kind of photo essay …

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/DecAdvs1_zps8b9f5729.jpg

 

The black Advocate seen here is the first Advocate that I bought … and the striated green one was bought in March 2008, along with a striated brown one (I subsequently gifted the brown one to a friend … I hope he is using it well … I don’t know … I will check and take it back if he is not using it…) … I had also bought a striated brown metal cap Advocate in March 2008 … the almost plain light brown seen here was bought sometime later, I don’t remember the exact month … possibly very late in 2008, I think …

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/DecAdvs2_zpsc9823005.jpg

 

The Advocate always had a steel band on the cap lip whenever I have seen it, till almost recently … and you can see that in this photo and also the ball clip … this clip and band were distinctive features till almost 2009 … and therefore I was surprised to see that Hari’s Advocates bought in 2004 did not have this cap band …

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/DecAdvs3_zps7ee03478.jpg

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/DecAdvs4A_zps23e28f69.jpg

 

These two pictures show the feeders of the 2007-2008 Advocates … the feeder on the black Advocate is distinctively different and it had, as Hari says, “the feeders had an extra air channel/groove running underneath the feeder and also some extra fins hidden inside the section”… I never found it again in the full ebonite Advocates that I bought subsequently, except the striated brown metal capped Advocate … from then on it was the usual shaped feeders that we see on the Advocates … so, I feel this is a change that can be seen from 2007 to 2008 as far as full ebonite Advocates are concerned … also if you observe closely, the shape of the section has changed ever so slightly, the smooth curve seen in the black Advocate gives way to a slightly sharper cut …

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/DecAdvs10_zps07e2f6c9.jpg

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/DecAdvs10A_zpsd5192146.jpg

 

This is the striated brown metal capped Advocate … the metal cap Advocate is a different thing altogether … Deccan made it with rounded ends as well as flat ends … I bought the one with rounded ends … in fact, it was after reading Hari’s post on the metal capped Advocate that I ran to Deccan at Secunderabad the same evening and bought it … Hari has both versions and I have always been eyeing the flat topped green metal capped Advocate, but never felt forced to buy it … here again, we see that old feeder … this feeder has never appeared again … and in the flat topped example that Hari shows, one can already see the tear drop clip, that would go on to be the stale clip for the next 5 years …

 

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/DecAdvs6_zps0e5108b7.jpg

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/DecAdvs7_zpsdce82e57.jpg

 

I put these two brown advocates to show the transition in the clip … the dark brown one has the new tear drop clip … the ball clip never to be seen again on the Advocate … I didn’t like this clip one bit, but I bought this dark brown Advocate to compensate for the earlier ball clip one that I gave my friend … the steel cap band is still very much there …

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/DecAdvs11A_zps60a2529d.jpg

 

All right, these three black Advocates were customized at Hari’s behest by Deccan … Hari is not too fond of the cap band and had asked them to remove them for this particular order and as you can see, he had also asked them to reduce the length of the pens so that it becomes slightly more convenient to keep in one’s shirt pocket, but since Deccan already has a shorter and thinner Advocate Junior, they just customized these Advocates for Hari and continued with the earlier specifications for the regular Advocate … the long and the short one are mine, and the shortest pen is Hari’s …

 

I have already documented the latest avatar of the Advocate in my blog and so, will not bring it here again … suffice to say that, the present Advocate is very very good compared to its previous version (that tear drop clip!) … the cap band is gone forever, I think and the new flat clip gets the look just right, I feel …

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/DecAdvs13_zps9dd98644.jpg

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/DecAdvs12_zps48fb0d93.jpg

 

Now, for the final group photo of all the different versions of the Advocates that I have bought from 2007 onwards till date … and remarkably, the nibs have remained the same … the engineering remains the same and the writing experience is still very good …

 

Thanks for visiting and reading…

 

Regards,

 

Shrujaya

Writing and posting about fountain pens exclusively on www.jaisiri.blogspot.in ... recent posts on Hema Pens (Hyderabad), Haul at Majestic (Bangalore), and Asoka Pens (Tenali)...

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Scrumptious. Thanks for sharing. I have just one, a brown ripple round top with the flat clip that you like, and it is a very good writer. I haven't had it very long, but I already know I'm going to like it a lot.

a fountain pen is physics in action... Proud member of the SuperPinks

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Jai, reg the early feeder, your Deccan Masterpiece GT also has the same feeder. I feel that as the stocks ran down Deccan started putting this feeder only on their costlier pens. Just a guess.

 

Best

Hari

Edited by hari317

In case you wish to write to me, pls use ONLY email by clicking here. I do not check PMs. Thank you.

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Shrujaya, thank you so much for such a wonderful journey to the history of Deccan Pens.

