Ratnam Pens

[hari317]

Congratulations! Looking forward to reading the reviews soon.

 

Regards,

Hari

 

 

  suddenshiv said:

...Maybe I'll get around to reviewing the 32 soon...

 

[jonro]

I think we could put together a group buy. I'd be interested in one or two.

 

Jon

[shrujaya]

Hi all...I got my Guider pens 3 days back...I ordered for three...an ebonite, an acrylic, and a celluloid...and they look fabulous...the ebonite is a mottled green, the acrylic is light blue veined, and the celluloid is red in colour...I have started using the acrylic and it writes too well...I have tried the others too and they are good...the acrylic looks heavenly...too tempting I must say...

 

From what I have seen of these three pens, I think Guider is the only complete pen maker among the Andhra Pradesh (India) based FP pen makers, in the sense that the nibs too are manufactured by them, unlike Ratnam and Brahmam, who use nibs manufactured by others...I am not sure...you can also get your nibs made outside with 'guider' inscribed on it...Mr G. Lakshmana Rao, the proprietor was gracious enough to send the pens without asking for cheque or DD or MO in advance...from what I understood, he prefers speaking on the phone than letters for taking orders...he said that he can make any kind of pen as per one's requirements...there is no catalogue or anything with him...you can specify the material, size, colour, diameter of cap, nib, etc., and you will get it...Hari has given his number in one of the previous entries...

 

Now I have managed to acquire all brands currently being manufactured in AP...at least I think so...there are some extinct brands, maybe I will find them in some tucked away shop...

 

I have uploaded the photo...u can see the pens for yourself...Thanks Hari...once again...No more pen buying till July...ha ha ha...have spent a lot during these 2-3 months on pens...

 

Jai

  hari317 said:

Hi Jai,

 

Congratulations on your Guider! If possible give us all a detailed review when you receive the pens.

 

Walking down from the Deccan pen stores towards Rezimental Bazaar; Gupta pen stores comes on the right hand side of the road, after approximately 200mts. It was open in 2005, very sad that old pen shops are closing down.

 

The Ratnam Ballpen Works (Ratnamson) was also called as "K.V. Ratnam and Sons" as can be seen in the plaque below Gandhiji's letter to M. V. Ratnam.

 

AFAIK, the fountain pen unit of the original company and the brand name RATNAM went to one brother and the ballpen unit went to the other brother. The ball pen unit owned by Mr. KV Ramanamurthy now known as "Ratnam Ballpen Works" manufactures Fountain pens under the brand name RATNAMSON.

 

Mr. Sreeramachandramurthy owns the RATNAM pen factory making only fountain pens. Pls send me a PM if you are interested in his contact details/catalog.

 

You may alternatively enquire in the Abids branch for the metal slip cap ebonites with "D" marked on Cap, maybe they still have some stock. I had bought them from the RP rd branch.

 

Last time I visited the RP Rd branch in october this year, the only steel nibbed Brahmams avlbl were the WingSung nibbed ones and one single green colored Brahmam "leader" with open nib, what is the stock situation now?

 

Regards,

Hari

 

 

  Quote

Hi Hari...I spoke to Lakshmana Rao of Guider, and placed order for a celluloid and an ebonite pen...will probably reach on 1st. Thanks for giving me the number. I went around R P Road day before yesterday, but couldnt locate Gupta Pen Stores...in case you remember, could you please give me some landmark...I also went inside Deccan Pen stores, Sec'bad branch, and found some Brahmam ebonite, ordinary nibs...I asked for the slip cap ebonite FPs with STYB nibs...they didnt have any...I also asked whether they knew anything about Gupta Pen Stores, and they said it closed long ago...meanwhile, I rechecked my 3 ratnam pens and found that two of them had 'ratnamson' on the cap clip...and the other had 'ratnam' on the clip, and one of them, the gold nib one, had 'ratnam and son' on the nib, ...so, I am not sure whether they are two different entities working in harmony...

Jai

[Deirdre]

Wow, that blue pen is stunning (though my heart still belongs to ebonite).

[zer0render]

  jonro said:

I think we could put together a group buy. I'd be interested in one or two.

 

Jon

 

No one has stepped up to bat on this quite yet, as it seems a difficulty to get Ratnamson to ship elsewhere besides domestically in India. If only there was a way to coax the pens out of the country... :hmm1: :ltcapd:

Should this actually happen, though, I'd be glad to volunteer as a "distributor" or middleman, though I need to start coughing up the money. The pens, though, are appealing enough...

[captnemo]

Yeah, I like the blue one too. Nice.

[Carrie]

Did anything ever come off the ground for anyone shipping these pens outside India? Or is it likely to? I didn't see this topic at the time, but would certainly be most interested in one or two of these pens.

[tknechtel]

Carrie, I don't know if they are the Ratnam pens; but Steve is importing Indian pens. You can see them at:

http://s270.photobucket.com/albums/jj85/pe...WRITENOWdotNET/

[Eternally Noodling]

  Carrie said:

Did anything ever come off the ground for anyone shipping these pens outside India? Or is it likely to? I didn't see this topic at the time, but would certainly be most interested in one or two of these pens.

 

Noodler's is working on this. I personally dislike the markups I've seen. When a bottle of Noodler's (even the most costly and difficult to produce kind) reaches $30+ overseas, great efforts are made to reduce shipping costs and increase volume to get that price level as low as possible given available resources (which unfortunately are very limited). Remember, Noodler's itself makes less per bottle than anyone else in the chain (distribution, mail, shippers, and retailers). Then again, we have no secretary or mail room costs to cover either.

