School Favourite

[ashishwakhlu]

Friends,

 

Harking back to my school days in the mists of antiquity I present one of my old time favourites, a pen made from mango wood. I have had this one since 1975.

 

It is a handmade pen with the wood grain brought out by polishing, 5 inches long capped and 53/4 inches posted, 0.4 inches in diameter. It weighs in at 20 grams with the sac full.

 

The cap has a single brass band which shows its age, the clip is firm and shiny and somewhat reminiscent of a Parker clip, it has no name. The clip is secured by a black plastic screw (jewel). The barrel has a beautiful wood grain and is round at the end. The black section screws into the barrel and has a flare at the end. The cap and barrel threads are strong even after being worked countless times.

 

The pen is a sac filler, and curiously has no lever or any other mechanism to fill the medium size sac. I used to roll the sac up, dip the pen and let the sac unroll, filling as it went! It was a not very convenient but effective method.

 

The nib is a size 4 steel medium and has "Wilson" inscribed on it, though I am pretty sure Wilson pens never made any wooden pens. So the nib has been fitted to the pen after turning in my home city Lucknow. It writes a wet line on the medium side of fine. There is no flex but it is smooth with a hint of feedback. The feed is black ebonite, shallowly finned.

 

The pen is meant to be used posted, and has a remarkable balance and writing comfort to this day. The quality of the nib can be gauged by the fact that it has transmitted inks form Parker, Chelpark (India's answer to Parker), Camlin, Waterman and Montblanc over the years. I still use the pen in rotation and it quickly transports me back to school. Enjoy the pictures.

Edited August 31, 2009 by MYU

[Yuki Onitsura]

Great unique pen! Thanks for sharing.

 

Yuki

[jandrese]

The wood looks terrific, thanks for sharing.

[penspouse]

Very Nice!

[framebaer]

I especially like the knockoff "Parker Blue Diamond" clip

[andy1m]

Very classic!

[lovemy51]

beautiful!!!!

[jonro]

Wilson made some very nice Vacumatic look-alikes. Everything about that pen suggests that it was made by Wilson, except, as you mentioned, I've never seen a mention of a Wilson made from wood. On the other hand, it is a somewhat obscure brand; it's within the realm of possibility. At any rate, it's quite nice and obviously built well if it has served you all of these years.

Edited August 30, 2009 by jonro

[FrankB]

I really like wooden pens, and yours looks like a treasure. Thanks for sharing.

[ashishwakhlu]

Thanks Jon,

The pen was actually made under a brand called Anupam Bhartiya (Hindi for Incomparably Indian!) they were based in Lucknow and along with another pen company called Kaushla, made a vast range of school pens and nibs, most were hand made including these from mango and others from ebonite wood (not hard rubber as conventional) , I have several different examples from my school era which I will post in subsequent reviews. Wilson on the other hand is still going strong, in the field of ballpoints, jotters and desk sets. Their most famous Parker clone was the Jotter and as you mention Vaccumatic look alikes.

 

Ashish

 

Wilson made some very nice Vacumatic look-alikes. Everything about that pens suggests that it was made by Wilson, except, as you mentioned, I've never seen a mention of a Wilson made from wood. On the other hand, it is a somewhat obscure brand; it's within the realm of possibility. At any rate, it's quite nice and obviously built well if it has served you all of these years.

 

[jonro]

Thanks Jon,

The pen was actually made under a brand called Anupam Bhartiya (Hindi for Incomparably Indian!) they were based in Lucknow and along with another pen company called Kaushla, made a vast range of school pens and nibs, most were hand made including these from mango and others from ebonite wood (not hard rubber as conventional) , I have several different examples from my school era which I will post in subsequent reviews. Wilson on the other hand is still going strong, in the field of ballpoints, jotters and desk sets. Their most famous Parker clone was the Jotter and as you mention Vaccumatic look alikes.

 

Ashish

 

Wilson made some very nice Vacumatic look-alikes. Everything about that pens suggests that it was made by Wilson, except, as you mentioned, I've never seen a mention of a Wilson made from wood. On the other hand, it is a somewhat obscure brand; it's within the realm of possibility. At any rate, it's quite nice and obviously built well if it has served you all of these years.

 

Since Wilson in an Indian brand, it's certainly possible that Anupam Bhartiya bought the trim and nibs from Wilson and then produced their own pens using those parts. That type of thing was very common in the U.S. back in the day. I would love to find a Wilson or two in the wild; I've only seen photos of them.

 

Jon

[MYU]

What brand/model would you call this pen?

[froldt]

That's a really nice looking pen! Thanks for sharing!

 

It's samples like this that make me want to get into pen turning...

[ashishwakhlu]

The brand is Anupam Bhartiya, there is no specific model for these mango wood pens, they were made in few numbers between 1960 and 1970. I dug this one up out of the old junk boxes of the AB pen store where I make a monthly pilgrimage to this day to de stress!, nothing like rummaging in boxes filled with old pens for and coming up with a find like this entertainment.

 

regards

 

Ashish

 

What brand/model would you call this pen?

 

[Deirdre]

It's a very neat pen and has a lot of character.

[alvarez57]

Thank you for sharing such nice pen with us.

Darn Ashish! I graduated from HIGH SCHOOL in 1975!!!!

[rwilsonedn]

What a beautiful pen! And it has both a personal history important to you and a pen history fascinating to many of the rest of us.

Thanks!

ron

[tknechtel]

What a wonderful pen! Simple design, gorgeous wood - and I love how direct the filling system is! Thanks for sharing.

[ashishwakhlu]

I think thats what happened, regards

 

Ashish

 

Thanks Jon,

The pen was actually made under a brand called Anupam Bhartiya (Hindi for Incomparably Indian!) they were based in Lucknow and along with another pen company called Kaushla, made a vast range of school pens and nibs, most were hand made including these from mango and others from ebonite wood (not hard rubber as conventional) , I have several different examples from my school era which I will post in subsequent reviews. Wilson on the other hand is still going strong, in the field of ballpoints, jotters and desk sets. Their most famous Parker clone was the Jotter and as you mention Vaccumatic look alikes.

 

Ashish

 

Wilson made some very nice Vacumatic look-alikes. Everything about that pens suggests that it was made by Wilson, except, as you mentioned, I've never seen a mention of a Wilson made from wood. On the other hand, it is a somewhat obscure brand; it's within the realm of possibility. At any rate, it's quite nice and obviously built well if it has served you all of these years.

 

Since Wilson in an Indian brand, it's certainly possible that Anupam Bhartiya bought the trim and nibs from Wilson and then produced their own pens using those parts. That type of thing was very common in the U.S. back in the day. I would love to find a Wilson or two in the wild; I've only seen photos of them.

 

Jon

 

[ashishwakhlu]

Thanks for all the appreciation friends, I am glad you enjoyed the pen.

 

regards

 

Ashish