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The " Kalasipalaya" Haul Of Vintage Indian Celluloids.

hari317

By hari317
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hari317 Museum Piece

hari317

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I am a Mumbai resident. However, I have to sometimes travel to Bangalore on work. Last week I was being driven to a place on Mysore road. Just as we were exiting Bangalore, I spotted an old run down stationery box stall (kiosk) on the road side. I immediately requested my driver to stop and went back and had a look.

 

I asked if they had fountain pens, he said only old ones, no one is interested in FPs anymore. I asked him to show them to me anyway. The one or two shelve in the shop were packed with old pens kept in polyethene packets, mostly junk. I spotted a packet that looked interesting and asked him to take that one out, this packet had around a dozen celluloid pens from different Indian makers, I was getting late so I just paid what the shopkeeper wanted for the bag of pens and went my way.

 

Later I asked my driver about the area where this shop was located, he told me the area was called Kalasipalaya, so here are some pictures of the Kalasipalaya haul of Indian celluloids. I ran out of patience to photograph all the pens and the imprints, here is what i managed, enjoy!!

 

The haul contains Wilsons with Vac filling, President with Vac filling, Plato 66 from 1952, the 60s etc.. all pens the are of the nitrocelluloid variety. Some have suffered the typical shrinking found with this gorgeous material. The material is of the typical rolled sheet into a tube construction.

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0079.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0080.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0081.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0082.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0083.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0084.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0085.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0086.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0087.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0088.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0089.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0090.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj582/hari-317/IndianCelluloids/IMG_0091.jpg

 

Cheers!

Hari

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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Inkysloth Vintage

Inkysloth

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Glorious!

 

I love that Plato 66 pattern - absolutely beautiful.

Instagram @inkysloth

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mhguda Antique

mhguda

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Congratulations! that is a wonderful find. Do continue the story after you clean them up etc...

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

fpn_1425200643__fpn_1425160066__super_pi

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shrujaya Rare

shrujaya

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These are lovely pens, Hari...lucky you...and I am glad that you found them and now they will be safe hands... I too had a similar experience some years back when I found a batch of pens in small shop in Bangalore...will write about them soon...

 

That Plato with the chessboard pattern is simply delicious...

 

Lucky you...

 

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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betweenthelens Vintage

betweenthelens

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Lovely find! I'm interested to know the connection between Wilson and Parker.

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subbucal Extremely Rare

subbucal

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Lovely pens!!!Great Haul...

 

"...all pens the are of the nitrocelluloid variety....."

 

Is a nitro celluloid pen different than other celluloid pen?

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hari317 Museum Piece

hari317

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Glorious!

 

I love that Plato 66 pattern - absolutely beautiful.

 

Thank you!

 

Great haul, Hari! Good of you to save those pens from oblivion.

 

Thank you!

 

Congratulations! that is a wonderful find. Do continue the story after you clean them up etc...

 

Thank you! Let me see, if I ever get around to do that.

 

Wow!

 

Thank you!

Beauties--all of them!! Gotta love vintage celluloid!!

Thank you!

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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hari317 Museum Piece

hari317

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These are lovely pens, Hari...lucky you...and I am glad that you found them and now they will be safe hands... I too had a similar experience some years back when I found a batch of pens in small shop in Bangalore...will write about them soon...

 

That Plato with the chessboard pattern is simply delicious...

 

Lucky you...

 

Jai

Thanks Jai, do document your finds.

waiting...

 

Best

Hari

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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hari317 Museum Piece

hari317

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Lovely pens!!!Great Haul...

 

"...all pens the are of the nitrocelluloid variety....."

 

Is a nitro celluloid pen different than other celluloid pen?

Thank you.

 

Nitro-celluloid is the original vintage celluloid type that smells of camphor and has the greatest vividness and depth of patterns. Some pens are still made of this material like the Black Gama celluloids (not their full orange and their brown ones), the Platinum, Japan celluloid pens etc.

 

The modern material is cellulose acetate. e.g. the green/red/blue/tortoise striped barrel of modern pelikan pens is made of this material. this material is more stable, does not smell of camphor and correspondingly lacks the depth seen in nitrocelluloid.

 

HTH.

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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subbucal Extremely Rare

subbucal

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Thank you.

 

Nitro-celluloid is the original vintage celluloid type that smells of camphor and has the greatest vividness and depth of patterns. Some pens are still made of this material like the Black Gama celluloids (not their full orange and their brown ones), the Platinum, Japan celluloid pens etc.

 

The modern material is cellulose acetate. e.g. the green/red/blue/tortoise striped barrel of modern pelikan pens is made of this material. this material is more stable, does not smell of camphor and correspondingly lacks the depth seen in nitrocelluloid.

 

HTH.

 

thanks much for clarifying...

 

rgds

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Scribblesoften Vintage

Scribblesoften

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You are a lucky man for finding these pens. You know, the kind of luck that hard work and perseverance bring. :) I agree with MHGuda. These pens are beautiful now but with a cleaning and polish they will reveal the depth of color that celluloid is know for.

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hari317 Museum Piece

hari317

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You are a lucky man for finding these pens. You know, the kind of luck that hard work and perseverance bring. :) I agree with MHGuda. These pens are beautiful now but with a cleaning and polish they will reveal the depth of color that celluloid is know for.

:) Unfortunately, I had to leave several more bags of pens unexplored at that shop, I was really getting late. Now I am worried if I will be able to find that shop again, I am not very familiar with that area, he told me he had a load of Brahmams and Leader celluloids as well.

 

Awesome Sir Just awesome

 

:)

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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hari317 Museum Piece

hari317

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The Kriptok Vac looks similar to some of your pens here. Any Kriptoks in your lot?

I don't know how to identify if a pen is a Kriptok? Did the pens have Kriptok written on them? Unfortunately, there have been several and there still are several nonami pen makers in India.

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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betweenthelens Vintage

betweenthelens

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I don't know how to identify if a pen is a Kriptok? Did the pens have Kriptok written on them? Unfortunately, there have been several and there still are several nonami pen makers in India.

Oh, I have no idea. I just thought it interesting the similarities between the pens. You and Mohan know much more than I about pens made in India. I just find it all so fascinating.

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