 

Likewise, as soon as possible gorgeous ebonite Indian pens will be included free with several Noodler's 4.5 oz dropper bottles (just as demonstrator eyedropper pens are included free already). There is no reason why these pens must be priced so many times above their cost in their native market. See recent post in "inky thoughts" for more as to the reasons why... (under "what is the most costly pen you would use Noodler's Bulletproof inks in...").

 

An ebonite pen can use every ink made in history with the exception of certain petroleum solvent based inks. Ebonite feeds can be adjusted with heat multiple times, unlike plastic feeds. Ebonite has natural properties that enable the best capillary action known to a feed material....and unlike plastic materials they require no etching and will still function if originally smooth and without etching. Wide fissure Indian feeds properly set with a good nib can perform as well as the best 1920s American ebonite feeds with the widest range of inks imaginable. It can be a good offering vrs. any "1 ink, 1 property, and only one use" disposable roller ball pen!

Edited August 10, 2008 by Eternally Noodling

[Carrie]

  tknechtel said:

Carrie, I don't know if they are the Ratnam pens; but Steve is importing Indian pens. You can see them at:

http://s270.photobucket.com/albums/jj85/pe...WRITENOWdotNET/

 

That link doesn't work

[tknechtel]

Hi, Carrie. I'm sorry that link doesn't work - it does when I try it. You might use the Search function on this site to look up "Indian eydropper pens" - that should lead you to the FPN member who goes by the name "luckygrandson," Steve. He's the one selling the pens - you could ask him directly about the Ratnam. He does have some really beautiful looking pens. Good luck!

Tom

 

[AllWriteNow]

Hi Carrie

 

We are importing Guider Pens as of today. We are having discussions with several other Manufacturers as well. Including ratnam and Ratnamson.

The founder of Guider Pens was trained in Pen making by the folks at Ratnaam.

They are still making the same pens that they began making in 1946.

Same Machines Same Material Composition

They also have the newer Acrylics and 60-70 yr.old Celluloid Nitrate ( like the Parker Mandarin Duofolds)

 

Here's a link I hope it works...

 

All Write Now

 

Steve

Edited August 11, 2008 by luckygrandson

[donwinn]

  Eternally Noodling said:

Likewise, as soon as possible gorgeous ebonite Indian pens will be included free with several Noodler's 4.5 oz dropper bottles (just as demonstrator eyedropper pens are included free already). There is no reason why these pens must be priced so many times above their cost in their native market. See recent post in "inky thoughts" for more as to the reasons why... (under "what is the most costly pen you would use Noodler's Bulletproof inks in...").

 

Please, Please, Please, post on FPN when you commence doing so!

 

Donnie

[AllWriteNow]

We'll have a post in the marketplace shortly selling the Guider Pens.

We'd like to address something that seems to be a big misconception.

We're selling the largest Ebonite pen for a very reasonable price of $38.00

This is with a Steel Gold Plated nib.

 

Having just now hung up with the folks from Guider in India...

The gold nib option starts at $70.00 + the pen. This is with NO added markup from me at all.

When we get the pens here in the US the costs include

1. Shipping with Insurance and Tracking from India approximately $3-$4 per pen

2. The steel nibs can come in anywhere from perfect to stuffed.

3. The time spent on each pen can be up to 30 minutes smoothing the nibs and adjusting them for flow etc.

4. Western Union is the ONLY form of payment that is accepted. I risk losing the money if ANYTHING happens ie Postal lost, damage etc.

 

 

We've had to order a stock of replacement nibs. To replace the ones that cannot be corrected.

There is no recourse for us if the pen has flaws. Nicks in the Ebonite or Acrylic are just our tough luck.

We try to remove them the best we can and have decide to offer the 'seconds' at very reduced prices.

 

We decided to sell these pens at a very low gross profit margin. Many people at the DC Show suggested that we raise our prices to make them appear more desirable. For some to suggest that the price we're quoting has no 'reason' to be where it is, is at best misguided.

An offhanded statement that does not take into account that there is additional time spent with EVERY pen we sell.

Should you prefer that we just purchase in bulk re-pack them individually and let you worry about the marks, nibs etc. we can certainly do that.

There will be no recourse for these sales and we think that is justified. If however, you'd like a pen that is 100% guaranteed to meet your satisfaction well frankly that is going to cost money for our time.

We can assure you that the axiom of 'you get what you pay for' is in full effect.

One additional thing that bears mentioning... we are offering a LIFETIME replacement of any Steel Gold Plated nib. You can drop it ( like someone did to a nice Parker Vacumatic I had for sale at the DC Show) we will still replace it with a brand new nib. Yes we are Sheaffer's Lovers!

 

We feel compelled to mention that we don't think any of the 'bullet proof' inks should be used in the translucent brightly colored Acrylics. This of course is your choice.

The ebonites of course can hide any staining that may/will occur from such inks.

 

Hang tight for a little while this morning and we'll get some pictures taken and get a sale post up shortly.

 

Steve & Jon

 

We would again like to say THANK YOU to everyone that came by our table even if they didn't buy a pen it was really nice to say hi!

Edited August 12, 2008 by luckygrandson

[mpkandan]

Hi Everybody,

This is kandan from Ranga pen company.(mpkandan@yahoo.co.in). We manufacture quality ebonite pens for the last 50 years.

 

Thans,

Kandna

[ashishwakhlu]

Some of these pens are on foe viewing and sale here - http://s267.photobucket.com/albums/ii313/Ashish_031/Ratnam%20302/

 

Regards

 

Ashish