 

It is wonderful!

Is it fair for an intelligent and family oriented mammal to be separated from his/her family and spend his/her life starved in a concrete jail?

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Scrumptious. Thanks for sharing. I have just one, a brown ripple round top with the flat clip that you like, and it is a very good writer. I haven't had it very long, but I already know I'm going to like it a lot.

Thanks, mhguda...never mind, when I bought my first Advocate, I too had only one... :P and it didn't take me long to add more...and since you like the one you have... :)

 

Shrujaya

Writing and posting about fountain pens exclusively on www.jaisiri.blogspot.in ... recent posts on Hema Pens (Hyderabad), Haul at Majestic (Bangalore), and Asoka Pens (Tenali)...

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Oh! Thanks for the wonderful pictures and details...the group photo is a wow!

Thanks Subbu...come to Hyderabad, you can see them pens live...

 

Shrujaya

Writing and posting about fountain pens exclusively on www.jaisiri.blogspot.in ... recent posts on Hema Pens (Hyderabad), Haul at Majestic (Bangalore), and Asoka Pens (Tenali)...

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Jai, reg the early feeder, your Deccan Masterpiece GT also has the same feeder. I feel that as the stocks ran down Deccan started putting this feeder only on their costlier pens. Just a guess.

 

Best

Hari

 

Yeah, Hari...I call it the Darth Vader feeder :D ...here it is...

 

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

 

 

This feeder is not seen any more...but a smaller version is there on a smaller pen...

 

Thanks for the input, Hari...

 

Jai

Writing and posting about fountain pens exclusively on www.jaisiri.blogspot.in ... recent posts on Hema Pens (Hyderabad), Haul at Majestic (Bangalore), and Asoka Pens (Tenali)...

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Shrujaya, thank you so much for such a wonderful journey to the history of Deccan Pens.

 

It is wonderful!

 

Dear Anne-Sophie,

 

Thanks and I am happy that you liked what you read and saw...I hope to add more...

 

Shrujaya

Writing and posting about fountain pens exclusively on www.jaisiri.blogspot.in ... recent posts on Hema Pens (Hyderabad), Haul at Majestic (Bangalore), and Asoka Pens (Tenali)...

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  • 4 years later...

The Advocate always had a steel band on the cap lip whenever I have seen it, till almost recently … and you can see that in this photo and also the ball clip … this clip and band were distinctive features till almost 2009 … and therefore I was surprised to see that Hari’s Advocates bought in 2004 did not have this cap band …

I had actually purchased two Advocates that evening in 2004. One with the Cap band and one without. The one with the cap band was given to a very good friend of mine who used to use FPs in those days. I must ask him if he still has the pen... I kept the bandless one as I liked the looks of it more. It still looks superb, I took out my advocates yesterday.

In case you wish to write to me, pls use ONLY email by clicking here. I do not check PMs. Thank you.

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Since I last posted in this thread, I have added a flat Advocate (that I like even more than the original round top) and an Advocate junior that I think looks like a Waterman... Alas, my source for these pens has dried up so as of right now, I have no way to add more. Which may actually be a good thing. It means the ones I have actually get used. :)

a fountain pen is physics in action... Proud member of the SuperPinks

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  • 5 months later...

Hello Sir..

 

Whether Deccan pens use Ambitious nibs ? If not Which nibs are better Deccan's or Ambitious.

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Hello Sir..

 

Whether Deccan pens use Ambitious nibs ? If not Which nibs are better Deccan's or Ambitious.

Deccan have used a variety of nibs, basic quality of nib matters and ambitious is pretty good, but more important is the proper installation and tuning of the nib which Deccan does expertly. If you dont like the nib, they have a behind the counter pen repairman, who will adjust it for you so you can try, iteratively.

In case you wish to write to me, pls use ONLY email by clicking here. I do not check PMs. Thank you.

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Deccan have used a variety of nibs, basic quality of nib matters and ambitious is pretty good, but more important is the proper installation and tuning of the nib which Deccan does expertly. If you dont like the nib, they have a behind the counter pen repairman, who will adjust it for you so you can try, iteratively.

Thank you sir...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Deccan have used a variety of nibs, basic quality of nib matters and ambitious is pretty good, but more important is the proper installation and tuning of the nib which Deccan does expertly. If you dont like the nib, they have a behind the counter pen repairman, who will adjust it for you so you can try, iteratively.

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I've noticed that Deccan changes their design every now and then. I have two Advocates, one from 2017 which has a straight tapered clip with ridges towards the end, no cap band, and another from 2018 which has the same clip and has a cap band too but not on the extreme end. Now, all Advocates I've recently seen have only the clip, and no cap band.

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