Another School Favourite

[ashishwakhlu]

Friends,

Continuing after the Mango wood pen I present another "Golden Oldie" workhorse from my school days. This pen is also made by Anupam Bhartiya, a pen company based in Lucknow, India.

The pen is made of plastic with a mother of pearl finish applied separately in sheet form to the cap and barrel. I have had to stick this sheet back to the underlying plastic around the clip.

The pen is 53/4 inches long with flat barrel end and a translucent cap jewel holding the clip which shows some tarnish but is still firm.

The cap and barrel are translucent, the color from an old sac shows through the barrel. The barrel imprint says "Anupam Bhartiya" in silver Hindi letters. The pen is a lever filler and fully functional. The lever is inscribed "Made in India".

The section is black and screws into the barrel, the cap and barrel threads are strong, no loose parts on this pen. The section has a flair above the nib and a slight taper, it is 0.4 inches in diameter and comfortable to hold.

The nib is number 4 gold plated steel with a fine point. It puts down a consistent regular wet line. There are no hard starts or hiccups even if the pen has been unused for up to a week. The feed is plastic and 4mm in diameter. No changes have been made to the feed or nib since I bought the pen in 1974. It is in regular use to this day (with sac changes). Enjoy the pictures.

[hari317]

Thanks Ashish for sharing this, very interesting, and a less common Pelikan inspired design. I did not know about this brand and it seems they do not sell outside of UP or even Lucknow (I asked my dad who is from Kanpur), I really liked the Devnagari engraving on the nib and "Saral Pravah" which means "easy flow".

 

Are these pens still available?

 

Thanks!

Hari

 

PS: I suggest you upload the review photos (reduced to 800x600 size) to a third party website like photobucket etc, so that you can just link the photos here, rather than attachment. That way the review will always have the photos to be enjoyed by anyone who reads after a long time.

[rahulg]

Very interesting. I was not familiar with Indian lever fillers, since most of the examples I came across have been either ED or press bar systems. Thanks for sharing. Gorgeous colour on the resin!

 

Regards,

 

Rahul G

[ashishwakhlu]

Hi guys, I've just been to the Anupam Bhartiya shop today, got hold of some more goodies from the junk box. Yes Rahul, there are a lot of Indian lever fillers from Wilson, Kaushla and Anupam Bhartiya and an even more obscure Indian firm called Mico of which the latter three operated out of Lucknow. These firms made huge quantities of beautiful but cheap pens between 1950 and 1975 when they were struck down by the ballpen boom. I was fortunate in having a schoolmate who was from the family which made Kaushla pens and have had the opportunity to visit their workshop once. All the pens from Kaushla, Anupam Bhartiya and Mico are thus 25 years old or more. Today I discovered some excellent Parker knockoffs from Anupam Bhartiya which I will post in later reviews. Hari, I have about 20 pens from Anupam Bhartiya (Ed and lever fillers) all with their original nibs if you are interested I will mail you pictures.

 

regards

 

Ashish

 

Very interesting. I was not familiar with Indian lever fillers, since most of the examples I came across have been either ED or press bar systems. Thanks for sharing. Gorgeous colour on the resin!

 

Regards,

 

Rahul G

 

[ashishwakhlu]

Thanks Hari, the pictures for this pen are here. I will post other interesting pens later.

http://s267.photobucket.com/albums/ii313/A...r%20of%20Pearl/

 

regards

 

Ashish

 

Thanks Ashish for sharing this, very interesting, and a less common Pelikan inspired design. I did not know about this brand and it seems they do not sell outside of UP or even Lucknow (I asked my dad who is from Kanpur), I really liked the Devnagari engraving on the nib and "Saral Pravah" which means "easy flow".

 

Are these pens still available?

 

Thanks!

Hari

 

PS: I suggest you upload the review photos (reduced to 800x600 size) to a third party website like photobucket etc, so that you can just link the photos here, rather than attachment. That way the review will always have the photos to be enjoyed by anyone who reads after a long time.

 

[WendyNC]

Thanks for sharing the information and pictures about your old friend. It reminds me that one of the great things about fountain pens is that they are one of the few tools which can be used daily for 35 years and still keep working just fine.

[holgalee]

You're rekindled my thirst for Indian fountain pens. It'll be good to see more of them offered on FPN at reasonable prices, especially with regard to shipping.

[ashishwakhlu]

Thanks, at this this point I have Indian pens ranging from 10$, 25$, 30$ 35$ and 200$ and even dip pens and Indian Inkwells. Please check my posts. Regards

 

You're rekindled my thirst for Indian fountain pens. It'll be good to see more of them offered on FPN at reasonable prices, especially with regard to shipping.

 

[Abhik]

Asish, thanks for sharing this wonderful pen! Please post some more pen photos. Through endeavor of Hari, we came to many manufacturers from India, but mostly from Mumbai or Southern part of India.

Now, it would be an opportunity to know other brands form Northern part of India! Please enlighten us!

Thanks,

Abhik.

[ashishwakhlu]

Thanks Abhik,

 

Next review coming up...

 

Asish, thanks for sharing this wonderful pen! Please post some more pen photos. Through endeavor of Hari, we came to many manufacturers from India, but mostly from Mumbai or Southern part of India.

Now, it would be an opportunity to know other brands form Northern part of India! Please enlighten us!

Thanks,

Abhik.