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Hey All, I have a number of other hobbies that exist due to small-scale makers and sellers who're all having a heck of a time over the requirements of the new VAT Import Tax Laws introduced by the British. A good number of them are having to refuse to ship to buyers in the U.K. from now on due to the difficulties imposed by the new laws. I was wondering if anyone had any knowledgeable insights into how this will effect the purchasing of fountain pens from the likes of Ratnamson, ASA and Ranga from now on? Perhaps even, being proactive about it, is there anyone in this community of pen aficionados who has the required expertise and generosity of time to perhaps advise Indian pen makers on the new demands of trading with the British and how to best deal with them? Hope everyone is keeping well, 'Rewpert. P.S. - If we could all stay polite and keep politics out of this thread, that would be kind. The FPN is proving to be a quite safe haven from the discourse. There's plenty of room elsewhere on the internet where we can all each other 'Mopheads', 'Brexiteers', and 'Remoaners'.

I have two ratnam pens. The pens are lightweight and well balanced, but eats my head out with a scratchy nib. I tried few tricks of paper, some amateur polishing, but in vain. Recently I met Mr,Sandeep of Kanwrite and gave him three pens of mine, both the ratnam 302 and a GAMA. GAMA was a good writer, but i still thought of replacing it. Sandeepji replaced with a B, M and F flex to let me try all the combinations. The nibs are awesome to write with., This is my first experience with B, as i have always used M or ffine. The B nib was just like pouring juice on paper. I am so happy and finally can love my ratnam pens . Thanks Sandeep ji and Kanwrite. The three ebonites that got nib replacement , alongwith ranga bamboo

I am interested in Ratnam Pens because of all the Indian fountain pen creators they seem to be the only ones who make things "from scratch", including the nibs. I dropped a message on Ratnam's WhatsApp number asking whether they make gold nib pens today. Surprisingly I got back a "No" for an answer. IIRC the person who made those pens (Mr. Ratnam) is quite old. Does he no longer work?

I am considering to acquire a Ratnamson pen. Among their pens, the model #21 is one with a hooded nib. It seems unique as an ebonite pen with a hooded nib. It also comes in 3 sizes. On searching previous posts, I do not see much reviews or enthusiasm about this model of pen in this forum. Has anybody used this pen? What are your experiences? Are there any other Indian pen manufacturers that offer pens with hooded nib?

Hi, Last sunday there was an illustrated article on the Hindu newspaper about Ratnam Pens, it's history and legacy. https://goo.gl/qf5DGe -saji

Found this while surfing youtube.

Prologue Long before the likes of Romilo and Scriptorium reintroduced and popularized the concept of hand-crafted gold nibs customized to individual tastes & needs, there has been a set of small dedicated Indian handmade pen-makers who have been diligently doing the same out of there small workshops located mostly around South India. Today I want to share pictures of a trio of such pens from my collection. All these pens are vintage, were bought by me as used pens and are made by artisans who are no longer with us or else are too old to be active themselves although the institutions they have set up are still active and still manufacture handmade pens mostly using steel nibs sourced from nib manufacturers. http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g346/prithwijitchakiPrithwijit/Fountain%20Pen%20Reviews/IMGP2306_zpsgzqvekso.jpg From Left to Right – Ratnamson, Guider and Ratnam http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g346/prithwijitchakiPrithwijit/Fountain%20Pen%20Reviews/IMGP2308_zpscwd4rmqe.jpg From Left to Right – Ratnamson, Guider and Ratnam Guider The most interesting pen out of these three is a vintage celluloid pen with a handmade conical gold nib. It is hard to put an exact date of manufacture for this pen but according to Mr Laxman Rao the current proprietor of Guider pen works this particular writing instrument is at least fifty years old. Such specimens are very rare to come across and even he doesn’t have access to any. http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g346/prithwijitchakiPrithwijit/Fountain%20Pen%20Reviews/IMGP2295_zpsry9fc6gl.jpg http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g346/prithwijitchakiPrithwijit/Fountain%20Pen%20Reviews/IMGP2296_zps81jyeqvk.jpg http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g346/prithwijitchakiPrithwijit/Fountain%20Pen%20Reviews/IMGP2302_zpsjhz6u0dp.jpg http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g346/prithwijitchakiPrithwijit/Fountain%20Pen%20Reviews/IMGP2310_zps628aw4rf.jpg Ratnam The next pen in the collection is another conical nib but this time manufactured by Ratnam Pen works of Rajahmundry. I do not know the exact model number but the trims on this pen are in exceptionally good shape. This is a huge nib and side by side, it dwarfs the #8 nibs I have from Jowo or Bock. http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g346/prithwijitchakiPrithwijit/Fountain%20Pen%20Reviews/IMGP2298_zpsjp10sw3e.jpg http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g346/prithwijitchakiPrithwijit/Fountain%20Pen%20Reviews/IMGP2297_zpstjhsrilo.jpg http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g346/prithwijitchakiPrithwijit/Fountain%20Pen%20Reviews/IMGP2303_zpsctiz06fc.jpg http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g346/prithwijitchakiPrithwijit/Fountain%20Pen%20Reviews/IMGP2312_zpsqykmci1r.jpg Ratnamson The third pen in the trio is a Ratnamson 302 with a handmade gold nib made circa 2007. I believe it is still possible to get such pens commissioned albeit being manufactured by the next generation. The interesting thing about this pen is that it has a bold nib which is quite unusual for Indian pens and is an extremely smooth writer. http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g346/prithwijitchakiPrithwijit/Fountain%20Pen%20Reviews/IMGP2299_zpsa6az8khh.jpg http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g346/prithwijitchakiPrithwijit/Fountain%20Pen%20Reviews/IMGP2300_zpsuv7gbpco.jpg http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g346/prithwijitchakiPrithwijit/Fountain%20Pen%20Reviews/IMGP2301_zpsst4ji1ht.jpg http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g346/prithwijitchakiPrithwijit/Fountain%20Pen%20Reviews/IMGP2311_zpsefppydp7.jpg One thing that is common to all the three pens (apart from 14K nibs) is that each of them come with custom hand cut ebonite feeds. Epilogue Shortly after taking these pictures I came to the realization that my personal enjoyment of fountain pens did not come from being a collector and certainly not from being a collector of vintage pens. At the same time I was acutely aware that this set that I had built up was historical in significance and wanted it to be maintained properly even if I was not the right person to do so. I started making a few discrete inquiries amidst our small fountain pen community and I am happy to let everyone know that fellow FPNer Sudhir (@Sudhir-ThePenPerson) is the new custodian of these pens. Sudhir is a passionate collector and a consummate gentleman. I am sure that the pens will be taken care of very well in his safe hands. Hope you guys liked reading about this part of Indian Fountain pen heritage and the pictures were enjoyable. Regards, Prithwijit

Good day, I'm thinking about getting a Ratnam 302 in the hooded nib configuration. There is a seller here in the classifieds (no affiliation) who sells them to international customers like me. I've also found that this member has been selling these pens (and also the "Supreme" model) for quite some years. The price seems very reasonable to me and seems to have been the same for years. However, I'm on the fence. First of all, I would like to get the pen fitted with a steel italic nib. I wonder if the seller can make this happen 1.1mm (or slightly larger) would be perfect. Also, if the seller says he can't procure an italic nib like that, I suppose I could grind one for myself. Could someone maybe tell me the measurements for such a nib? The other thing I wonder about is the production quality. Some of my Indian pens are great, while some others were a bit of a letdown (We know how it goes). Could someone give me something like a general statement of what to expect from this model pen? (I know, it's a vague request. Sorry) As I said, I'm on the fence.... Any kind of information would be appreciated.

Breather hole 1 Breather hole 2 Slightly off center finial You can see some line in the trim. The cap is clean inside. The small section makes the not too large feed look disproportionately large but works absolutely fine. In night light, can you see the brand name? The Ranga 4CS, Parker 45 and the Ratnam Small ebonite.

Hope the upload works this time. Kindly bear with me. I am new to this upload tool.

I first heard about the Ratnam pens on this forum. Purchasing a pen from the first pen manufacturer in India; who are still very active; was not an opportunity to miss. After searching around a bit on the forum and facebook I finally found their contact and was pleasantly surprised to have Mr Shiva contact me through Whatsapp! In this age of ecommerce, it was a very interesting experience buying through Whatsapp. Mr Shiva was extremely kind to send me multiple images of all their models and I finally went with the Kalam - a unique desk pen. Hari's excellent informative review convinced me that this was the right choice for my first ebonite, Indian pen! I received the pen within 2-3 days of ordering through local courier and have been using it happily for the past 4-5 months.